“What’s that? A painting?” Ahunna, my wife, has a habit of asking questions and providing their answers in question format in the same breath. Her behaviour used to throw me during the early part of our relationship, but not anymore. “Are you going out? Where? Hanging out with your boys?” Three blissful years of marriage have familiarized me with her ways. Nowadays, I relax until she’s done with her barrage. Then I answer the very last one. I had picked…
Sometimes, life for many feels a lot like running out of road. The intricacies of living become such a fractious exercise, akin to wheels missing spokes, that people start to feel a certain way about holes and strokes. Imagine how enticing it gets, to look at the business end of a Glock and fantasize about pushing a few inches of the barrel inside a hole, as your hands eagerly roam all over the mesmerizing chrome. Imagine the battle of wills…
A few days ago, I accompanied my wife to her favorite Christian charity, and there was a new face behind the service counter. “Where is Conor,” she asked the new attendant. “He’s not on duty?” Conor was the guy who normally met. An Irish man, he was always bubbly and made everyone feel welcome. He even learned to pronounce my wife’s name. “Boooola,” he would boom, and laugh aloud at himself. “He’s gone,” was the reply. “Gone, where?” “Gone back…
It is funny how the more things change, the more they remain the same. You think you have left the past behind, only to find it following you everywhere you go, like a shadow. “Check your phone and wallet!” That was the thought that flashed through my mind as somebody bumped into me in the process of getting off the bus. Pulse racing, my hand flew to my pocket to confirm if it still held its precious cargo. Of…
Rotimi Fawole borrows from the Roman Empire and the popular Television series, Game of Thrones, in the making of this deliciously hilarious and educative pot of literary soup. The Chronicles of Chill: The Book of Gambrach is a humorous record of events in Jirriah, a fictional territory under the directionless rule of a listless (and largely mad) King Gambrach who rose to power after defeating the incumbent, King Gejoshaphat, in an election. After their initial euphoria, the people quickly find Gambrach…
Aviara is the third book written by Othuke Ominiabohs. It is a unique combination of flavors, which turns out as a gourmet offering for the literary connoisseur’s palate. Aviara is the sequel to Odufa but tells its own story so well that it grows too big for the shade of its illustrious progenitor. It is pregnant with a tale masterfully told, an outpouring that touches the very core of humanity. Love is a constant theme throughout the flowing pages, as…
The Mechanics of Yenagoa is a shining example of easy-to-digest-and-relate-to writing. Michael Afenfia’s new book tells a story of everyday people doing everyday things in totally unexpected ways, and Number 9, Kalakala street, Ovom, is the grimy epicenter of this intriguing universe. Until Ebinimi came along, who would have thought that a roadside mechanic’s life could be so eventful, especially a roadside mechanic based in ‘sleepy’ Yenagoa? All the other major characters in this book also have sizzling stories to…
Slay queens? Please! It is 2020, but these ones still don’t know seduction is an art? They think it is by pouting like hungry ducks on Instagram, standing like paraplegics in Facebook photos, twerking on Twitter, or mooning all day with gele of leaves, dog ears, and dangling tongues on Snapchat. Who will tell them, that there is more to making a man pant for your attention than painting your face like a traditional mask? Who will tell them, that…
Out of the corner of my left eye, I watched as the first Policeman to arrive the scene signal for the buzzing crowd to calm down. Surprisingly, they did, and then he turned in my direction. He was wearing the ceremonial black and blue, and he looked smart in it. The drab all-black uniform wouldn’t have done his done his dark-skinned self any favor at all. Maybe he knew that too. Anyway, I let him take two steps towards me,…
Buried beneath the Baobab Tree is as gripping a book as it is heart-rending. Written in an unconventional style for a novel, it tells a story of war, death, and grief, of friendship and betrayal, aspirations and shattered dreams. Salamatu is a young girl dealing with typical growing girl issues and chasing her dreams of education and love when her idyllic life is suddenly flipped upside down. Men of the dreaded terrorist group, Boko Haram, storm her village in Borno…