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Reading Pleasure

~ A Blog of Books and Literature

Reading Pleasure

Category Archives: TBR List

Review: Deadly Contact by Lara Lacombe

13 Thursday Mar 2014

Posted by readinpleasure in Fiction, Publication, Romance, TBR List

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

Deadly Contact, Lara Lacombe, romantic suspense

Title:     Deadly Contact
Author: Lara Lacombe
Genre:  Romantic Suspense
Edition: Kindle
Publisher: Harlequin
Pages:     283
Publication date:  November 2013
Reasons for reading: I love romance and got this Kindle from Nana Prah as a gift
 

Blurb

In one passionate night Special Agent James Reynolds and scientist Kelly Jarvis went from friends to lovers. Then Kelly walked away with only an apology. Now James is charged with solving a bio-terrorist attack—and Dr. Jarvis works at the suspected lab.

Is Kelly an accomplice or a victim? Just what are her secrets that drove her from James’s bed? Soon one thing becomes clear: The ghosts of her past has nothing on the terrorists targeting her and Washington, D.C. Another threat bathes the city in red alert, and now there are lives at stake, in addition to hearts….

My Thoughts

What has science got to do with romance? A lot as author Lara Lacombe proves in this fast paced debut romantic suspense, Deadly Contact. Both James and Kelly are so much attracted to each other. But they allow past insecurities and hurts to interfere in their relationship. Trusting each other becomes crucial where each views the partner’s actions with mistrust. It does not help that Kelly’s life is in danger and James has to be her protector, so to speak.

I found the behaviour of these two irksome, to say the least. I kept on wishing they would each realise that they loved each other; but anytime it seems things has eased up a bit and they are going to reconcile, their insecurities flare up, with tension mounting between them rising to palpable heights. To add to this is the suspense of bio-terrorism the author skillfully weaves into the plot. I was actually holding my breath till the end.

What I like about this book is the fact that though the plot has to do with science, the book is not scientific. Am I being clear here? The language is not scientific. All science related issues are written and explained in clear layman’s language. Very readable and very ‘understandable’!

The characters are believable, down to earth and well-developed. The somewhat silly notion I had of female scientists not having a love or active sex life is debunked by Lacombe in Deadly Contact I also fell a little bit in love with James. I mean who would not swoon at the feet of a dangerously dashing FBI agent with a gentle heart and quirky sense of humour?

Having said that I think the ending somewhat fell flat for me. This in no way detracts from an overall engaging and suspenseful read.

Author Bio

Lara Lacombe earned her PhD in microbiology and immunology and worked in several labs before moving into the classroom. Her day job as a college science professor gives her time to pursue her other love; writing fast-paced romantic suspense with smart, nerdy heroines and dangerously attractive heroes.

 

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Review – The Bride Price by Buchi Emecheta

30 Thursday May 2013

Posted by readinpleasure in African Women Writers, Fiction, TBR List

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

The Bride Price

Title: The Bride Price
Author: Buchi Emecheta
Binding: Paperback
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: African Writers Series (Heinemann)
Pages: 177
Publication Date: First published by Allison and Busby in 1976. This edition published in 1995

Reason for reading: For my African reads and also on my TBR

Blurb

‘Always remember that you are mine’, says Aku-nna’s father before he dies. But as Aku-nna approaches womanhood her ambitious uncle makes plans to marry her off for a high bride price. Caught in a web of tradition, lust and greed, Aku-nna falls for the one young man she is forbidden to love.

As with the Joys of Motherhood, Buchi Emecheta is concerned with the effect of the second World War on families of post-colonial Nigeria, particularly the Igbo people. Fighting in a war that has nothing to do with his country, Aku-nna’s father dies of a leg injury he sustains while in combat. The family suffers when their only source of income is no more and they have to re-locate to the village of Ibuza. Here, Aku-nna, her mother Ma Blackie and younger brother Nna-ando all come under the heavy-handed and often sly protection of her uncle Okonkwo who nurses the ambition of marrying Aku-nna off for a handsome bride-price.

Buchi Emecheta’s The Bride Price covers many themes from bride price to tradition and the caste system in Nigeria. Aku-nna’s lover and later husband Chike, is a slave born to slave parents and therefore she is forbidden to marry him. But Chike wins her with his kindness, deep love and concern for her well-being. For a teenage girl who is fatherless and whose guardian is only interested in marrying her off to the highest bidder, whose mother is now married to her brother-in-law and therefore has minimal interest in her daughter, Chike’s attentions are more than welcome. Perhaps, being an outcast, he finds much in common with the lonely and impressionable teen.

The Financial Times dubs the The Bride Price a classic love story and I couldn’t agree more. But beyond the love story, lies the compelling story of young, intelligent, passionate, courageous and determined girl, bent on defying the traditions of her people, which sought to keep her chained to a mediocre present, and a future of nothingness. Aku-nna’ rises above her situation and becomes a teacher. She marries her lover, Chike. But is she able to live happily ever after?

Again, Emecheta’s novel seem to illustrates how cultural norms imprison women, in particular for we have cultural beliefs triumphing in the end. Are these in themselves bad, for  people are identified and defined by their very traditions and belief systems. However (and the onus is on however), traditions that are detrimental to the well-being of women, that places barriers to the development of women ought to be done away with.

The author does offer some hope though that, someday, these barriers will be broken. Me thinks these barriers have taken too long in breaking.

The Bride Price is powerfully and poignantly written, compelling and passionate. I must say that I did not like how the story ended, though I empathized so much with Aku-nna and her lover and wanted them to soar above all their predicaments. But I guess scientific reasons could convincingly explain Aku-nna’s unfortunate demise  and make nonsense of the superstition surrounding her death.

I recommend The Bride Price to all lovers of African literature and all those who  love to read romance, particularly in an African setting.

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Review: Chancing Faith by Empi Baryeh

25 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by readinpleasure in African Women Writers, Romance, TBR List

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

Empi Baryeh, Interracial romance

Title: Chancing Faith
Author: Empi Baryeh
Binding: Paperback
Genre: contemporary (Interracial) Romance
Pages: 277
Publication Date: 2012

Publishers: Black Opal books Publication

Reasons for Reading: From my TBR. (An autographed copy I must add :-))

http://empibaryeh.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/empibaryeh_chancingfaith_200px.jpgNaaki Tabika wanted to prove to herself, that as a Ghanaian young woman poised on the doorstep of a successful career with a fine advertising company Media Image Advertising (MIA), she was much more than wife and mother material. She had broken up with Gyamfi precisely because she did not want to be tied down to a man who would submerge her identity and dreams of making it in the competitive advertising world. And she  certainly had no room for another man in her life so when Thane Alexsander, the American Ad Executive came striding into her life, she was confused big time. She found it difficult admitting her hopeless attraction for him. Could she dare mix business with pleasure? More importantly could she trust him and her heart?

‘Thane Alexsander didn’t date co-workers either until business took him to Ghana and he met Naaki. Now he was at risk of breaking all the rules. Could he stop this headlong fall until it’s too late?’ (Blurb)

Chancing Faith is Empi Baryeh’s second romance to come out of Ghana but this time it is an interracial romance between two career-driven professionals who must find a common ground to able to give their blossoming love a chance.

I must say that there is nothing racial about this novel, not at all. Both Thane and Naaki were very comfortable in their being different, and of different races, if you get what I mean. If there was any difference, it was more cultural than racial. The   main cultural divergence in the novel concentrated on business issues related to the advertising field, with the unpleasant potential threat of an American company taking over an African one by forcing their policies and values on the employees, without due cognizance to the culture of the local employees.

What I love about Chancing Faith is the background information on the business of advertising in my own country which I never knew much about.  The novel was well written and very well researched, with interesting believable and well-developed characters. Thane and Naaki’s romance was conducted amidst lots of fun and with much decorum and respect for each other’s views and cultures. That is not to say there were no hot moments; there were quite a number of them, though the couple did not jump into bed on their first meeting. (I must admit I was expecting something like that after reading her first novel, Most Eligible Bachelor) I guess, Thane had to put a lot of restrain on his feelings though the telltale signs of his attraction for Naaki gave him away most of the time.

The language was simple, interspersed with the local dialect giving the novel that ‘Ghanaian feeling of our own special kind of English’. (the author explained the foreign words   in italics) and the writing very well-edited.

In my review of her first novel, Most Eligible Bachelor, I did say that Empi is one Ghanaian lady we should watch out for. She is carving a niche for herself as a  hot contemporary romance writer with fast-paced plots and hot upwardly mobile Ghanaian characters who know what they want and go all out for it. Yes, we can have it all, education, fine jobs and wonderful partners. 🙂

This is a fine novel and I recommend it to all who love romance and would want to know more about Ghana and her wonderful people and culture.

about empi

Empi Baryeh has been writing since the age of thirteen after stumbling upon a YA story her older sister had started. The story fascinated her so much that, when she discovered it was unfinished, she knew the task of completing it rested firmly on her shoulders. And somehow the ideas and the words for the rest of the story began to pour into her mind. She’s been writing ever since.It wasn’t until another thirteen years later, however, that the romantic in her geared her toward romance. She now focuses on heart-warming multicultural romance with enough passion to enthrall readers who want a little sizzle with their romance. She lives in her native country, Ghana, which provides the exotic setting for most of her novels.
Chancing Faith can be bought from Amazon (Kindle and Paperback) and Black Opal Books Publications.
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Review: Kevin’s Last Walk (A Father’s Final Journey With His Son) by Barry Adkins

25 Friday Jan 2013

Posted by readinpleasure in Non-Fiction, TBR List

≈ 38 Comments

Tags

alcohol poisoning, Binge-drinking, Parenting

Title: Kevin’s Last Walk (A Father’s Final Journey With His Son)
Author: Barry Adkins
Binding: Paperback
Genre: Non-fiction, Adult, YA
Publisher: KLW Publishing, LLC
Pages: 211
Publication Date: 2011

From my TBR

I first heard of Kevin’s Last Walk when Denise Cassino, whom I follow on Twitter posted parts of the story and I was so moved by what I read. I then asked my cousin in the US, Yvonne to send me a copy of the book which she did. I’m so grateful to Denise and Yvonne.

Imagine losing your son the very day he moves out of home to be with his friends after completing High school. It is not something that any parent would wish for himself and certainly that was the last thing that Barry Adkins wished for himself. A month earlier, Kevin, 18 years, was in high spirit. He had just bought his first vehicle a Ford Ranger, and the day that he moved, the truck carried his worldly possessions to the new home he was to share with his friends. The day that was supposed to mark the beginning of Kevin’s adult life turned out to be his last. He died of alcohol poisoning at the party he friends organised for him.

In 2007, Kevin’s father, Barry set out on an epic one thousand four hundred (1400) mile journey, and walked from Arizona to Montana with his son’s ashes in his backpack because he was determined that something good would come out of his son’s death.

“When you lose a child the most that you can hope for is that something very good would come from it  that is precisely what I plan to spend the rest of my life doing.”  (Barry Adkins)

Kevin’s Last Walk is the harrowing and poignant journal narrative of Barry’s heroic and selfless effort to keep his son’s memory alive and to ensure that thousands of other youths would not end up like his son did. Throughout the journey from Arizona to Montana Barry gave talks and did presentations at schools and churches and other facilities along the way, on the dangers of binge drinking, impacting on students in a most powerful and unforgettable way. Barry shared his story because he cared about the youth and their decisions and he cared enough to want to reach out to parents as well to make them prevent the tragedy that happened to him.

The narrative is simple, straightforward and short with the unfolding events of the whole journey, including the inspirational  talks and presentations recorded almost daily in a journal or diary form. The pathos felt in the narrative is very much understated; readers are not subjected to any sad lengthy tale of the circumstances surrounding Kevin’s death. That event is mentioned only as a background to the story to let readers know that Kevin had died and why. The main plot is all about the remarkable journey from Arizona to Montana.

The pervasive humour that runs throughout the novel is meant to put readers at ease and make them enjoy the otherwise  arduous and rugged journey and as I read along, it was so obvious to see why Barry laughs at himself; he had to live above the tragedy and make something good come out of it. This is a mantra that he repeats at the end of each chapter.

I thoroughly enjoyed Kevin’s Last Walk and felt so saddened at the same time.  And that set me thinking. As parents, do we do enough for our children in terms of inculcating the right values in them to cushion them against the future? What is the guarantee that our kids will turn out the way we want them to, with the right choices?

A woman at my church recently lost her only son who was doing his Masters programme, in a lorry accident. The young man and his friends were from the disco and the one who was driving had taken in alcohol. Her devastation was total and yet some members insinuated that she had not brought up her son in a way that befitted Christian principles. I could not agree less. You do your best for your children, bringing them up with and on the right values but in the end the choices they make when they reach adulthood are beyond you as a parent. You can only hope for the best and in a worst situation like Barry’s hope that something good would come out of that worst situation. In that something good is the opportunity and ability to forgive yourself.

I wholeheartedly recommend Kevin’s Last Walk (A Father’s Final Journey With His Son) as a must-read to all parents and young adults as well

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Review: Not Without Flowers by Amma Darko

18 Tuesday Sep 2012

Posted by readinpleasure in African Women Writers, Challenges, Fiction, Ghanaian Literature Week, TBR List

≈ 18 Comments

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Not Without Flowers

Title:     Not Without Flowers
Author: Amma Darko
Binding: Paperback
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 367
Publication Date: 2007

Publishers: Sub-Saharan Publishers

Reasons for Reading: From my TBR

In attempting to write this review I will be as brief as possible and try not to give spoilers. I have come to realise, reading other reviews that mine tend to be lengthy with lots of spoilers. 🙂 I do talk a lot and cannot stop once I am on familiar turf. Anyway, once I have cleared that out of the way I will plunge right in.

Imagine a world or a garden full of beautiful flowers of all types and shades where you bathe in the evoking beauty and pleasure everyday, cherishing the sensuous smells and aesthetic value to your simple but elegant home, where you make a home for your loving husband and children. Then you wake up one morning and hearing voices urging you with cacophonic urgency to slash all the lovely plants, you obey and whack, hack and slash through the stems, killing all the flowers, letting out blood, yes blood till you are spent, your mind a whirring decline into madness. That is what Amma Darko’s Not Without Flowers seeks to portray in a dramatic and symbolic way. Beauty in marriage suddenly evaporating, dying, a corpse of a marriage where nothing but a carcass of  bitterness, disappointment, madness, suicide and revenge remain as ashes.

Aggie’s marriage to Idan, her childhood sweetheart is all that she hoped it would be, except that it is a childless one. And when Idan ‘accidentally’ meets Randa an attractive and cold university student who seduces him with a passion that only reminds him of his youth and fuels his guilt over his affair and childlessness, a chain of events sets in leading to unearth Aggie’s past life as a student prostitute and the unwitting part she played in the suicide of Randa’s father and madness of her mother. Nemesis comes knocking at Aggie’s door in a whirlwind that sweeps Aggie, her husband and her polygamous parents, as well Randa and her two older siblings and her young lover along in a vortex of pain, betrayal, and the shocking truth of living with HIV/AIDS.

From the beginning of the novel, Amma Darko creates a masterful suspense with her intricate plot and characters. Intriguing, baffling and shady sub plots are all woven together sending me on a seat gripping marathon as I craved for the ultimate picture to unravel. At the end of the novel, I was stunned, unable to come to terms with the grief of Ma, as she watched helplessly as Aggie a. k. a. Flower, destroys the very loving fabric of her marriage, albeit a complacent one. Here Amma Darko spares no effort in portraying a young Aggie on the prowl, confidently sexy in her ability and power to ensnare a middle-aged man, Pa, for monetary gains. Having unmanned him literally and figuratively, she scorns him and bankrupt, he commits suicide.

In dealing with the various themes in Not Without Flower, the author employs poignant dramatic devices which highlights thorny issues such as HIV/AIDS in a polygamous marriage in an urban setting, juxtaposing this with the rural setting of Aggie’s mother whose relationship with her childless rival is close-knit with support coming from both sides. Aggie treats all two mothers equally and never refers to her stepmother as such. The use of flashback adequately sends the reader back and forth revealing and clarifying past events of an otherwise convoluted plot and heightening emotions in a roller-coaster way.

Infidelity is another theme that runs throughout the novel. Almost all the major characters and a few minor ones are unfaithful to their respective partners. Lies and deceits abound as these characters try to make meaning of their current predicaments which they find themselves in as a result of their initial lies. Nothing is as it seems. Closely linked to this is an important power-relation explored in the ‘sugar-daddies’ and ‘chicken-soups’ or ‘good-time girls’ syndrome, something that is on the increase in cosmopolitan cities in the country. The harm that this relation does to wives forms the central topic of the novel. The narration also seems to explicitly explore the harm done by women to other women. Darko seems committed to investigate the problems women encounter in modern Ghana.

Ma’s madness as a result of her husband’s infidelity and suicide is a true reflection on the statistics and causes of mental problems afflicting Ghanaian women in contemporary times. That her children seek un-orthodox treatment for her in a prayer camp is a sad and unfortunate indictment on their desperation as well as prevailing situations in the country.

The author also employs the surreal, making use of superstitions, premonitions that foretell the future, dreams that come to pass, traditional lore and customs; she superbly blends this with the comic prophecies of Prophet Abednego, the not so latest example and manifestations of socio-economic and religious deficiencies in the country, to create an effective mysterious atmosphere in the novel.

I did not like some of the characters though I could understand why they took certain decisions and behaved the way they did. At some point I felt like putting the book away as I could not bear the pain of Ma and could not stand the game played by Randa and her sister Cora.

All in all, Amma Darko’s writing is a force to reckon with. Her use of language is confident, interspersed with much Ghanaian humour, using the Ghanaian English liberally. She knows her people, her setting and her play with different genres, investigative, suspense, mystery and romance works out smoothly and beautifully in the end.

I recommend this novel to all lovers of Ghanaian (African) literature.

About the Author:

Amma Darko is one of the most significant contemporary Ghanaian literary writers.She is the author of four previous novels: Faceless (Sub-Saharan, 2003), The Housemaid (Heinemann, 1999), Beyond the Horizon (Heinemann, 1995) and Not Without Flowers (Sub-Saharan,2007). http://www.africanbookscollective.com

Amma Darko, May 2004

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Review: Faceless By Amma Darko

28 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by readinpleasure in African Women Writers, Fiction, TBR List

≈ 205 Comments

Tags

Faceless, Poverty, Streetism

Title: Faceless
Author: Amma Darko
Binding: Paperback
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 199
Publication Date: 2003 This Edition 2010

Publishers: Sub-Saharan Publishers

Reasons for Reading: Won the book in a Reading Relay organised by logo-ligi and also from my TBR

Faceless is the third novel written  by Amma Darko, with an introductory essay  by Prof. Kofi Anyhidoho. It tells of the death of Baby T, a child prostitute whose naked, beaten and mutilated body is found dumped behind a marketplace in Agbogbloshie, a slum area in Accra, the capital of Ghana. Details of the murder and Baby T’s life, are skilfully revealed by the author through two sources: one, Baby T’s younger sister Fofo, herself a street child; and through the rehabilitative intervention of an NGO, known as MUTE whose efforts through one of its Programme Officers, Kabria, unearth’s the proverbial can of worms that is the whole story of Faceless

Baby T’s story is heartbreaking. The third child of Ma Tsuru, Baby T is sexually abused by her mother’s live-in lover, Kpakpo. Confused and betrayed, she confides in a family friend and co-tenant, Onko, who takes advantage of her trust and rapes her. Baby T’s mother, Ma Tsuru, a tragic figure destroyed by the men in her life, is helpless to do anything. Weighed down by poverty, illiteracy and shame, she takes money from Onko, and matters take a drastic turn when Kpakpo, always on the loose for fast money manipulates Maa Tsuru and Baby T is sold into prostitution, to also appease his ‘guilt’. It seemed a nasty situation has been tidied up. But has it? Subsequent events, leading to the tragic death of Baby T proves otherwise.

Discrimination against women is a pervasive theme in the novel. Symbolically Baby T carries the sins of her parents, as well as  those visited upon women in a society where culturally men are the masters and women bear the brunt of injustice; Maa Tsuru, Baby T’s mother whose husband abandons her penniless, as a result of a ‘curse’ is also a victim of discrimination whose hapless predicament is made more poignant by superstition, poverty and illiteracy. Thus though we have most of the male characters in the novel being murderers, rapists and irresponsible fathers, yet it is the female characters that suffer in a community of drifters and hustlers where characters like Poison, the local thug and Kingpin reign supreme.

Faceless is also the tragic, unfortunate story of a social canker in Ghana and indeed, the bane of developing countries, streetism in a metropolitan and urban environment; and a powerful social commentary and insight into the multifaceted issues underlying streetism, that is broken homes, rape, poverty, illiteracy AIDS, etc. She leaves no stone unturned in exposing and analysing the characters for their various behaviours and at the end, people like Maa Tsuru would receive thee sympathy of the reader and well some disgust, while Fofo would earn admiration for her brevity and courage in wanting to seek the truth and nothing but the truth behind her sister’s murder despite threats on her life from shady characters like Poison, who bring up only abhorrence. I do believe also that Kabria’and her children from the ‘urban posh’ environment are a foil to Fofo and her gang, the contrast created presenting a cruel view of the two worlds.

The fate of Baby T only strengthens her sister Fofo who, through the interventions of MUTE is given a new lease of life, so to speak. And the author seems to buttress this point further by quoting: “The future promise of any nation can be directly measured by the present prospects of its youth.”  John F. Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963)

English: Ghanaians working in Agbogbloshie, a ...

English: Ghanaians working in Agbogbloshie, a suburb of Accra, Ghana. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Faceless is a well-researched novel, with the narration drawing on real-life events and places/slums like Agbogbloshie, Market, Makola Market, Korle-Gonno, and the all-notorious Sodom and Gomorrah (named after the Biblical city that God destroyed because of its numerous sins) of all which are in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The characters are real and believable enough and though some, like Poison are stereotyped I do believe the portrayal of such characters  highlight the predominant truth and nastiness of the whole streetism and gang phenomena

The writing is brilliant, with simple easy to understand Ghanaian English, interspersed with the vernacular, giving the reader a feel of the Ghanaian culture and what makes her tick. I particularly like the narrative style, which though straight forward draws the reader in, building tension as the author takes us through dizzying moments of intrigue and suspense to reveal the hidden truth behind Baby T’s murder.

I believe Amma Darko is a force to reckon with and I recommend this book wholeheartedly.

About the Author: She was born in Koforidua, Ghana, and grew up in Accra. She studied in Kumasi, where she received her diploma in 1980. Her first novel was published in a German translation in 1991, and was published in its English original in the Heinemann African Writers Series in 1995 as Beyond the Horizon. In between Beyond The Horizon and Faceless, we have The Housemaid, also published in both a German Translation and in the Heinemann African Writers Series in 1998. There is more than ample evidence that these three works constitute an important trilogy and must be read as such.

I appreciate your patience with me as I catch up on your blogs. Thanks a million! Shalom! 🙂

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Short Story Tuesday – (Review) The Girl With A Twisted Future by Mia Couto

07 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by readinpleasure in Fiction, Short Stories, TBR List

≈ 30 Comments

Tags

Contortionism, Mia Couto, Poverty, Third World, Victimisation, Voices Made Night

The Girl With A Twisted Future, by Mia Couto of Mozambique, is from his collection of short stories, Voices Made Night, a landmark in Mozambican prose fiction. The collection was translated from Portuguese into English by David Brookshaw. Voices Made Night expresses through striking poetic metaphors, a surreal world defined by its contradictions, and set against a background of political instability. (blurb)

Joseldo Bastante, a poor village mechanic with twelve (12) children decides to use his eldest child and daughter, Filomeninha, to make money for the family by passing her off as contortionist, displayed and advertised along the highways and byways of afar. (P 77). Through a twisted sense of desperation, born of extreme poverty, Joseldo takes his poor daughter through moments of inhuman treatment of malformation and excruciating pain, getting her to bend herself to get her head as far as the floor and vice-versa.

“At night he would tie his daughter to the drum so that her back and the curve of the recipient would cling to each other like a courting couple. In the morning, he would pour hot water over her before she woke up properly. (This water is for your bones to become sort, flexible) When they unbound her, the girl was bent over backwards, her blood flow irregular and her bones disjointed……………Filomeninha was crumpling for all to see. She looked like a hook without any more use, an abandoned rag. P 78

Finally Filomeninha is ready to be sent to an impressario who would launch her career as a contortionist. However, the impressario refuses to do so, because there is no market for contortionists or rather, there is low premium on that.

“There is no point in wasting my time. I don’t want it. Contortionism is out, it’s no longer a sensation…..This girl is sick, that’s what she is.” P 80

Needless to say, Filomeninha collapses and dies on her father on their way back to the village; Joseldo’s dream  was thus dashed.

This tragic narrative is laced with wry humour to perhaps underplay the stark portrayal of  the absurdities and foolishness of life bound by greed and extreme deprivation in an African setting. The story also abounds in themes of exploitation or victimisation of women, particularly daughters, for economic gains. Reading the collection, I could only marvel that the translator, David Brookshaw did a fine job as I was horribly reminded of current situations of child-trafficking for economic and sexual purpose in Third World Countries. I gladly recommend Voices Made Night to all who are interested in reading about Africa.

About the Author: Antonio Emilio Leite Couto was born in 1955. He has over twenty (20) literary works published in several languages including Portuguese, English, French, German, Italian and Catalan. His first publication, Raiz do Orvalho was a collection of poems published in 1983. Voices Made Night, first published in 1986 in Portuguese, is his first collection of short stories. His recent novel Jerusalem was published in 2009. Sleep Walking (Terra Sonambula) was published in 1992 and considered one of the top twelve (12) African books of the 20th Century by the Zimbabwean International Book Fair. Aside his writing, Mia Couto is also a biologist.

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Of A Death And Acquisitions

31 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by readinpleasure in Challenges, Events, Reading List, TBR List

≈ 16 Comments

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Acquisitions, Azar Nafisi, Death, Khaled Hosseini, Maya Angelou, The Book Trust, Used Books, Virginia Woolf

My dear friends and fellow bloggers, it’s not been easy for us in Ghana these past few days since the unexpected demise of our President, Prof. John Evans Ata Mills; at least for those who saw in him the embodiment of all that is pure, true, noble, humble and selfless. We are still in shock and until his funeral is held from 8th to 10th August 2012 and finally when he is laid to rest on 10th August 2012, everything I do would have a surreal quality to it.

I find it difficult reading the books I have lined up knowing very well that doing just that would be therapeutic for me. I try to blog by catching up on my mails and though that has yielded some results, I am not able to derive pleasure from it like I used to. However, I know deep down in my heart, that I will get over this apathy or lethargy or whatever it is I’m going through now. What I am certain about is that I am in mourning even as the whole nation observe the customary one-week celebration of the death of our illustrious President, today, Tuesday 30th July 2012.

In a completely un-related development, I recently acquired the following books from The Book Trust, in Accra. (a popular and fine outlet for used books from overseas) The prices are very affordable and I’m so pleased with myself. I only pray that I would be able to read and blog on them soon.

  • Reading Lolita in Tehran, A Memoir In Books by Azar Nafisi
  • Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. ( I had read so much being blogged about this  that I just had to buy it when I saw it. I may have to add it to two of the Challenges I’m on; The Classics Club and Back To The Classics Challenge)
  • I know Why The Caged Birds Sing by Maya Angelou
  • A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

I must say that The Book Trust has loads and stacks of books, children’s, YA, text, language, adult and you name it, in quite a number of genres that you can think of. The books are so stacked together that it is quite an arduous task going through to find one’s choice. Funny enough, The Book Trust is just a stone’s throw from where I work and yet I hardly go there because I would not have the time to comb through the piles. Also, most of the time, I forget that The Book Trust is right under my nose. (can you believe that?) To think that a few months back I was raiding bookshops to get my oldest boy some good YA reads when all the time The Book Trust sat patiently nearby waiting for my visit. My virtual arsenal of knowledge, here I come mind you, on a monthly basis. Shalom

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Short Story Tuesday – (Review) The Housegirl by Okey Chigbo

17 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by readinpleasure in Fiction, Short Stories, TBR List

≈ 27 Comments

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Lagos, The Housegirl

The Housegirl by  Nigerian Okey Chigbo is another short story from the Anthology of Contemporary African Short Stories edited by Chinua Achebe and C L Innes.

The Housegirl is an enjoyable 16 page expose of the happenings in the lives of the individual members of a wealthy Nigerian family. The story is told through sixteen- year-old Comfort, the Senior housegirl whose caustic, frank and sometimes hilarious narration reveals the inequalities inherent in the strata of society. Comfort’s mistress whom she calls Madam, refuses to pay her monthly wages.  The amount, 10 Naira, is paid to Comfort’s father at the end of very month and she gets 3 Naira from her father who keeps the rest. This has been stopped for two years after Comfort’s father’s death. The mistress also discriminates against Comfort even when it comes to sharing of gifts and items.

“…….Did I tell you that madam has returned from Lagos? You should see the things she brought back. She gave Obiageli a beautiful gown  with enough wonderful colours to shame all the pretty flowers in the vilalge…..As usal, there was nothing for me. You know how it goes. Selina gets everything just because she is from madame’s hometown. My seniority as a number one housegirl does not mean anything. to madam.” P 1489

Comfort however, approaches her work with enthusiasm, preparing the meals with great skill. Master often asks for her delicious egusi soup (P 149). Occasionally, she lords it over the younger housegirls who are her mistress’ favourites.

The Housegirl is not your ordinary story of a girl forced through circumstances to be a housegril in a rich home where she is maltreated. The story of Comfort is not a sop story. The story of Comfort is only a microcosm of a macrocosm. Through her gossipy yet dignified narratives which is reflected by short episodic sentences, the reader is made aware of the selfishness of man towards his fellow-man. The bane of African governments, nepotism is also highlighted when madam only gives gifts to the housegirls from her hometown. In the larger macroscopic world, posh government and political positions are given out based on tribal and ‘old boy’ sentiments. Through Comfort, the reader is again made to confront salient issues like economic exploitation of the poor; adultery; (Master fathers a child outside his marriage) irresponsible behaviour of the youth; (the philandering of the only son of the family, Callistus, who drops out of school and makes one of the housegirls pregnant); greed and avariciousness of society that has milked out human kindness.

“Madam on the other hand resembles a dry fish we use to make soup…..she is getting thinner everyday despite her succesful business because her wooden heart  is sucking out all the kindness in her  body. (p 154)

I will recommend this short story and indeed, the whole Anthology of Contemporary African Short Stories for lovers of African literature.

About the Author: Born in Enugu Nigeria in 1955, Chigbo Okey attended secondary school in that city. He moved to Canada in 1976 and gained a BA in Economics from Simon Fraser University, Vancouver. His articles have been published in West Africa, New African, African Events, Class, Black Enterprise and The Business Journal.

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Review – The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta

12 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by readinpleasure in African Women Writers, Fiction, Reading List, TBR List

≈ 39 Comments

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African Writers Series, Colonial Powers, Joys of Motherhood, Misery, Second World War

Title: The Joys of Motherhood
Author: Buchi Emecheta
Binding: Paperback
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Pearson Education Limited 
Pages: 254
Publication Date: 1979

This Edition: Heinemann African Writers Series (AWS) Classics –  2008.

Reasons for Reading: I won this book in a Reading Relay organised by logo-ligi

Nnu Ego, (pronounced New Ego) the protagonist of the novel is a symbol of all the joys, woes, despair and ultimately disappointments of universal motherhood. Emecheta spares no effort in portraying her as a woman whose sacrificial love and duty towards her seven children see her wallowing in abject poverty, want, misfortune and ridicule from her husband and neighbours. The traditional and cultural expectations that a woman’s ultimate joy and worth are measured by her motherhood places so much pressure on Nnu Ego and when she is spurned and ill-treated in her first marriage to Amatokwu for being barren, her despair is palpable. She is sent from her hometown of Ibuza in the south-eastern part of Nigeria, to Lagos, the capital, to marry her second husband, Nnaife, a rotund wash-man for the white master  Dr. Meers and his wife. Her disappointment at the sight of her new husband is almost comical.

“She fought back tears of frustrations. She was used to tall wiry farmers, with rough blackened hands from farming, long, lean legs and very dark skin. This was one was short, the flesh of his upper arm danced as he moved about jubilantly among his friends, and that protruding belly! Why did he not cover it? She despised him on first night……….Another thought run through her mind. Suppose this man-made her pregnant, would that not be an untold joy to her people? O my dead mother, please make this dream come true. then I will respect this man, I will be his faithful wife and put up with his crude ways and ugly appearance..”  P 44 -45

To his credit, Nnaife  fathers in rapid succession all Nnu Ego’s children thus fulfilling her greatest desire of becoming a mother. Her toils, amid extreme deprivations only serve to highlight her joy in a glorious future that her children, particularly her sons, will make possible.

“Nnu Ego realized that part of the pride of motherhood was to look a little unfashionable and be able to drawl with joy: “I can’t afford another outfit, because I am nursing him, so you see I can’t go anywhere to sell anything.” One usually received the answer, “Never mind, he will grow soon and clothe you and farm for you, so that your old age will be sweet”

 Throughout the novel, Buchi Emecheta makes good use of dramatic irony and episodic narrative style, to point out the disappointments of Nnu Ego in every aspect of her sojourns in life. including the betrayal of her children, particularly the sons, in neglecting her in her old age. All her best laid plans come to naught, as the apple of her eye, Oshia and his brother Adim leave for the USA and Canada respectively for further studies and never write or send home the much-needed money to relieve the family of poverty. At the end of the novel, lonely and forsaken, her senses start to give way.

“She became vague, and people pointed out that she had never been strong emotionally. ………After much wanderings one night, Nnu Ego lay down by the road side, thinking she had arrived home. She died quietly there, with no child to hold her hand and no friend to talk to….she had never really made many friends, so busy had she been building up her joys as a mother.” P 253

There was never any thought given to educating her two sets of twin daughters. Daughters were looked at as an investment. Hopefully, they would marry well and bring in a good bride price (which would most likely go towards their brothers’ education). Nnu Ego assumes that her sons will come home to live and will care for her as she ages. Again, ironically, Adaku, Nnaife’s dead brother’s widow, whom he inherits as a wife, makes more money trading. Her lavish lifestyle only serves to highlight Nnu Ego’s poverty. But then even Adaku eventually leaves the marriage with her two daughters after she comes to realise that she is not regarded at all in the scheme of things because she has no sons to be counted among women.

“Everybody accuses me of making good money all the time. What else is there for me to do? I will spend the money I have in giving my girls a good start in life. The shall  stop going to them market with me. I shall see that they get enrolled in a good school. I think that will benefit them in the future.” P 189

Seeing the advent and benefits of the girl-child education on the horizon, Adaku is able to make a clean break with tradition, while Nnu Ego still clings to it. She is caught between two often warring worlds; and when resolution comes it is at the expense of her happiness and illusions.

The Joys of Motherhood is also about repressive attitudes of the traditional culture which called for strict regulation of women’s roles as wives in the society. Wives obeyed their husbands in all matters and were and subservient to them. However, this may not be a presumed right that every man holds, especially when the husband is unable to cater adequately for his wife and children as well as additional family members. Thus Nnu Ego is unable to accord Nnaife the full respect he deserves. Her on and off petty trading supplements the meagre income from Nnaife, to make earns meet. Nnu Ego also comes across in the novel as a woman who knows her right in the traditional setting and would not compromise on that.

Set in the colonial era, The Joys of Motherhood is also about influence of colonisation on the people, the new economic order which has made men like Nnaife a ‘woman-made-man‘ laundering the white madam’s clothes (P 48-49); and the gradual disintegration of cultural values. In all this, the family is affected profoundly. The colonial influence challenges and erodes the communal and clan value systems that once defined the African. Again The Joys of Motherhood talks about the effects of the Second World War on a people who did not create the war and did not know why they even had to fight a war they know nothing about. They are at a loss to understand forced conscription into the army and. The economic and social hardships that reared its head during and after the war in Europe is also felt in Nigeria and most significantly in Nnu Ego’s household. She has to scrape to hold the family together in Nnaife’s absence as his meagre allowance of 20 pounds is barely able to sustain them.

The title of the novel itself, The Joys of Motherhood, is ironic, when viewed in the light of the story. But perhaps, Emecheta seems to suggest that Nnu Ego’s joy is in her giving birth to sons, thus clinching her motherhood, respect and place in society. So that in the end, it may not matter at all whether her children take care of her in her old age or not.

I enjoyed this novel so much. Being a mother of sons, I could empathise with Nnu Ego. But perhaps, with the advantage of economic empowerment, advancement and the evolution of culture and tradition, my situation is not dire. Nevertheless, issues relating to motherhood has not changed much in Africa and I dare say elsewhere. It is the prayer of many a mother that their children will grow up and care for them, especially as we in Africa still place some emphasis on the importance of sons, though we know for a fact that daughters might be the ones who do much of the caring.

The Joys of Motherhood is considered a Classic by the  African Writers Series Classics, a brand new Heinemann series which offers a selection of the best works of African literature originally published in the African Writers Series.The fourth novel from the Nigerian-born writer, Buchi Emecheta, The Joys of Motherhood is recognised as one of Africa’s 100 Best Books of the 20th Century in an initiative organised by the Zimbabwe International Book fair. This edition includes an introduction by Dr. Elleke Boehmer, Professor of World Literature in English at Oxford University. (Introduction)

Related Article:

THE JOYS OF MOTHERHOOD by Buchi Emecheta  by logo-ligi.com


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