Sikè by Auguste Léopold Mbondé (review)

she and her mother spend hours in the oncologist’s waiting room before an appointment, only to have him call Louise’s mother repeatedly by the wrong name. The narrator’s inclusion of “Doutrelinge,” “Doutrebine,” “Doutreming,” and “Doutrefigue” instead of “Doutreluigne” (40–42), causes the reader to chuckle as s/he understands Madame Doutreluigne’s terminal diagnosis. The following scene, in which Louise over-reacts to the oncologist’s lack of compassion in uttering the dim prognosis by attempting to strangle him, provides even better comic relief than the previous one. Through humor, Lévy conveys a general truth regarding serious illness: although the patient is at his or her most vulnerable when diagnosed, the medical establishment frequently offers no comfort. Likewise, Lévy’s juxtaposition of paragraphs denoting profound fear and guilt with more light-hearted ones showing surprise keeps the reader entertained rather than sad. Louise and her partner Pablo visit the hippie “haptonomiste” (63) during the third month of the former’s pregnancy. In several run-on sentences , Louise divulges her innermost concerns to the life coach, that her mother is dying, that her pregnancy is still a secret, and that she distrusts the ultrasound images of her healthy baby. Once the narrator’s tears become overwhelming, the hippie hands Louise a tissue only to ask her, “Vous lui avez expliqué?” (66). The life coach is alluding to Louise’s unborn daughter (rather than the anticipated Madame Doutreluigne); she urges Louise to admit aloud that her stress and sadness , “ce n’est pas contre elle” (66). As funny as this unexpected exchange is, the reader hopes that Louise will indeed talk to her womb so that her unborn child will not be as guilt-ridden as she has been from childhood on. Parallel imagery also lifts the reader’s feelings of sadness at the burial of Louise’s mother. The narrator, comforted by her father, experiences a burst of activity from her unborn child. She speculates that her daughter is calling her back to life so that she (Louise) can become the baby’s mother. Louise compares the image of her daughter’s activity inside her to her mother’s entombed body beating against its coffin. However, Louise dismisses the similar images in order to embrace her impending motherhood , as follows: “ça s’appelle la concordance des temps [ou des images, my comment] et ce sera ma vie maintenant” (118). The final sentence of chapter 21 thus resonates with the narrator’s determination to be the best mother possible to her daughter. Mauvaise Fille abounds with emotionally-heavy scenes depicting the impersonality of terminal cancer, hospitalization, death, and burial all the while it traces the narrator’s journey from daughterhood to motherhood. Passages filled with resentment and forgiveness towards her mother finally culminate in Louise’s feeling of renewal. The novel’s comic relief via puns on Madame Doutreluigne’s name, the life coach’s misinterpretation of Louise’s fears, and the use of imagery of entrapment keeps it on a positive note as it portrays the most difficult of human experiences: life, death, grief, and change. University of Texas, El Paso Jane E. Evans MBONDÉ, AUGUSTE LÉOPOLD. Sikè. La Roque d’Anthéron: Vents d’ailleurs, 2009. ISBN 978-2-911412-58-5. Pp. 175. 15 a. Camerounais, docteur en littératures française et comparée, l’auteur a publié à ce jour quelques articles scientifiques et une analyse d’une épopée de son pays natal sous le nom d’A.L. Mbondé Mouangué. Comme chez d’autres auteurs Reviews 863 africains tels que Maurice Bandaman et Amadou Koné, l’étude de la littérature française lui a donné envie de s’essayer, sinon à la fiction, du moins au récit. L’ouvrage rappelle, entre autres, Pour que ton ombre murmure encore d’Angèle Kingué et La Femme aux pieds nus de Scholastique Mukasonga. Toutes deux ont raconté la vie d’un parent et, en même temps, elles ont exprimé leur amour et leur admiration pour cette personne. Bien que le lecteur sente ici l’affection du narrateur pour sa fille à qui il s’adresse, son livre suit plutôt l...