Pointe-Noire, late 1970s. The Congo has long gained its independence, and ten-year-old Michel is eager to follow in his country's footsteps. But while the radio news reports on the overthrow of the Persian Shah and the expulsion of the Khmer Rouge, Michel must deal with his own crises. His twelve-year-old friend Caroline demands more attention and threatens to leave him for a show-off from the soccer team. His uncle René, a self-proclaimed capitalist communist, pays for Michel's education but is openly eyeing the inheritance of the deceased grandmother. To top it all off, a shaman has convinced Michel's mother that she cannot have any more children because her son has hidden the key to her belly. In this novel, Alain Mabanckou paints a vivid picture of the challenges and conflicts Michel faces through an imaginative and highly comedic narrative style.