62 •
The Lion King
• July - September 2017
The Books
We Like
Book reviews
Picture Credit: Goodreads.com & Amazon.com
An African Night’s
Entertainment
This classic tale of ven-
geance, adventure and
love by Cyprian Ekwensi was
published in 1962. It is a tale
of two quests: one man who
wants a child by all means
and another who seeks ven-
geance at all costs. Mallam
Shehu uses love potions to
charm the girl who Abu is to
marry into marrying him. She
bears him a son. The angry
and betrayed Abu searches
far and wide for someone
who can help him wreak
vengeance. Both men suc-
ceed in their individual
quests, but at a steep price.
The Gods Are Not
To Blame
The Gods Are Not to
Blame, a 1968 play
and 1971 novel by Ola
Rotimi, is an adapta-
tion of the Greek classic
Oedipus Rex. This tragic
tale of a prince who
grew up to kill his father
and marry his mother
centres on Odewale,
who is lured into a false
sense of security, only to
somehow get caught up
in a somewhat consan-
guineous trail of events
by the gods of the land.
A Man of the People
A Man of the People was
published prophetically in 1966 by
Chinua Achebe, just days before
Nigeria’s first attempted coup in
the same year. It tells the tale of a
former school teacher, and then
Minister for Culture, Nanga who
was a man of the people - cynical,
charming, and roguish opportunist.
Odili, an idealistic young teacher
has divergent views. The two men’s
personal and political tauntings
threaten to send their country
into chaos. When Odili launches
a vicious campaign against his
former mentor for the same seat in
an election, their mutual animosity
drives the country to revolution.
By Nonso Nduanya
Great
Throw-back
reads for
everyone
Weep Not, Child
This book, published in 1964 by Ngũgĩ wa
Thiong’o, tells the tale of two brothers, Njoroge
and Kamau, who stand on a garbage heap and
look into their futures: Njoroge is to attend school,
while Kamau will train to be a carpenter. But this
is Kenya, and the times are against them: in the
forests, the Mau Mau is waging war against the
white government, and the two brothers and their
family need to decide where their loyalties lie.
