Measuring Time, 2008, Helon Habila ****

After reading "Waiting for an Angel" I fell in love with Helon Habila and decided to read more of his works. He is such a splendid writer. A very good one for that matter.

"Measuring Time" is the story of a twin brother, born in a weird family circumstances. Their mother died during labour and their father couldn't care less.
We follow them as they grow up, one is constantly sick and considered the intelligent one while the other, the healthy one is not as intelligent as his brother. They are Mamo and LaMamo respectively. Their concerns about life grow as they become older, it even become more intense when a family member taken for dead,

Half of a Yellow Sun the Movie ***

I am glad I finally watched Half of a Yellow Sun the movie. Let's keep in mind that movies are different form of art that cannot totally capture the real essence of a novel. With that said, the film was good although I did not enjoy it as much as I did the novel. To start with, Thandie Newton was amazing in her role as Olanna, she was quite impressive. Nevertheless, if I should give an Oscar to an actor in the movie, it would be to John Boyega, his performance as Ugwu was splendid. In my opinion, though it's been a while since I read the novel, I think he gave more substance to "Ugwu" than in the book.

Secondly, I did not like  Anika Noni Rose as Kainene, she was not convincing. Neither was Genevieve Nnaji the one who played Lara Adebayo. In my opinion Genevieve Nnaji should have played Kainene and they should have found someone else to do Lara Adebayo.

Furthermore, the actors' accent betrayed their origin. As an Igbo

A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary, 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa ****

A Month and a Day is a non-fiction that narrates on Ken Saro-Wiwa's illegal detention in 1994. Though, he was released, however, he was detained again in 1995 and was executed by the Nigerian military dictatorship.
Ken Saro-Wiwa was a Nigerian writer and television producer, however, he was famously known as the founder of the MOSOP (Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People). A social non-violent movement created to give voice to the Ogoni people whose environment has been completely devastated by the oil companies (notably Shell and Chevron) mining in their land.

And all this happening to a people whose home is one of the richest in Africa. Over the past thirty-two years Ogoni has offered Nigeria an estimated US thirty billion dollars and received NOTHING in return, except a blighted countryside, and atmosphere full of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons; a land in which wildlife is unknown; a land of polluted streams and creeks, of rivers without fish, a land which is, in every sense of the term, an ecological disaster. High-pressure oil pipelines crisscross the surface of Ogoni farmlands and villages dangerously. This is not acceptable.

Oil pollution is a great menace to the Nigerian environment. I wish to warn that the harm being done to the environment of the Niger River delta must be ameliorated by the oil companies which prospect for oil there; the degradation of the ecosystem must end and the dehumanisation of the inhabitants of the areas must cease and restitution be made for past wrong.

We cannot sit idly by while we are, as a people, dehumanised and slowly exterminated and driven to extinction even as our rich resourced are syphoned off to the exclusive comfort and improvement of other Nigerian communities, and the shareholders of multinational oil companies namely Shell (Dutch/British) and Chevron (American).

Needless to say that the Nigerian military dictatorship under Babangida wanted his head on a plate. Unfortunately, they succeeded.

So today, I re-dedicate myself to what has always been my primary concern as a man and a writer: the development of a stable, modern Nigerian which embraces civilised values; a Nigeria where no ethnic group or individual is oppressed, a democratic nation where minority rights are protected, education is a right, freedom of speech and association are guaranteed, and where merit and competence are held as beacons. Convinced that most Nigerians share this concern, I will stand for it at all times and in all places.

This book provides an interesting insight into the creation and development of MOSOP, along with a good understanding of the structure of the Nigerian government of that time. It mentioned the names of some people I already know, for instance Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and even Late Festus Iyayi whose death I announced some weeks ago. Click here. He was also a threat to the system and they wanted his head too. Sadly, they ended up getting it by accident.

Festus Iyayi, an award-winning Nigerian novelist, had lived in it (detention room) in 1987 or thereabouts and had written about it in a Nigerian magazine. The journalist said he had been held in custody for a month. He had not been told what crime he had committed. Neither did his colleagues and employers know that he been held. He was also involved in labour unions and recently in the campaign for Democracy organisation.

I really liked this book, it was enlightening,  insightful and educational indeed. I highly recommend especially if you are interested in social movements, conflict in the Niger Delta and would like to know more about the MOSOP. Another novel that narrates on the consequences of the environmental degradation in the Niger-Delta is Tiny Sunbirds Far Away by Christie Watson

Never Again, 1975, by Flora Nwapa ****

Flora Nwapa (full name: Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa) was a female Nigerian writer, born in Oguata, Eastern Nigeria on the 13th of January 1931, and died on the 16th of October (Chinua Achebe's birthday) 1993. I wonder what she died of. She was actually of Chinua Achebe's generation. They both attended University of Ibadan, an appendix of London University then, it became a fully fledged Nigerian University after the Independence of Nigeria from the British in 1960. She later on travelled to England where she obtained a degree in Education from the University of Edinburgh. With her first novel Efuru published in 1966, which I am yet to read, she was proclaimed the first female African writer to publish in English. She is also credited with being the first African woman to establish two publishing houses, one specialised in Adult Fiction and the other in Children's Fiction. If Chinua Achebe is widely known as the father of African Literature, Flora Nwapa is considered to be the mother, as well as a feminist. Although, the latter she denied. Nonetheless, she once said in an interview that her interests lies on the rural and urban women on their quest for survival in a fast changing world dominated by men.

Never Again is what you could regard as a novella, it consists of eighty-five pages. Its brevity is no deterrent to peruse it. As a matter of fact, it is an engaging and a voracious read, and certainly not brief in content. The story was told in a first person singular, which I utterly enjoyed because I connected with the narrator at once.

Kate, an upper middle class Nigerian Citizen, married, with five children, and her housemaid had to flee from one place to another in search of safety in 1967 when the Biafran War erupted. Their run off started from Enugu, Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Elele and at last Ugwuta their home town. In fact, they were in the throes of a conflict break out on account of post colonialism, however, Kate was determined to survive with all her household members.

Did the war finally found them in their home town? In what condition? This novella tells the story of the war through the eyes of Kate. Do not expect a detailed description of the conflict, as I said earlier it is eighty-five pages novella.

To put it differently, Never Again is an entertaining, heart-rending short novel, of which, I recommend to all and sundry. It is an easy read.