French teacher in Rouen, Éric Mukendi publishes with Gallimard editions “ My two dads », a sparkling first novel with a mixed language, tinged with tenderness and gentle irony, far from clichés. A book that can be savored like a delicious pondu, the famous Congolese stew.
Idrissa, one of the characters in the novel says: It’s the Africans, that’s how it is. We never do anything like everyone else “. Idrissa’s parents are from Mali, and he is Boris’s best friend, the narrator and central character in Éric Mukendi’s book.
Boris does nothing like everyone else. First, he has two dads, both of Congolese origin: the paper dad – the one who raised him – and the dad – the real one – who comes back into his life at the start of the story. Then, Boris lives between two cultures, between Africanity and Frenchness. And then Boris lives between two languages, the mixed language of the Parisian suburbs, and the chastised language of Hortense, his lover – bourgeois but not silly – from the 16th arrondissement of Paris.
With great tenderness, irony and humor, Eric Mukendiplays with clichés and caricatures to give us a tasty first novel like pondu, the Congolese vegetable stew.
” My two dads is published by Gallimard, in the Continents Noirs collection.
At the end of the show, Marjorie Bertin presents new musical news. She interviewed the Franco-Cameroonian actress and singer Sandra Nkaké who is releasing a spellbinding new album, rock and folk, entitled ” Scars “.