Random Things Tours: Does Snow Turn a Person White Inside ? by Max Lobe translated by Ros Schwartz

 

Mwana, a young man from Bantuland, is caught between two worlds: the one of his parents, back home, and the other in Geneva, where he is living. As many of us, struggling to make life happening in one culture of the other, sometimes at the same time, sometimes in just one, his life is a duality of how was and how is. 

The immigrant is always comparing his old home with the new one. No matter how long you spent time in one country or another, there is always a ´before´ and ´after´, even though the before is an idealized projections of mixed memories. 

Does Snow Turn a Person White Inside ? by the multi-awarded Cameroon-born author Max Lobe, translated into English by the equally multi-awarded Ros Schwartz, is a short yet insightful story into the life and mind of someone building a pathway through this duality. From outside, people may think it is such a gift to be always on the spiritual road between countries. And, indeed, one may have to be grateful for the chance of experiencing life in other cultures, eventually enjoying the safety, financial comfort and protection of a different country. Someone experiencing this on a daily basis may find it stressful and demanding, energy demading exercise of adjusting - to the new world - and forgetting - your old habits.

Especially if one lives in Switzerland, like Mwana and the author himself, such a duality is an everyday challenge. I am glad though that new voices like Lobe´s do offer an alternative to the social and literary narrative, inserting topics about being Black and African into the local literary discourse. 

The sad yet evocative tone of the book resonates with the emotional hardships of building a new life on the moving grounds of foreign lands.

Does Snow Turn a Person White Inside ? is an excellent reminder of how much we, immigrants from all over, have in common, but also how our different cultures need us to survive in the most challenging environment. There will be always some remnants of the ´old home´ that should stay with us, because no strong tree survives without roots.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own