A heartbreaking, lyrical story for all of those who have fantasized
about escaping their daily lives and starting over.
Michael Kabongo is a British-Congolese teacher living in London on the
cusp of two identities. On paper, he seems to have it all: He's beloved
by his students, popular with his coworkers, and the pride and joy of a
mother who emigrated from the Congo to the UK in search of a better
life. But behind closed doors, he's been struggling with the
overwhelming sense that he can't address the injustices he sees raging
before him--from his relentless efforts to change the lives of his
students for the better to his attempts to transcend the violence and
brutality that marginalizes young Black men around the world.
Then one day he suffers a devastating loss, and his life is thrown into
a tailspin. As he struggles to find a way forward, memories of his
fathers' violent death, the weight of refugeehood, and an increasing
sense of dread threaten everything he's worked so hard to achieve.
Longing to escape the shadows in his mind and start anew, Michael
decides to spontaneously pack up and go to America, the mythical "land
of the free," where he imagines everything will be better, easier--a
place where he can become someone new, someone without a past filled
with pain.
On this transformative journey, Michael travels everywhere from New York
City to San Francisco, partying with new friends, sparking fleeting
romances, and splurging on big adventures, with the intention of living
the life of his dreams until the money in his bank account runs out.
Written in spellbinding prose, with Bola's trademark magnetic
storytelling, The Selfless Act of Breathing takes us on a wild ride to
odd but exciting places as Michael makes surprising new connections and
faces old prejudices in new settings.
