A review of Kefen Budji's novel, Boundless

Kefen Budji – (April 2015). Boundless. Spears Media Press, 254 Pages – Available on www.Amazon.com

By Innocent Chia
In and beyond the trench lines of the battlefield of colonialism, where people were killed with bullets from guns and poisonous spearheads and bows and arrows, were unfolding parallel narratives of love and heartaches, of life and death, and of enslavement, money, wealth and power. Boundless, by Kefen Budji, is a juxtapositioning of clashing cultures, values and people that cohabit in a colonial time capsule between 1910 and 1921 in Cameroon, Africa, and played out in the lives of specific characters and communities during and beyond the 243 pages. In the meantime, and as if in answer to the generational question of sexuality in Africa, the author intersperses constructs of courting, sexuality and public displays of affection in a traditional African setting, oftentimes in contrast to its "Western" displays.  Samarah, the central character of Boundless, feels beholden to her tradition, but is left to answer the question -“does love conquer all?” 

 

Whether or not love conquers all is the central pillar, I would argue, around which Budji builds the walls around Samarah and leaves her grappling, alongside the readers that she takes along on the journey, on where and how to place the other foundational pillars. Would Samarah’s forebears be happy with her decision at the end, knowing what she has endured and how they were sacrificial lambs at the altar of the antagonist – colonialism? What about forgiveness, a foundational precept of the Christian education to which the father of Samarah had himself enrolled her? How much of it was she supposed to apply in her life, and when? What about the values of her parents and the culture in which she had been brought up?

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