An account of Ebola as it ravaged West Africa. We review In the Company of Men.
In The Company of Men – the blurb
In a series of moving snapshots, Véronique Tadjo illustrates the terrible extent of the Ebola epidemic: the doctor who tirelessly treats patients day after day in a sweltering tent, protected from the virus only by a plastic suit; the student who volunteers to work as a gravedigger while universities are closed, helping the teams overwhelmed by the sheer number of bodies; the grandmother who agrees to take in an orphaned young boy cast out of his village for fear of infection. And watching over them all is the ancient and wise Baobab tree, mourning the dire state of the earth yet providing a sense of hope for the future. Acutely relevant to our times in light of the coronavirus pandemic, In the Company of Men explores critical questions about how we cope with a global crisis and how we can combat fear and prejudice.
Why do you want to read about that?
This was the reaction of someone when I mentioned I was reading a book about Ebola. Yes we are working our way through COVID and yes there is death a plenty but I wanted to find solace/hope that these people have gone through the worst and emerged from the other side.
The book is brief (130 pages) and is imaginative in its recall. A Baobob tree remembers how man used to worship him but now destroys the forest. A bat claims Ebola was not his fault. Even Ebola makes an appearance claiming it is just doing its job. Yet it is the people’s tales that, naturally, grip. The two boys who first ate the bat, the young girl who fled to the City, the distant relative taking on an Ebola orphan. Tadjo draws from real life accounts and it’s heart breaking, stirring stuff.
A light at the end of the tunnel
Yes it is sad, but there is also hope. The book goes from the start to the end of the outbreak. Although we are left in no doubt of the devastation you get the sense the people, the survivors, are closer. They will go on and live, thrive. So will we.
Thanks
My thanks go to Hope Road Publishing via the Random Things Tours for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed it.