Category: Literature
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James is a very difficult book to start off on. It gets easier to get into after the first couple of chapters and talking walking ghosts though. The novel starts off with the assassination attempt on Bob Marley and weaves a story that spans several...
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Looking for Transwonderland by Noo Saro-Wiwa
A lot of Nigerians appear to have a problem with this book because of how they think it represents Nigeria. Just go through the reviews for the book on Amazon and you will find posts by Nigerians complaining of its depiction of their belovead country. Looking for Transwonderland was written by Noo...
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We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
“We are on our way to Budapest: Bastard and Chipo and Godknows and Sbho and Stina and me. We are going even though we are not allowed to cross Mzilikazi Road; even though Bastard is supposed to be watching his little sister Fraction, even though Mother would kill me dead if she found out; we are...
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Cyprian Ekwensi: The Passport of Mallam Ilia
The sound of a coal powered train chugging along. It is northern Nigeria before independence. The crowded train moves past a busy train station, the camera pans through the window of the train showing you people dressed in the attire appropriate for Northern Nigeria in the 1940s, traders with...
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Happiness, Like Water by Chinelo Okparanta
Okparanta tackles a series of issues from the seemingly mundane to something as sizzling as homosexuality using beautiful prose and evocative words. Her narrators tell their stories with such strength that the reader is compelled to see the truth of their lives. These stories take you by surprise...
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Cyprian Ekwensi: Burning Grass
Burning Grass was first published in 1962 and like a lot of novels by Cyprian Ekwensi, the plot takes place in the northern part of Nigeria. This is the third novel in our series on works by Cyprian Ekwensi. Mai Sunsaye is the chief of his Fulani cattle herding settlement called Dokan Toro. He is...
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Cyprian Ekwensi: Jagua Nana’s Daughter
I tried reading Jagua Nana when I was 12 or so. I went through a couple of pages and I lost interest in the story. It felt like being in church with the adults when kids in the children’s church were having fun, eating biscuits and closing early to go home and have more fun. Never did...
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Cyprian Ekwensi: People of the City
There’s the analysis of Robert Frost’s famous poem “The Road not Taken” that argues that we tend to look back at the choices we made in the past with romanticized lenses. So the authors I chose to read and adore in my childhood were the best even though I didn’t have...
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The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives
I haven’t done much reading of novels in a long while. I know, I have complained about that a lot already. I have been working on correcting this abnormality so I got “The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives” by Lola Shoneyin, published in 2010. Now this book is a bit old....
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Bayan Layi
It helps to slow down and think things through before taking action sometimes. I’ve learnt to do just that when I’m angry. The little and supposedly unimportant decision that comes back to bite your behind can be really annoying. Well at least for me. Like that post on twitter or...
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