And so, I began to realize that my American roommate must have throughout her life seen and heard different versions of this single story, as had a professor, who once told me that my novel was not "authentically African." Now, I was quite willing to contend that there were a number of things wrong with the novel, that it had failed in a number of places, but I had not quite imagined that it had failed at achieving something called African authenticity.
Comencé a entender a mi compañera estadounidense, que durante su vida debió ver y escuchar diferentes versiones de esta única historia, al igual que un profesor, quien dijo que mi novela no era "auténticamente africana". Yo reconocía que había varios defectos en la novela, que había fallado en algunas partes, pero no imaginaba que había fracasado en lograr algo llamado autenticidad africana.