Black Bazaar, Alain Mabanckou

I'm not sure when or where I picked up this ebook. It's an autobiographical account of the writer, Alain Mabanckou. It's translated from French into English. It's certainly not the usual sort of book that I might find and read. Where did I hear about it? What was it that made me download it? Perhaps it's my love for sinister books and the title is certainly sinister. But in no way is the actual book sinister. Nonetheless, I found it quite enjoyable.

The story is roughly about a man in his early twenties living in France. He sees it as a kind of reverse colonization. He is from the smaller Congo. He starts off as a devilishly stylish young man, obsessed with designer clothes. In some small ways, I was not terribly fond of him as a character in the beginning. He starts off mostly interested in his image and the particular curvature of women's asses. His nickname is Buttologist for this reason.

His biggest influence is a writer who gives him a thirst for writing and reading. He buys for himself a typewriter, and is addicted to writing with it. Eventually, he breaks up with his girlfriend (she really breaks up with him), whom he calls Original Color. Eventually he runs into a young Belgian-French artist who takes an interest in him. She expands his life experience into jazz and other writers.

I liked the idea of the reverse colonization. I never thought of Africans flooding into France as a kind of reverse colonization, but it really is, isn't it?

I would read a part two of this book if it exists. Is it a novel? An autobiography? There is not so much talk about this book available courtesy of Google's first page of results.