Description
In the wake of General Franco’s demise, a Cameroonian student, Leinteng Basha, arrives in Madrid. He soon befriends two other African students, Bassey Okoro from Nigeria, and a drifter from Equatorial Guinea, Jesus Ndongo. Together, they navigate as best as they can through the challenges of loneliness, homesickness and especially the indifference, if not outright hostility of their host country. Leinteng keeps a diary in which he details in simple, straightforward but captivating prose, the travails and joys of his days in the Spanish capital. Through the diarist’s sharp eye for detail, the reader is irresistibly drawn into the labyrinth of life as lived by an African student in post-Franco Spain.
Advance Praise for “Beads of Memory”
“The memoir of an African student in Madrid in the 1970s, Beads of Memory is a fascinating socio-political treatise on family, tradition, colonialism and the disillusion with post-colonial Africa. Replete with colorful characters and memorable events that stretch from the snow-capped Sierra mountains of Madrid to the twisting Hills of Nkar, Cameroon, Beads of Memory resonates with the reader and tugs at the strings of nostalgia as it hearkens back to much simpler but intriguing times.”
— Dibussi Tande, Cameroonian Blogger, author of Scribbles from the Den: Essays on Politics and Collective Memory in Cameroon
Beads of Memory captures the social and financial woes of African students and school dropouts in Europe. Whirled in the neurosis of nostalgia or victimized by their dictatorial leaders back at home, they scamper for solace in the excessive consumption of alcohol and/or narcotics. Martin Jumbam weaves his story in an enticingly captivating manner as he yokes together biographical elements and verisimilitude, powerfully evocative imagery which give both the casual reader and researcher quality material for mental gymnastics. The story has the magic of denying the reader separation from it until they get to the final word.
— Douglas Achingale, Writer, Critic & Social Worker
“Jumbam’s Beads of Memory adds fresh breadth to postcolonial literature through its oneiric poesis of Madrid, exploring that city’s shadowed spaces and the half-lives of its immigrant (pseudo)students. Its rhapsodic rhythm and incisive expression arrest the reader-listener from the very first lines and sustains their interest to the very last, leaving them at the mercy of the narrator’s galloping but alluring consciousness that is exteriorised in this memoir.”
— Gil Ndi-Shang, PhD,author of Letter from America: Memoir of an Adopted Child
Juliette Wangia (verified owner) –
Beads of Memory
By Martin Jumbam
Any student who has studied away from home will relate instantly to Martin Jumbam’s “Beads of Memory”. In this page turner, the author offers a vivid picture of Leinteng’s experiences as a young, foreign student in Madrid, a city far-flung from his native Cameroon.
Interestingly, Leinteng only briefly walks us through the streets of Madrid; the better part of his experiences are lived inside his own head as he thinks back on the family he has left behind and ponders what kind of Africa awaits him upon his return. Friends he meets in Madrid share similar concerns. Thanks to the author’s expert use of language and his captivating style, we follow along attentively, only pausing to reminisce on similar experiences in our own lives.
One cannot but admire how true Leinteng stays to himself, never once straying from the reason he went to Madrid in the first place. All in all, this diary is an inspiring read that offers multiple perspectives.
Ray (verified owner) –
“Beads of Memory” is relentlessly relatable, refreshing and riveting; a vivid and cogent narrative that reflects the experience of many who have studied in foreign land and struggled to “quell [my] mutinous thoughts.”
Ray Bannavti
Editor-In-Chief
Liykiboomi (BFU-USA) Magazine.
Simolen Tala-Jumbam (verified owner) –
Weaving Words!
Remember how as kids we would gather around someone who had “fallen bush” or “gone to the abroad” to listen to their tales of adventure? Even as adults we still do, when someone regales us with stories of adventures in foreign lands. Even if we ourselves are in that foreign land, we still ride on the waves of their experience and try to connect with them from our personal stories. Since many of us are in strange lands, I am positive we will be able to relate to the shared experience of the character in this story, an African student in Spain in the seventies. Culture shock and homesickness are timeless experiences!
I cannot wait for you to get immersed in the word pattern Martin Jumbam has woven to create this beautiful piece: Beads of Memory. Word weaving runs in the family. He and his siblings (notably the novelist, Kenjo Jumbam, author of The White man of God) inherited it from their father, who was a great storyteller.
Martin Jumbam has a way of threading words that effortlessly propel the abstract world he creates into an almost tangible one.
Fai Wookitaav (verified owner) –
Beads of Memory is a masterpiece which brings some good memories.I am enjoying my copy and each page gives me the appetite to read more.Thanks for this great work Tav Jumbam
Ngeh Divine Kanjo –
Great book