By J.J. Bola

Status: Complete
Rating :3.5 Stars

Review

Despite having a similar back background to the main protagonist, Micheal. I never really I never connected with him personally, although I really wanted to.

The book is written in simultaneously (chapter to chapter) in both the past and present with the building of his suffering and depression set in North London and the final unravelling of his life set across America as he prepares to take his life when his life’s savings runs out. The result of this style is a choppy and jarring mix between time and places in two different countries on two very different time lines yet the character’s sentiment are constant.

The main problem I have with this style of writing is that while the London scene is vivid, rich, fresh and realistic. – I loved it. Stateside it is super cliche and no effort is make to account for distances between places. It’s as if the past is smooth and slick like the javelin train heading east out from King Cross and the present is more irregular than the District & Circle during rush hour. One moment we’re in San Fan then seconds later LA, then Texas, then Chicago. Why? We don’t really know.

The USA is vast and of course they get held up at gun point in LA and of course they eat huge portion of bad food in the Texas. That said parts of the book are so rich are utterly dark and desperate as Micheal’s money runs out. Full credit here goes to the author’s portrayal of such a dark subject.

“Do you ever wish that you could die… but without all of the dying?” he says, “Like, not die, but just cease to exist, disappear, be invisible, every trace of your life, even the memories of you in other people’s hearts and minds, all gone.” –

For me, I would have love this book if it stuck in London and focussed on what I feel the author really knows and understands.

Would I recommend it:

Yes absolutely especially if you’re familiar London, council estates and also Henry David Thoreau’s quote “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation” was an observation that most people live an empty life caused by unfulfilling work, lack of leisure time and misplaced values; money, possessions and accolades.

Editors Foreword:

A heartbreaking, lyrical story for all of those who have fantasised about escaping their daily lives and starting over.

Michael Kabongo is a British-Congolese teacher living in London on the cusp of two identities. On paper, he seems to have it all – he’s loved by his students, popular with his colleagues, and enjoys the pride of his mother who emigrated from the Congo. But behind closed doors, he’s been struggling with the overwhelming sense that he can’t improve the injustices he sees – from his efforts to change the lives of his students, to his attempts to transcend the violence that marginalises young Black men around the world.

Then Michael suffers a devastating loss, and his life is thrown into a tailspin. As he struggles to find a way forward, memories of his fathers’ violent death, the weight of being a refugee, and an increasing sense of dread threaten everything he’s worked so hard to achieve.

Longing to escape the shadows in his mind and start anew, Michael decides to spontaneously pack up and go to America, the mythical ‘land of the free,’ where he imagines everything will be better, easier – a place where he can become someone new, someone without a past filled with pain. On this transformative journey, Michael travels from New York City to San Francisco, partying with new friends, sparking fleeting romances, and splurging on big adventures.

In the back of his mind, Michael has a plan: follow his dreams until the money in his bank account runs out, and then he will decide if his life is truly worth living…