"Perhaps the unusual thing about this African author, and his
books - published some fifty years ago - is that he was sexually explicit in
his writings at a time this was rare in African literature. And so it is in
this particular work. I did some research on the author (he was born in, and
died in Cameroon) and learned that during his lifetime he did on a personal
level relish taking his pleasure from/with women. Dipoko actually boasted in an
interview: "I became for many years what you might call a travelling
lover, a dreamer searching for God between women's thighs... I was like an
angel stuffing recoil-less erections into just where they are most needed -
into the fleshy folds of winter!...each divine thrust was like stuffing your
women with yet another trump card of desire..." So one might say the
author somewhat set out his own stall unapologetically; and this reflected in
his fiction, and poems. There is no doubt that he is a fine writer though, as
this novel shows. And Dipoko depicts a particular community very well, and the
people. It is a rural ambiance, and we get to read about the usual goings-on in
the village, for men and women, intrigues, affairs, pastimes, drawing water
from the river, politics etc. The ordinary people are focused on, and how life
steadily and stealthily goes on. As for the sex, it is graphic enough without
being vulgar, and the intercourse is mutually enjoyed...with the physical
delights being stressed "life was so sweet and wonderful because of
women" - Eric
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