Behold the Dreamers, 2016, Imbolo Mbue ****

Jende Jonga has finally made it to the USA, and after months apart, he's able to bring his wife and son over to join him. The question that drives this novel is simple but weighty: will they actually get to live out their American dream?

What makes Behold the Dreamers stand out is how Mbue weaves the Jongas' story together with that of a Wall Street family. This is not your typical immigrant story. It's a novel about immigration, yes, and about the American dream, but it refuses to move the way you expect it to. I kept waiting for

The Girl with the Louding Voice, 2020, Abi Daré ****

Sometimes a book title alone is enough to make you pause. And then, a few pages in, you realise it has delivered on every promise it made. Abi Daré's debut novel introduces us to Adunni, a girl born and raised in a small village near Lagos, Nigeria. She loses her mother young, her father dismisses her hunger for education without a second thought, and she is married off as a teenager before she even has the chance to understand what womanhood might mean on her own terms. Raped and crushed by one calamity after another, she eventually finds herself in a car headed for Lagos, and it is precisely at that moment that this novel truly ignites. 

Once the city enters the picture, so does a whole constellation of characters, and Daré handles them with the confidence of someone who knows this world intimately, its textures, its hypocrisies, its warmth, its cruelty. At its core, this is a novel about what poverty and the absence of education do to a

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi *****

This book tells the story of two sisters who were both born on the coast of West Africa during the Transatlantic slave trade. Effia remains in Africa, while Esi is sold into slavery. Homegoing follows their lineage down to the 5th generation. Each chapter of the novel is focused on one of their descendants, with some sort of comparison to help you understand what life is like for the people who were sold into slavery and the ones who stayed behind.

In my opinion,

When We Speak of Nothing, 2017, Olumide Popoola ***

I am not really into the "new release fever", I basically read what I can set my hands on. However, I bought "When We Speak of Nothing" by Olumide Popoola when I visited Atlantis Books  in Santorini. I had no idea who the writer was, however, I know the publishing house Cassava Republic  based in Nigeria and I've been longing to read more books published by them, so, coming across this novel was an opportunity.

This book is about many things and nothing in particular. Nevertheless, it emphasizes on the life of Karl, born Carla, by a Nigerian father and British mother in England. He lives with his mother and never met his father before. After some ups and downs in his relationship with his mother, he decides to travel to Portharourt in search of his father. What arouse my interest is first and foremost, the gender identity in a Nigerian (African) literature, a topic that Olumide addresses so

Hausfrau, 2015, Jill Alexander Essbaum ****

I am not sure why the low ratings of this novel on Goodreads and Amazon. Is it because of the writing, which I think is not bad at all or is it because of the main character who is simply annoying?

I read this book because in one of Chimamanda's interviews on The New Yorker, This Week in Fiction: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie By Willing Davidson April 6, 2015 When asked:

The undercurrent of attraction in the story is elegant and subtle, and yet we sense by the end the interest that Okenwa has in Raphael, and it snaps the beginning of the story into place. How do you go about constructing a story such that the ending reveals something about the beginning? Are there stories or novels you particularly like that you think do this well?

She replied:

The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga, 2008 ****

I have read quite a few novels set in India or by writers of Indian heritage and one of the topics that keeps on popping up is the blatant poverty and caste discrimination that perpetuate their society, The White Tiger is no exception. We get to read about the life style of an upper-middle class through the voice of their servant Balram. It is quite interesting as Balram tells us what he knows about his master  through pieces of information he gathers while being enslaved.

Balram narrates his ordeal with a witty sense of humour, you might  find yourself laughing in front of his adversity.

"The Great Socialist himself is said to have embezzled one billion rupees from the Darkness, and transferred that money into a bank account in a small, beautiful country in Europe full of white people and black money"

Balram narrates about life in his village Laxmangarh, his mother died when he was very young, his father a rickshaw puller died miserably of tuberculosis. A life of misery. One thing led to another and Balram becomes a driver and moves

Happiness, Like Water 2013, Chinelo Okparanta ****

Happiness, Like Water is a collection of ten short stories that I enjoyed, in general. 

"Happiness is like water. We're always trying to grab onto it, but it's always slipping between our fingers. And my fingers are thin. With lots of gaps in between"

The main theme of the stories is the mother-daughter relationship. Are mothers always qualified enough to dictate the course of their daughter's life? I find it somewhat worrisome that the female child should live up to her mother's heart desire, even if that means sacrificing her own happiness. At the end of the day, the main aim is to bring up girls who are decision makers, who know how to live up to their own heart content.

The stories that I really enjoyed are:

The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, 2007, Dinaw Mengestu ****

An Ethiopian refugee flees his home country to the United States of America after his father is brutally assassinated. He lives with his uncle, who also is a refugee, and later on moves into a lowly neighbourhood where he opens a store and meets a woman and her daughter. The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears might seem like another simple typical immigration story, far from, it narrates on the fate of a

The Spider King's Daughter, 2012, Chibundo Onuzo ***

Let me start with saying it is a story about a rich man in Lagos, who got rich suspiciously. He is intimidatingly powerful, which makes the way he runs his household very questionable as well.

His presumptuous daughter Abike falls for a hawker, who use to belong to the Nigerian affluent middle class. What she did not know is that her father has a hand in the hawker's current situation by doing away with his father's life, the main breadwinner and the one who pays the bills. Will the hawker take this opportunity to avenge his father's death or

An Elegy for Easterly, 2009, Petina Gappah ***

An Elegy for Easterly is a collection of  thirteen short stories that expounds on the socioeconomic political situation of the actual and the good old days Zimbabwe.

Let me say that the stories are funny, witty and most of the time tragic. Tragic because of the corruption, inflation, despair, poverty, HIV and AIDS constantly present in every backdrop of each story. For instance the story "The Cracked, Pink Lips of Rosie's Bridegroom"  you can feel
the pressure on women to get married, Rosie is so desperate to tie the knot that she does not care that her groom is obviously down with AIDS. Everyone turned a blind eye, of course they will, let he who is not infected or has not buried a relative who died from the disease cast the first stone.

In addition, what baffles me is

Waiting for an Angel, 2003, Helon Habila *****

This novel started with Lomba in prison, a political detainee in total loss of hope. Upon that, his prison superintendent punishes him for clandestinely writing poetry. How dare he! In the process of his punishment, he discovers that he is, actually, a good love writer. Why not take advantage of his writing skills? After all, he is only a prisoner and has no choice. At that moment, Lomba has been in prison for two years still awaiting trial.

Two years before: Lomba a brilliant and creative student looks forward to being a novelist. In one of his University outings he visits a fortune-teller with his friends and he is particularly told that prison is all that is seen ahead of him. He shrugs it off. Later on, his room mate Bola (brother-like), loses all of his family member in a fatal car accident, so stressed out that he ran mad. Simultaneously, riots along with military brutality are in high gear in their university. And then  the strike. Lomba drops out. As a result loses contact with the girl he dearly loves.

I also promised to meet you the next day when I left you in the morning, a happy smile on your face. I had a happy smile too. we were not to meet again for over three years- because my friend went mad, because of the riots, because I dropped out of school because of many things. what was a mere promise in the face of all these cataclysms?

Yes they met three years later but in different circumstances. As a university dropout, life becomes miserable, no jobs, his country Nigeria is under a military dictatorship. James Fiki a magazine editor hires him as a reporter and makes it clear that there is no future for novelists in their country. None of his novel would ever get published, even if it was, no body would buy it in the country since the majority of the population are starving and it would not make it out of their borders since they are being sanctioned by the international community due to the state of their government. Lomba had to conform as a  magazine reporter ( at least he is writing at all) which finally led to his illegal detention, anyway.

Waiting for an Angel is an outstanding and striking novel, its narrative is in form of interlinked short stories. Which could as well stand independently. Helon Habila actually won the Caine Prize in 2001 with one of them. I find it creative as it is written in the first person narrative through different voices with an author who is omniscient. This novel is nothing short of meritorious. Highly recommended. Lastly, I have this inkling that the writer is mostly referring to his own experience in this novel. All the same, I look forward to reading more of his works.

One of my favourite quotes from this novel among others, in this case when referring to the prison superintendent:

He was just Man. Man in his basic, rudimentary state, easily moved by powerful emotions like love, lust, anger, greed and fear, but totally dumb to the finer, acquired emotions like pity, mercy, humour and justice.

Let me also add, that this novel is the 2003 Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Best First Book, in Africa. Another addition to my challenge.

                  

The Consequences of Love, 2008, Sulaiman Addonia ****

When war erupted in Eritrea, Naser's mum had to smuggle her children out of the country to a "supposedly" safe Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia with their uncle, while she stayed behind. Few years later, Naser was kicked out of his uncle's house. He was accused of being an apostate. Quite hypocritical on his uncle's behalf, since he sexually offered his nephew to their Kafeel. As I learnt from the novel, Kafeel is a sponsor, all immigrants in Saudi Arabia has to be sponsored by a Saudi. The Kafeel system gives full control to the Saudis over the lives of the foreigners they sponsor. They have the power to withhold the passports of those under their control and deport them whenever they choose. So, you could imagine what such hierarchy involves.

As Naser was abandoned by his uncle in the streets of Jeddah, he went through circumstances where he was sexually exploited. Which, was even justified by his perpetrator...

"My dear, in a world without women and in the absence of female glamour, boys like you are the perfect substitute. Why hide your attractiveness and your tender physique like a veiled woman? You are the closest my customers have to a beautiful and sensual person roaming freely in their world"

Fortunately, he managed to fall in love with a veiled woman in a country where falling in love is a crime, where lovers stand the chance of being lashed in public or stoned to death. In "The Consequences of Love" you will find out how a love affair unfolds in a society as oppressed as  Saudi Arabia.

This novel was narrated through the eyes of a young adult, a twenty year old Naser, meaning that the narrative was rather simple, though the content was deep and most of the times troubling. I almost stopped reading because of the revolting images it conjured up. Men are forced to quench their sexual desire with young boys, since their women are under the veil. Sometime, this include sexual exploitation and abuse of young immigrants from war-torn countries.

I recommend, especially if you would like to know how a love story unfolds in a sexually oppressed society.

We Need New Names, 2013, Noviolet Bulawayo ****

"We Need New Names" by Noviolet Bulawayo was a compelling read. A fast moving first person narrative through the eyes of a ten-year-old girl, Darling, in Zimbabwe. Her life was smooth sailing until her house was demolished, and had to move in with her family to a slum called Paradise. A contradiction in terms, indeed.

Life in Paradise was not bad after all, she made friends: Bastard, pregnant Chipo (though she was only 11), Sbho, Stina and Godknows, with whom she aimlessly roamed the richer neighbourhood in tatters, searching for ripe guavas to steal in order to assuage their hunger. Going to school was out of the question, since all of the teacher have emigrated to neighbouring countries for better pay cheque. What is more, International Aid was their main source of survival. 

As the story unfolds, things went from bad to worse and, fortunate Darling managed to join her aunt in the United States of America. Where she found herself subdued in a cultural conflict, self-loss, missing all she had left behind. Even though, her home country was a scene of abject poverty.

An entertaining read. Though, at first, I was wondering why all the Prizes. However, in the end, I came to realise that it is one special book, whose story clung on for a while after reading. Realistic characters, though, with names that weren't the norm. Additionally, I found something intrinsically despairing with Darling's narrative,  helplessly voicing out her opinions about the world she lives in. The writing style flows easily. It is just amazing how the writer emulated a child in such circumstances.

Noviolet Bulawayo is a talented writer, I am so confident that she would write even better novels in the future. Her first novel is a 2013 Man Booker Prize Nominee, 2013 Guardian First Book Award Nominee, 2013 Winner of Etisalat Prize for Literature and  2014 Pen/Hemmingway Award so far.
Finally, big thank you to the MS/HS library for lending me an electronic copy after I persuaded them to buy one.

I recommend.