Fattening for Gabon (Benin) Summary

"Fattening for Gabon" opens with the line "Selling your child or nephew could be more difficult than selling other kids" (p. 33) setting up the horrifying story of an uncle prepared to sell his niece and nephew into slavery. Fofo Kpee had spent the majority of his life in Gabon working as a tout, helping illegal immigrants escape across the Gabon border. A horrifying run-in at the border had left the man terribly scarred, leaving a perpetual sneer on his face, making it appear as if he were smiling at everything. A month before the novel's setting, Fofo Kpee had purchased a brand-new Nanfang motorcycle to ferry people across the border into Nigeria. A wiry man brought the motorcycle to Fofo Kpee's house where ten-year-old narrator Kotchikpa and his five-year-old sister Yewa stare at the bike in stunned...