Americanah by Chimamanda N. Adichie

Genre: fiction, 490 pages

 

 The book follows the life of Ifemelu, who is an only child to somewhat lower class but educated parents. Her father works in the ministry and constantly sounds off his knowledge with big words in his analysis of the declining state of the country's politics. He is a proud man whose firm belief against corruption results in him getting sacked from his job for refusing to call his new boss "Mummy".
His wife is a religious woman who wants the best for her family however her good intentions sometimes lead her in questionable directions as is seen when she comes home one day when Ifemelu is still a young girl, sober and trance-like, proceeds to chop off her long and beautiful hair and declares she has found God and they are now members of a church where they do not chemically process their hair or wear jewelry.

Surviving America and Racism
Ifemelu gets into university and during one of the many union strikes, she applies to universities in America and is thrilled when she gets offers and a partial scholarship. Getting a visa was easy and off she goes to live with her aunt, Uju, who had relocated years ago after her married military lover dies in a plane crash. On getting to Brooklyn, she is disillusioned. by what she sees; overwhelming heat, dirty streets and the fact that everything wasn't shiny, bright and glossy as she had seen in Bill Cosby's show.

Amidst finding a way to survive with no job and little or no money, she has to cope with the strains of university life and racism which she had never had to deal with in Nigeria. Obinze gradually gets pushed to the back of her mind as she struggles to keep afloat in a foreign land.
Enter Curt, a white boy from a wealthy home who introduces her to a bourgeois lifestyle. But in the first class trips abroad, expensive clothes, overall contentment of a new comfortable life, there remains a yearn for the love she's left behind in Nigeria.

A Love Story
Ultimately a love story of two people who fall in love and are separated. 13years later, Obinze who is now a wealthy man and has since moved to Lagos, is married to beautiful Kosi and has a child. Ifemelu, finds she is dissatisfied with her life and despite her success has decided to return home.
Will they reunite and have a life together as they always planned or has the turns of life wedged them apart forever?

 
Although the book deals with a few of Nigeria's heavy issues like an unstable educational system and corruption, its prose, writing style and tone are cleverly done lightly as to not overwhelm the plot.

Americanah is Adichie's third novel and with it she reminds us she is a truly gifted writer.

Captured by Erica Stevens

Genre: Adult Fiction, eBook, 470 pages

The only daughter of a man who is head of a clan in the woods is taken from her home during a raid by vampires. Her identity is unknown to the vampires and she gets locked up in a cage with other humans from her land. while awaiting to be auctioned off, she ponders her fate and hopes hers will be a quick killing at the hand of whoever buys her and not that of a blood slave. She would rather face death than be one of those.

One by one they are picked up and taken to a stage where they are bid for by blood thirsty vampires. when it gets to her turn, she is bought by a old man but they are halted in getting off the stage by a man who she later learns is the first son of the ruler of the vampires. From the way her new owner bows and hands her over quickly to him at his request, she guesses he is someone important. the old man is paid his money back and her new buyer leads her away. Out of the chatter of the maids whom he had come to clean her up, she learns his name is Braith and is the first son of the ruler of the vampires.
Washed and dressed in the most luxurious clothes she has ever worn, she is taken before the prince. Although he is tall, terribly attractive with a commanding presence and a fearsome wolf by his side always, she feels nothing but hate for the man who she is sure wants to keep her as a blood slave. A meal like nothing she has ever seen is brought in and in she can't help but think that the platter with its meat and fruits and vegetables would have fed all the humans that were in the cave with her earlier. Days and weeks pass and she soon grows restless with her new life of being locked up, with regular meals sent up and maids to bathe her and change her clothes.

Wandering around the palace one day, she stumbles upon the prince's library and he offers to teach her to read when she admits she can only do so limitedly. she grows confused about Braith's intentions as he treats her with kindness, and has never demanded anything of her. This was a far cry from the cruelty she had expected to meet. She often found herself yearning for his company on the days when he did not show up at her dinner time as was now usual. Not so surprisingly, she discovers she has an affection for Braith, and she chalks this up to the fact he has been nothing but kind to her and her only companion so far.

Braith finds himself struggling with a passion so strong for Arianna, he cannot understand why she affects him the way she does. She does not fall into the type of women he usually went for; curvy and elegant. Arianna was boyish and slim but the more he spent time with her, the more he found her irresistible and sensual. His longing for her was growing stronger by the day and he dreaded the day when he would have to have her killed as they do with blood slaves who had outlived their usefulness. Right now he couldn't even bring himself to feed from her without her consent. He wanted her to be willing and give herself to him freely.the strength of his feelings for her staggered him and he knew he would protect her from his people no matter what it took.

A shocker arises when Braith's long gone brother; Jericho, who was sent to spy on a human camp in the forest shows up. she recognizes him as Jack who was a trusted friend of her father's and the camp's back in their land. he reveals to her and Braith that he successfully infiltrated their camp but had gotten too involved and was sent by father to rescue her and take her back home. Arianna escapes with him after he convinces her that Braith has a fiance and could not possibly have any future with her, a human. heartbroken and angry, she escapes with him.




I love vampire stories and this had me going from the first chapter. Very well told story, and I really hope the author writes a sequel soon enough.

Pencil Drawings

Hallo, lets play a bit.
Below are some drawings found on the internet. Next to each drawing, I've put the first word that comes to mind when I see it. Please write yours in the comment section, you can use a number for each pic and the word it evokes next to it e.g 1, scary. 2, love, etc

Thank you...

'Expressive' 

'Prey'

'Warrior'

'Dark'

'Happy'

'Dance'

'Detail'

'Real'

'Sad'

'Sensual'

'Bond'

'Comfort'

'Alive'

and finally,

'Lol......'

Do write yours below. Don't over think it, just write the first thing that comes to mind. :)

Top African Literary Prizes

Doing a little research on literary works from Africa, I came across many great writers and works that are simply genius! Indeed, our culture of storytelling and history keeping has metamorphosed from gathering by the moonlight for stories, sing-along songs and storied historical moments into what today can be simply described as art. Art that has commanded attention internationally and is marking Africa as a literary giant.

I find that African Literature resonates with a passion and quiet strength that is both entertaining and evocatively spell binding.

Thus, I thought I'd dedicate a post to a few of the bodies and organizations that have helped to recognize, support and encourage literary talent from Africa. In alphabetical order, the top prizes for African literature are:


The Caine Prize for African Writing

First awarded in 2000, the prize is open to writers from anywhere in Africa and for work published in English. It has received at one time, entries from 20 countries. It is awarded to a short story written by an African either in Africa or abroad.
The idea of the Caine prize was brought to life by friends and colleagues of late Sir Michael Caine, who was working on the idea of such a prize before he passed on.

Prize
The cash prize is £10,000.

Patrons
Patrons for this prize include; African winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature - Wole Soyinka, Nadine Gordimer and J M Coetzee. Also, Chinua Achebe, winner of the Man Booker International Prize and Ben Okri, Nigerian Winner of the Booker Prize.

Past Winners
2012 - Rotimi Babatunde (Nigeria) 'Bombay's Republic' from 'Mirabilia Review' Vol. 3,Lagos 2011.
2011 - NoViolet Bulawayo (Zimbabwe) 'Hitting Budapest' from 'The Boston Review' Vol 35/6 Dec 2010
2010 - Olufemi Terry (Sierra Leone) 'Stickfighting Days' from 'Chimurenga' vol 12/13.


Noma Award for Publishing in Africa

One of the Noma Prizes series, within four years of its establishment, it became the major book award in Africa. Established by Shoichi Noma who died in 1984, it was awarded annually to any new book published in the Juvenile, Literature or Scholarly category. Books in any language of Africa could be entered for the prize. It ran from 1980 - 2009 when the Noma family ceased their sponsorship.


Prize
The cash prize was $10,000.

Past Winners
2009 - 'Lawless and Other Stories' by Sefi Atta
2008 - 'Beginnings of a Dream' by Zachariah Rapola
2007 - 'Strife' by Shimmer Chinodya


Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa

Founded by The Lumina Foundation, it was first awarded in 2005 to Nobel Laureate in Literature, Wole Soyinka. The pan-African prize is awarded every two years to works of any genre or type, written in English or French and which have not won any other awards.

Prize
The cash prize is $20,000.

Past Winners
2012 - 'Young Blood' by Sisifo Mzobe
2010 - 'I Do Not Come To You By Chance' by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
         - 'Coconut' by Kopano Matlwa
         - 'Tenants of The House' by Wale Okediran
2008 - 'Zarah The Windseeker' by Nnedi Okorafor

News From Home by Sefi Atta

Genre: Fiction; Interlink books: 320 pages.

Excerpt

 

"A Temporary Position"

One afternoon like so, I thought sod it, I will eat my roast beef on rye sandwich at my workstation for a change. Cath was off sick. She'd coughed so hard the day before her eyes filled with tears and her face turned red. "I'm coming down with something," she'd kept whispering into her handkerchief. To me, it sounded like a smoker's cough.
I smuggled my sandwich bag into my satchel and positioned my satchel on the carpet between my legs where I could easily reach for it. Somehow, my sandwich, now illicit, was much tastier. Perhaps that was the secret to Lagos life after all: the general unlawfulness of the place. I'd barely taken two nibbles from the corner of my rye bread when Steve McQueen came along. I sat up and buzzed him through the door. He smiled and really, for an Irish lad, his teeth were almost African.
"Have you seen Penny?" he asked
She was clip-clopping in the direction of the loos when last I saw her. Steve waited as I chewed under my palm. I'd lowered my sandwich as soon as I saw him. Now, I was diving and feeling around for my satchel so I could slip the sandwich back inside, at the same time rubbing my lips in case there was a trace of horseradish.
Penelope reappeared. Her natural expression was a stare because she wore contact lenses. I imagined her taking a crap, as you're supposed to in interview situations to calm your nerves.
"Ready?" she asked him.
"I was just asking about you," he said.
He opened the door for her and she flung her hair over each shoulder, as if to declare, "He's my fiance. I'm his fiance."

Review

 

News From Home is a collection of stories told by various Nigerian voices. Told with so much heart and originality, the various stories are vividly imaginative and powerfully moving.

"Lawless" is a story told by a young orphan, a university undergraduate who finds his life changed for ever during a military rule that closes down his university. He takes in four of his close friends from school who share a passion for acting and script writing with him. In the wake of frequent electricity failures, they perform plays for a gathering of neighbors in the empty swimming pool of his late father's house to applause from the crowd. This soon sizzles out to boos and jeers when a lack of living amenities, tiredness and poor feeding soon result in their poor renditions of plays.
Eventually, they quit play acting and give up going back to school when their university reopens, for they had gotten a taste of a different kind of acting; as armed robbers and decided that this was indeed their true calling as a group.

This is a book I highly recommend to lovers of African literature.

A Bit Of Difference by Sefi Atta

 Genre: Fiction, Interlink Books; 224 pages.

 EXCERPT

Deola finds it odd that Nigerians go to funerals as if they are social occasions that anyone can gate-crash - they just show up, look sad and leave. She has been to three funerals, all three in Nigeria. The first was her grandfather's. Her mother had to pin her head tie in place. She was that young. The second was for a governor of her secondary school, Queen's College. Her headmistress asked for class representatives and she put her hand up. The funeral was at Ikoyi Cemetery and she attended it in her Sunday uniform and beret. It was terribly hot and people arrived by the busload. The third was her father's funeral at Victoria Court Cemetery and his was just as crowded. Her relatives forced her to dance at the reception following his funeral, but she didn't think that at sixty-seven, he was old enough for her to celebrate his life.

The story is narrated by a Nigerian expatriate lady (Deola) living in London whose job sends her on a trip to Nigeria and gives her a chance to be home for her father's 5-year memorial. She is all too aware of the impending nosiness and questions from  relatives about her unmarried status,being that she is in her late thirties and getting past the 'due' age for marriage. Upon her arrival, she is instantly faced with the vivid difference between the rowdy and complex life in Nigeria and civil, orderly life in London.

Amidst preparations for the memorial, in catching up with her married siblings she senses their despair and unhappiness with their marriages.

There is a sort of happy ending with Deola when her one night stand with rich, charismatic, hotel owner, Wale, leads to a pregnancy and an unexpected romance with the preparations for a marriage.

The book is centered on life amongst the middle class of Nigeria and reveals a few of its hidden, family dynamics. The author's sharp, witty writing and the various rich and sometimes neurotic psychologies and personalities in the novel leaves one turning the pages.

I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend this book.