He looks for truth and inspiration elsewhere - reading, for example, "Jack Kerouac, priest of the Beat Generation". Unfortunately his mother unwisely gives him a crate of entirely inappropriate books: "books castigating the Bible as porous fiction conjectured by hallucinationists and deliberate misleaders", for example.Įventually his freethinking gets him expelled from school. His birth was a difficult one, and his mother had to have a hysterectomy after it - which, in turn, led to Bozo's father, Abednego, being unable to have sex with her.īozo's father never forgave him for this (without explaining the reasons for his antipathy).īozo's mother is a good and devoted Catholic, and Bozo starts out as one too. It is a compact novel, crammed with layers of life-stories, but he does a fairly neat job of unfolding them, with some unexpected turns mixing fiction and reality. On the whole, however, Bandele-Thomas handles himself well. The fourth part consists of the ending of Maude's novel, and the fifth is the somewhat surprising denouement.īooks within books, fiction claiming truth is stranger than fiction: it's dangerous ground for a novelist to tread on. In the third part the book returns to Lakemfa, gripped by what he is reading, and Maude, quickly recounting the "stranger than fiction" missing middle section of the novel. ![]() The Man Who Came in from the Back of Beyond is told in five parts, a somewhat complicated but effective five-act structure (Bandele-Thomas also dabbles in theatre).Īfter the first, introductory part the second is the beginning section of Maude's novel (which he has given Lakemfa to read) - unsurprisingly titled The Man Who Came in from the Back of Beyond. Or parts of a novel: he says he only completed the beginning and the end, "but found it impossible to set down what transpired in the hiatus between this beginning and end, for it was stranger than fiction." Maude had gone so far as to write a novel fictionalizing Bozo's life. Maude also relates how he had been gripped by the story a girlfriend of his had once told him, about a former boyfriend of hers named Bozo. "The story of your life reads like a book, sir", he tells him, impressed by how Maude reached his current station in life Lakemfa continues to visit Maude, and he learns the teachers unusual background and history. The assumption, however, must be that Maude sees in the boy someone who is of his world and who he can relate to - as is, to some extent, borne out by the novel. Lakemfa himself isn't sure why Maude invites him, and it is never really explained. ![]() He couldn't emphathize with them nor relate to them nor be in rapport with them. he felt he was not of their world, nor did he share their ideals. It is unusual because Maude had apparently never invited anyone into his home, neither fellow teachers nor other students. ![]() Much to Lakemfa's surprise Maude invites to his home. He is also a constant target of their jokes and needling. Maude is a complicated, intelligent man, pushing the students harder than they are willing to be pushed. "He walked like a wraith, like a man in a nightmare", the book opens. It is narrated by a high school student, Lakemfa, who begins by telling of his literature and English language teacher, Maude ("pronounced Mowday", a footnote suggests). The Man Who Came in from the Back of Beyond is a curious, ambitious tale of finding one's way in modern Nigeria. The Man Who Came in from the Back of Beyond - Canadaī+ : ambitious and occasionally too far-flung tale, but much of it very solid The Man Who Came in from the Back of Beyond - UK The Man Who Came in from the Back of Beyond - US The Man Who Came in from the Back of Beyond ![]() General information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author Trying to meet all your book preview and review needs. The Man Who Came in from the Back of Beyond - 'Biyi Bandele-Thomas
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