Five Books to Read ASAP

The world of books is the world of intricate intelligence and creativity immersed in intrigues and wild imaginations that take an audience on a merry-go-round. This craft is wheeled on the overwhelming emotions of writers of different era in different climes with authors ranging from Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Ayi Kwei Armah, Ahmed Yerima, Chimamanda Adichie to John Grisham, Uwem Akpan, Mary Clark Higgins, Buchi Emecheta and a crop of new age writers who are marvelous story-tellers. We will be looking at ten books by this new writers whose beautifully crafted stories, I assure you, would make you want more. So let’s get to it.

Fine Boys by Eghosa Imasuen

This book is a record of the personal experiences of a young adult and the socio-political happenings at the time in Nigeria. Written in the lingo of young people (in Nigeria) and set in the 1990s with real time events, it tells the story of Ewaen, his family, which includes the sometimes toxic love of his parents, to his gaining admission to study Medicine at the University of Benin where the story actually widens. We follow him through life in the hostel, his youthful exuberance involving smoking, drinking alcohol, chasing after girls and sex to his close shave with cultism where he is almost initiated from a ju man to a frat guy. Also, our attention is drawn to other troubling issues like rape (of a male child), the sharp decline in the academic world, exam malpractice, incessant strikes, M.K.O Abiola’s arrest, the cancellation of the June 12 election in 1993, Nigeria’s first outing at the World Cup, Nigeria’s pop culture at its wake and how much American music influenced the growth to Ken Sarowiwa’s arrest and death. Trust me, you sure want to know more!

Beautiful Stranger by Tomi Adeshina

This is a piece that’s woven to tell the tale of love, its uncertainties and cancer, a deadly disease at the epicentre. As the story opens, we see the struggles of Jerry, a young doctor who considers himself a failure just when his career is starting and the familial love between two sisters whose demised parents left a fortune, Toni and Nora. First, we see how Nora dies for Jame’s love profession even when it’s clear both care about each other. Soon, focus shifts chiefly to Toni whose part crosses with Jerry’s and both helplessly fall in love. At first, Jerry lies about being an accountant and she deliberately keeps her sick status from him. As fate would have it, she suffers a relapse and lands in the hospital where Jerry works. So, truth about his true identity unveils and truth about her sick condition unveils too yet, each refuses to let go. From then on, we fight to defeat the disease with unprecedented love, care and support from friends. Will they win this fight? You should find out.

The Palmwine Drinkard by Amos 

Tutuola in this epic work, Amos Tutuola takes you back on a long trip to the orature of Yoruba folktale by telling a story using abstract images and horrific characters with deformity, spirits and demons who take delight in devouring mortals. He does this by creating an interaction between the two worlds---physical and spiritual through a nameless character called Drinkard. Being an addict of palm wine, his consciousness of death and the pain associated with it is awakened when his tapster falls and dies from a tall tree. He is pained so, he determines to go to the land of the dead to bring him back but little does he know that the decision will make him embark on a ten-year fruitless but adventurous journey. We also see the intertwined Yoruba mythology after his return to assert the supremacy and dominance of gods over the affairs of humans. The rendition of English composition in the text isn’t really self-styled but a revelation of an averagely educated man representing a vast majority then and now. Besides, no matter how smooth one’s grammar is, a typically Nigerian expression remains typical.

Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi

T h i s b o o k d w e l l s o n t h e psychological theme of emotional trauma or brokenness of Jessamy Harrison, an eight-year old little girl inevitably orchestrated by the strains between her Nigerian mother and English father. She feels out of place in both worlds. She also feels very much different from the Nigerian name Wuraola that her grandfather calls her. She feels she is not that person. After her visit to Nigeria, Jess comes up with an imaginary friend TillyTilly whom she feels is both too tall and short at the same time. Her relationship with TillyTilly is one that reveals the intensity of her instability and even begin to open up her mind to fantasies and secrets long before buried. 

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Soneyin

Here, we see how Lola Soneyin creatively tells the tale of infertility and how it is perceived in African marriages. This way, the condiment of real life events completely overwhelms your imaginations and the message that infertility isn't gender based sinks deep down. Action begins in the house of Baba Segi; a rich, middle-aged Nigerian businessman who sells construction materials and prides himself on his four wives and seven children. Events become heated up when he brings in Bolanle, a young university graduate as the fourth wife. After two years of marriage, Bolanle’s inability to conceive creates a two-phased problem first for Baba Segi and the caucus of the three wives: Iya Segi, Iya Tope and Iya Femi. Iya Segi being the first and kingpin calls the shot in the family. She is also the first to discover Baba Segi’s infertility issues and advises the other two to have lovers like she has done. Now that the fourth wife is in the picture, their secrets are threatened. They plan to kill her, they fail and their secret is revealed when Baba Segi himself becomes aware of his infertility status at the hospital he has taken Bolanle for fertility test.

By Tope Oni