What a story! As a young teen in Togo in the 1960s, Tete-Michel Kpomassie had 20-something siblings. His father, the village Big Man, had eight wives. One day, Kpomassie was attacked by a serpent. A shaman "cured" the child but as payment, Kpomassie had to join a snake cult. Just before he is turned over to the shaman to start a new life, he reads about Eskimos at a used book store and decides that's where he wants to go.
Over ten years, with smarts, conviction, luck, and the generosity of strangers, he slowly works his way from Africa to Europe to Greenland. I can't figure out if he is truly charismatic (and thus makes receiving charity easy) or just incredibly fortunate.
His time in Greenland is a must-read. The Inuit culture, like any other culture, is shaped by the environment. It's cold. Raw seals and dogs are eaten. People shit in a bucket indoors in plain view of everyone (sometimes during meals), even in Western style homes. Wives and girlfriends are "shared". With a dollop of Danish influences, e.g. Christianity and social welfare, you get a land that is fun, boring, and incredibly unsanitary.
It's a fun and relatively quick read. The author is likable. Though he makes some comparisons between Togolese culture and Inuit culture, he writes from a Western European perspective. The book was published in 1981 and is likely available at a public library near you.
Great suggestion, can't wait to read this. Did you ever read Zoo Station?
ReplyDelete@Alan: I have not read it yet. I told you I enjoyed From Sata to Soya, right?
ReplyDeleteI have a lead (weak) on the Bugatti EB110. It's a long shot.