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  • Ils ne pensent qu’à ça by Honorine Ngou
  • Cheryl Toman
Ngou, Honorine. Ils ne pensent qu’à ça. La Doxa Editions, 2017. Pp 249. ISBN 9-782376-380276. 15€ (Paper).

Gabon’s national literature is rich and its women writers have always contributed overwhelmingly to its success. Honorine Ngou is a particularly prolific Gabonese author and Ils ne pensent qu’à ça is her third novel. Professor of French at Omar Bongo University in Libreville, Ngou is known as an advocate for women’s rights in her country. She is also the founder of Le Savoir, a major bookstore she opened in a quartier populaire of Libreville, Nzengayong. In addition to her two other novels, Féminin interdit (2007) and Afép: L’étrangleur seducteur (2010), Ngou has also published many essays and scholarly works, including the quite remarkable sociological study, Mariage et violence dans la société Fang (2007).

Ngou’s latest novel is set in a fictitious African country named Foutapouat, a place clearly inspired by the realities and events that have plagued Gabon over the past two years. Although this is a novel meant to expose current issues faced by Sub-Saharan African countries in general, references to dictatorship, strikes, and student protests here, however, are also Ngou’s way of documenting the tumultuous occurrences surrounding the 2016 presidential elections in Gabon. But Ngou also integrates into the novel recent debates in France concerning terrorism, immigration, laïcité, and the rising popularity of the Front National, demonstrating France’s continued influence on its former colonies long after their independence.

The novel’s protagonist, Fortuane, is the daughter of an African father and a Caribbean mother who overprotect her somewhat and for good reason—the couple’s other daughter, Sarah, had disappeared in the capital and as the reader discovers later, she was abducted by a sex-trafficking ring. Ngou uses this tragedy to launch a discussion on the woes of the African capital which prompt the family’s permanent move to their native village, Afipissi, a haven of peace and calm where French is barely heard. There are many works of African literature that present the city-versus-village debate, but Ngou’s take is original and truly incites in-depth discussion on actual problems caused by urban expansion in contemporary African nations. In her analysis of social problems, Ngou also brings in topics such as religion, witchcraft, and atheism and the impact of each of these on society.

Despite her parents’ cautious watch over her, Fortuane is raped by a trusted family friend and she feels unable to reveal anything about this to her family and friends. The trauma endured gradually affects her interpersonal relationships and especially the one with her fiancé who, not knowing the real reason why Fortuane suddenly avoids any physical affection, misinterprets her behavior and breaks off their engagement. This particular part of the novel is superbly written as the reader experiences through the eyes of the victim the raw emotion provoked by Fortuane’s rape and its aftermath. While African women’s writing does not typically ignore the subject of rape, rarely does the reader have such a detailed account in the text. The situation worsens when Fortuane learns she is pregnant [End Page 206] but does not know if the father of her child is the fiancé who has abandoned her or her rapist. Abortion seems to be her only solution.

The second part of the novel concentrates on how Fortuane pieces her life back together again after these events and the story becomes even more poignant when her abducted sister is found alive with four children resulting from multiple rapes by her captors. This is also a particularly well written part of the novel in terms of character development.

Fortuane pursues her education despite what has befallen her and her family. She eventually accepts an internship in New York City where her supervisor falls in love with her and the feelings are eventually reciprocated. This third part of the novel seems at times a bit too forced and some readers might be left with the conclusion that Fortuane could not make a life for herself anywhere in Foutapouat, neither...

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