Will the real [Séra] please stand up?
To say I enjoyed The Eternal Audience of One x Rémy Ngamije would be an understatement.
It’s a beautiful coming-of-age story about Séraphin or Séra who is That Guy. He’s got the looks, wit, and swagger that attracts everyone to him: the epitome of Black cool, but like everyone he contains multitudes. He’s on the precipice of real adulthood, trying to figure out what to do after uni in South Africa and struggling with his duty to his family and his immigrant community, his presumed duty to a sort of friend, the young women he woos, and himself.
When he leaves uni for break, he’s back in his close-knit Rwandan immigrant community in Namibia and missing his large, diverse group of friends from throughout Africa who tolerate and instigate his bravado and feed off of his shenanigans. The group is but one of his many audiences.
T
hroughout The Eternal Audience of One I couldn’t help but think of this quote from RuPaul, “We’re all born naked and the rest is drag.” Séra is always performing either as dutiful son, smug older brother, easy lover, class clown, creative, or any other dozen of roles. I kept reflecting on my own performances that help me navigate the world a little easier as a Black American woman. Rémy (we’re not on a first-name basis, but I feel like we’re Francophone cousins) does a really beautiful job sharing Séra’s interior life-something that young Black men don’t always get to see in popular culture-and exposing the vulnerability behind the necessary (?) cool wall. As an added bonus, I loved the moment's when Séra was surprised by other characters dropping their cool and letting him in.
I regret not buying this book because there were so many beautiful sentences that illuminated common feelings in an uncommon way. Take this bar for example:
“You look good too. The “good” was stretched out, like a too-small scoop of peanut butter on a too-large slice of bread.”
These characters are funny and charming and frustrating and very much so alive. I cannot wait to buy and read what Rémy does next.
Recommended Books that Complement The Eternal Audience of One
Black Cool: One Thousand Streams of Blackness x Rebecca Walker
Heavy x Kiese Laymon
This is How You Lose Her x Junot Díaz