A short book, a compact explosive device, and a brisk eye-opening narrative . . . Atangana Bekono gives voice to the voiceless, but also exposes the moral rot and racist foundations of a society too complacent and oblivious to care.” —New York Journal of Books
“A tightly wound, forcefully lyrical debut novel by an award-winning Dutch poet . . . A psychological mystery whose solution resides in self-discovery.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Salomé's sharp, voice-driven narration captures the tedium and frustrations of her sentence as well as the depth of her adolescent angst. The slow revelation of Salomé's crime maintains tension throughout. The final act, which chronicles her release, interweaves her feelings, thoughts, and memories from before and during her incarceration to skillfully portray the difficulty of returning to life on the outside. This one's hard to put down.” —Publishers Weekly
“Lyrical . . . perfect for readers who value in-depth characterization. Salomé struggles with the quirks of teenagehood, a troubled home life, and the politics of navigating a world where underlying racist views are treated as normal and acceptable. In her complex and intricate first novel, Atangana Bekono does a fantastic job of exploring the internal conflict of wanting to fit in while also hoping to hold society to account.” —Booklist
“Deep and meditative, this book weaves through multiple themes to deliver a pinpoint gut punch to the reader.” —Debutiful
“This debut centers on a mixed heritage teenage girl in a juvenile detention center in the Netherlands [who] refuses to play the games of the racist, carceral system she must endure. Atangana Bekono handles violent content with care and explores themes of family, identity, carcerality and dreams.” —Ms.
“A sensitive, moving, and insightful story about an incarcerated teenage girl coming to terms with her social identity, self-understanding, and dreams. The writing captures, believably, the thoughts of a young person facing the devastation of her confinement and what led up to it. Oscillating between unfiltered expression and philosophical realization, and with moments of utter beauty, Atangana Bekono captures the anguish of degradation, the desperation of rage, and the loneliness of Salomé's experience at the margins of two cultures.” —Erin I. Kelly, Pulitzer Prize Winning co-author of CHASING ME TO MY GRAVE
“In the pages of Simone Atangana Bekono's daring, beautifully-written and incredibly observant novel, Confrontations, you'll meet the main character, Salomé, who pays a high price for standing up for herself and the people she loves. Each of Atangana Bekono's characters are drawn with so much acuity and honesty. I love this page turner and the colorful cast of characters who populate it.” —De'Shawn Charles Winslow, author of DECENT PEOPLE and IN WEST MILLS
“One of the best debuts I've read in years. Atangana Bekono's raw scenes are written with enormous tenderness. “Do you see it now?” she asks you. And leaves you with a broken heart.” —Hanna Bervoets, author of WE HAD TO REMOVE THIS POST
“Fascinating . . . The contrast between the poetic style and the brutal content makes the passage subtle and lively . . . The refined depiction of these feelings makes the book intense and penetrating.” —de Volkskrant (Netherlands)
“A dazzling coming-of-age novel.” —Trouw (Netherlands)
“Hits like a punch . . . a clever and disruptive debut.” —De Telegraaf (Netherlands)
“Confrontations is a moving study of how quietly pivotal events build over time to fuel rage. Simone Atangana Bekono immerses us in the different worlds Salome navigates, gripping us through the character's distinctive voice. There is a tender stubbornness she possesses, and it sealed my attention from the start. I sighed with Salome, laughed with her, dreamt with her, was frustrated for her. This novel will compel you to reconsider what rehabilitation means, and will follow you beyond the final page.” —Theresa Lola, author of IN SEARCH OF EQUILIBRIUM
“Confrontations unpicks the stitches of a young life prematurely defined by violence. Crime, punishment, privilege and racism are explored with the unsentimental, stark precision of a poet's pen. Simone Atangana Bekono is one to watch.” —Alice Slater, author of DEATH OF A BOOKSELLER
2023-10-21
A tightly wound, forcefully lyrical debut novel by an award-winning Dutch poet.
Sixteen-year-old Salomé Atabong has put herself in a vexing corner. The daughter of a Cameroonian father and a Dutch mother, she’s serving a six-month sentence in a juvenile detention center (nicknamed “the Donut”) for a violent crime whose particulars are gradually disclosed. Whatever she’s done, Salomé shows no remorse for it, which exasperates not only her parents, but also the Donut staff, particularly Frits van Gestel, a white therapist who became notorious for making a condescending remark about “primitive life here in Africa” while appearing on TV. As far as Salomé is concerned, this makes Frits unworthy of her respect. “I know full well I’m not well,” she says, but she’s “not going to be helped by some fucking racist.” Frits nonetheless keeps trying to break through Salomé’s belligerence, which also rubs some of the other inmates the wrong way. Her refusal to even acknowledge the act that got her locked up parallels the novel’s insistence on withholding specifics of that act. But the book does weave in pertinent details about Salomé’s family, including her father, mother, sister, and aunt. Through her often-tumultuous day-to-day life at the Donut, her memories of family visits to Africa, and her coming to grips with her actions and their consequences, Salomé finds herself slowly, if grudgingly, approaching the basis of her constant anger. The whole novel comes across like a clenched fist resisting every impulse to open up, and one wonders if this unrelenting intensity might work against the possibility of its becoming one of those life-transforming novels about alienated youth in the tradition of The Catcher in the Rye. But no matter how tense things get, you somehow stay with Salomé’s pursuit of her goal: to locate “the Salomé who’s made off with all my luck, and find a way to get to her.”
A psychological mystery whose solution resides in self-discovery.
