The Selfless Act of Breathing

June 1, 2021

British-Congolese teacher Michael Kabongo is popular with his students but remains abundantly frustrated that he cannot correct the social injustices they endure--and that distorts the lives of young Black men worldwide. A terrible loss revives memories of his father's violent death and the burdens of having been a refugee, and he impulsively decides to travel to America, making friends and partying his way across the country in hopes of finding a new self disburdened of a painful past. From Kinshasa-born, London-raised poet/novelist and UNHCR Ambassador Bola; with a 60,000-copy first printing.

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September 13, 2021
Bola’s disappointing debut centers on a London high school teacher who makes a plan to travel to places he’s never been and kill himself once his money runs out. Michael Kabongo grew up in London after fleeing the war-torn Congo with his parents. Lately he’s been furious with his mother—with whom he lives—for starting a new relationship, despite her protests that his father, who was killed by police, has been dead for 20 years. He gives her an ultimatum: “If you marry him, then you will have no son, and I will have no mother.” At his school, Michael engages apathetic student Duwayne in an effort to steer him away from selling drugs. Meanwhile, Michael’s cordial relationship with colleague Sandra suffers as he deals with his depression, and he eventually quits his job. In a narrative that flits between past and present, Michael visits California, Chicago, and New York City, connecting with locals who lead him to his next destination, including a dancer/artist named Belle with whom he develops a romantic connection. The narrative has moving moments, including a fine ending, but too often the impact is blunted by Bola’s heavy-handed prose. Indeed, he is at his best when he gets out of his own way and writes simply. There’s promise here, but also more than a few rough edges.

October 15, 2021
Michael Kabongo arrives in San Francisco from his home in London prepared to spend his life savings and then to kill himself. But why? To explain, the action shifts back to London and from third person to first. There Michael, who is Black and a teacher, is almost existentially depressed. "My life is falling apart," he says, "and no matter how hard I try, nothing seems to get any better." He appears to have only two friends: fellow teacher Sandra and Afghan Jalil, who is also depressed. In the meantime, the story shifts back to America, where, in Chicago, Michael falls in love with an exotic dancer and follows her to her home in New York's Harlem. There they begin a relationship that brings him relief. But for how long? After all, the author is not kind to his characters. Indeed, there is more misery here than in Les Mis�rables and more than a little overwriting. Nevertheless, Bola (No Place to Call Home, 2018) proves himself a master of mood and empathy. Altogether, his novel is an excellent and heartrending effort.

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January 1, 2022
A British schoolteacher descends into despair and travels to America as a last hurrah in this dark, powerful novel. On the first page, we're introduced to Michael Kabongo, a Congolese British schoolteacher who is waiting in London's Heathrow Airport for a flight that will take him to California. He's not traveling for pleasure. "I quit my job," he explains. "I am taking my life savings, $9,021, and when it runs out, I am going to kill myself." Michael's descent into hopelessness has been a bit of a slow burn--he's grown disillusioned with his job, where he's tasked with wrangling restive kids. ("Cause of death: unknown--may involve rude, screaming children and stress," he texts a co-worker. "Tombstone reads: 'Herein lies a man, who died as he lived: tired.' ") He's not thrilled with his living situation, either--he shares an apartment with his mother; he can't afford to move out on his teacher's salary. So after a tragedy upends his life, he takes out a loan and lights out for America, aimlessly traveling through the country, eating Whataburgers in Dallas with near strangers and accompanying a taxi driver to a strip club in Chicago. All the while, he's haunted by his own growing despair: "To exist, even in my own body, was taking its toll; I wanted to escape from it, leave it all behind; I wanted to be free of it. I want to live where there was no consequence to this body, where I was not named, where I was not known....I did not want to know others. I did not even want to know myself." Bola employs a fascinating narrative structure: The chapters covering Michael's time in London are told in the first person; the passages in America switch to the third person, emphasizing Michael's growing alienation from himself. Chronicling someone's emotional deterioration can be a tricky affair, but Bola acquits himself beautifully; his prose is sensitive and powerful. Lovers of character studies that tend toward the dark will find much to admire in this novel. Solid writing and sensitive insights make this one a winner.

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