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Little Pa
Listening Length 59 minutes
Cameroonian author Hemley Boum brings us "Little Pa", a potent story of a boy who grows into a man battling with identity.
Zacharias is his maternal grandfather’s namesake, though he has never met said grandfather or any other extended family members. He represses questions he has as a way of trying to protect himself and his mother, Dorothée, who is prone to bouts of depression. But he cannot ignore his reality forever and in adolescence, Zacharias begins to commit small acts of rebellion leading to a final act that goes horribly wrong and leads him to exile and a new life where he promises himself never to look back.
Translated from French by one of Africa’s new leading voices in writing and translation, Edwige-Renée Dro.
Cameroonian author Hemley Boum brings us "Little Pa", a potent story of a boy who grows into a man battling with identity.
Zacharias is his maternal grandfather’s namesake, though he has never met said grandfather or any other extended family members. He represses questions he has as a way of trying to protect himself and his mother, Dorothée, who is prone to bouts of depression. But he cannot ignore his reality forever and in adolescence, Zacharias begins to commit small acts of rebellion leading to a final act that goes horribly wrong and leads him to exile and a new life where he promises himself never to look back.
Translated from French by one of Africa’s new leading voices in writing and translation, Edwige-Renée Dro.
1 pages, Audible Audio
First published January 1, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 31, 2023
boum finds an almost gentle way to speak of the unspeakable. not in a child‘s voice, not in an adult‘s voice, but in the voice of someone traumatised, not even understanding how their world is not the “normal” world. in just a few pages it also becomes clear how trauma never leaves you, no matter how far you run or how much you change.
June 10, 2023
This was sad and beautiful.
June 13, 2023
I liked how creatively the descriptions were made. And how one could feel the love and tension between Little Pa and Maa Doro with just words.
The story is somehow so painful but yet very real on how sometimes good people land on un imaginable things and they are faced with harder choices and end up doing "whatever it takes" to get by.
Also, it touches on how the things that go unsaid in family dynamics and their long lasting impacts.
The story is somehow so painful but yet very real on how sometimes good people land on un imaginable things and they are faced with harder choices and end up doing "whatever it takes" to get by.
Also, it touches on how the things that go unsaid in family dynamics and their long lasting impacts.
June 23, 2023
This could be triggering . . .
Coming into this directly after finishing The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts could have been a terrible move if I were easily triggered. Although I've always known this, I see Africans are not much different than Caribbeans with how we all process, express and handle grief. Although short, this story is also sad and intense.
4 stars
Coming into this directly after finishing The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts could have been a terrible move if I were easily triggered. Although I've always known this, I see Africans are not much different than Caribbeans with how we all process, express and handle grief. Although short, this story is also sad and intense.
4 stars
February 22, 2023
This story of a man remembering his childhood is solemn and he protects her in his own way even when he doesn’t understand.
July 23, 2023
3.5/5
August 27, 2023
A sad coming of age story. The present-day story didn't really flow for me. It seemed to be a technique where he is in the present and looks back to his childhood. I am also uncertain if I understood the ending.
September 15, 2023
CW: Alcoholism, Child Abuse (Beating Referenced), Sex Work
Bleakly Beautiful, Raw, and Truly Human
A sad, bittersweet, yet hopeful and intimately human short story about a. Man reflecting on his youth and relationship with his mother exploring grief, estrangement, and alcoholism.
Brilliant short story performed wonderfully.
Bleakly Beautiful, Raw, and Truly Human
A sad, bittersweet, yet hopeful and intimately human short story about a. Man reflecting on his youth and relationship with his mother exploring grief, estrangement, and alcoholism.
Brilliant short story performed wonderfully.
September 30, 2023
If you were the son of a prostitute who was in a city totally alone and without family, and she was your only support, who would you be? Would you get ahead?
Difficult, but if you can, your past does not necessarily determine your future.
Difficult, but if you can, your past does not necessarily determine your future.
February 10, 2024
If you try to hide your past, know that it will not allow it. It will not go away quietly in the night. It will tell its own story and you will be the vessel is use to bring itself forward into the present to be seen and known.
February 28, 2023
A touching coming of age story of a young man who quickly realizes the reality of his life. Quick audio listen, but memorable.
March 2, 2023
So painful.. So real... Nearly made me sick in moments. That smell...
Why do kids in the world have to suffer such things...
Why do kids in the world have to suffer such things...
March 24, 2023
Wow.
I will have to revisit this again.
I will have to revisit this again.
March 24, 2024
Little Pa is a beautifully painful story about a young man and his mother. Little Pa is a kind, bright, naive, tender soul. Throughout his life, there are so many questions surrounding his life and how his current situation came to be. Hemley Boum captures the childlike wonder of a small child that is growing into a young man. When Little Pa is coming of age, he began to long for a familial bond that his more can't fill alone. The shirt story audio was beautifully written.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews