I first read this book as a young man and I thought it was a
fantastic, African thriller still largely rooted in traditional life, customs
etc – and I still feel this is an excellent work.
In this book, we are
introduced into the world of “juju” (widely if crudely often interpreted as
‘black magic’) At the end, all the superstition, strange goings-on are
explained. But make no mistake about it – the whole plot, ambience is permeated
by juju (voodoo), including a frightening infestation of ants and termites.
Yet contrasted with the world of ‘evil juju’ here – is also
symbolism of good, but this ‘good’ is also suffused with esoteric knowledge,
clairvoyance, telepathy etc. The pertinent old “Pa” man here comes across as a
very good sagacious man who overstretches himself whilst helping the
beleaguered young ones.
We see village life delineated, and encroachments on the city
too…and as this work tapers to an end we are stunningly struck with the
selfless sacrifice of the all-knowing Pa ...this after he has explained all the
weird ‘juju’ goings on.
As I said earlier, I
initially read this book as a young man and was pleasantly surprised to realize
that the author was a young man when he wrote this fine novel. Here he displays
uncanny maturity, wisdom, intelligence with a bewildering twist or even a
double twist at the very end
-
K. Awoniyi
Interesting. Interesting. I wonder whether in his youth Dillibe was rather influenced by Lobsang Rampa? Just a thought...
ReplyDeleteThe other day one was reading about the commendable longevity of the Kenyan writer, David Maillu. Similarly, Dillibe Onyeama deserves such great praise in this wise too. He began publishing internationally renowned works at around 21 - just after leaving Eton College, I believe. Then astonishingly as the decades unfolded he has published lots of fiction, biographies and autobiographies. He has also published works of sundry quotations, wit, wise saws and the like. Onyeama's vision is eclectic, though he is still very much an African. Ink has always run in his blood, as works like this show. His characters always come to life, and I don't think he can be accused of such subjective things like 'being episodic' , 'shallow ' etc - phrases which so-called critics resort to whilst unnecessarily trying to undermine fine works
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