At the centre of this strange and compelling universe stands Anyanwu, the sun god, a character rendered with both mythical grandeur and startling ordinariness. He is not confined to the heavens or trapped within ancient folklore. Instead, he walks among men. He goes to the cinema in Bodija, drinks palm wine and Fanta, laughs loudly while watching Chinese films, quarrels, fights physically with men and runs to fight another day. The blending of the divine with the mundane gives the novel its peculiar energy and originality. The supernatural is domesticated without losing its mystery, collapsing the boundaries between gods and humans, spirits and flesh.
At some points in Bolaji Olatunde’s third and latest novel, ‘A Person of Heft’, you may be tempted to ask:...





