In a novel that seems to suggest that some endings are nothing but mere beginnings, when Eniiyi emerges from Ebun’s birth canal, there is little doubt that she bears an uncanny resemblance to the recently deceased.
Book Review
David Szalay is the recent winner of the Booker Prize, an honour he received at…
Food is the unifying theme here, but categorizing Anyadu’s writing style into one genre can be a challenging undertaking seeing as his range spans comedy, folklore, and the Gothic. Not only is Anyadu’s literary palate diverse, he deploys multiple points of view in the manner of a seasoned chef deciding which cooking technique would maximise an ingredient’s flavour.
Through their entangled stories, Theft becomes more than a tale of love or parental betrayal. It is a sociological portrait of Zanzibar and, by extension, Africa’s coastal societies, where the residues of colonialism still shape personal destinies. The novel situates individual choices within the larger machinery of economic transformation, cultural expectation, and historical memory.
What distinguishes A Blitz in the Haze is Yerima’s deft modulation of tone. She writes with restraint, allowing her story to unfold with patient rhythm rather than melodrama. The novel is, at once, a moving exhibition of human frailty and resilience.
While traditionally targeted at children, picture books can be enjoyed by adults too, and this is no exception. For the millennials, Miss Zuri is likely to jolt them with a dose of nostalgia as she echoes Ms. Frizzle, the eccentric teacher from the popular nineties children’s television series, The Magic School Bus
The plot of this novel is driven by deliberate withholding of information. A reader can tell that the narrator is keeping something vital and the desire to find out what is being hidden ensures the pages are continually flipped. Instances like this add to the book’s allure. For instance, later in Esther’s letters to Amina, when things have fallen apart, we gain more clarity, a clarity well-fleshened out in Iyanifa’s perspective.
Described as a “thrilling tale of survival, ambition, and betrayal,” The Unassuming Vector is more than a coming-of-age story. It is a thought-provoking exploration of the fine line between ambition and greed, and the search for purpose and belonging in a world governed by unseen forces.
In the prologue of Akin Adesokan’s sophomore novel, South Side, a reader is likely quick…
The arrest of Kunle Ajibade gave me nightmares. I was working with him in the…
There are stories the living cannot tell, not because they forget, but because they are…
In her colourful descriptions, there are hints of Fetto’s second career as a fashion journalist. (She is the style editor at British Vogue and the author of Palette, a beauty bible for black women.) Like Erving Goffman who penned The Presentation of Self, Fetto’s radar is attuned to how people employ clothes and cosmetics in crafting their personal narratives and the varying results.