All that happened in 2024

I never believe I could continue the tradition of writing reviews. The one in 2023 seem like a one off thing and that would be it. But here I am writing for 2024. I don’t know who would be reading this, soon or years too come but just know it is Testimony Akinkunmi’s reflection on the years.

Health


Sometimes, when things just breeze through – no hiccups, no stops, no eventualities – we do not record those moments. But slowly I have come to understand that it is the normal moments that one should be most grateful for. Throughout 2024, I didn’t get seriously injured, seriously ill, or seriously sick. One would think that the University of Abuja water system or weather would cause failures of all sorts, but no. God gave me a good constitution, and I remained healthy for so long. The one or two days when I went down, it was more due to rushing life than actual sickness. And with one or two days of rest, I was back again. I don’t know what I am doing right, but I do know that it is mercy that I have received to be hale and hearty. I am thankful.

A front cover of my project work.

Academics


Omo. This track of life is messy. From last year till now, it still takes a whole lot of my life, but it hasn’t been fun. It hasn’t at all. And it isn’t one of the best things I like doing. I love the research for assignments, the writing for projects, but the act of academics itself is a bore, even more so in the Nigerian environment. So at the beginning of the year, it was my final year in university. For the first semester, I learned, I served, I touched lives. 😂 It was hectic but I did it. But to read, I rarely read. So when we had tests or presentations, I wasn’t always the best person for them. And when I saw the results, it hurt me. B’s of all shapes. Painful almost-there grades that could have boosted my GPA. Now do I regret my laziness? Yes, I do. I regret it so much. But there is a drive in me that doesn’t exactly want to do more in academics. Daily, I still sit with myself to cast it out, to tell it that academics is the social ladder I can climb at the moment and I need to climb it. I must climb it. Also a confession: I had a carryover in 400 level – Equity. Surprisingly, in real life, I love the concept of equity, its meaning and application in the finance world, but oh boy, the academic equity was a disaster. I redid it in 500L. I got a B. And I got the B by crazy reading. I crammed verbatim, read with my juniors, did sleepless nights. Oh boy, I just wanted to forget it. Then second semester, the drive had still not come. I was seeing people saying they got 5.0 in their last session in school, and I am asking myself, am I a potato? Why can’t I do this? Whyyyyy? Is it not just A’s? Again, yet I didn’t read. I took a laissez-faire approach to things. Funny thing is that I was telling others how to read. Funny, right? I must say that I attended lectures regularly though. For a time, we had an internal ASUU strike at the University of Abuja that I am certain would affect how my life would turn out for years to come (positively). All things being equal, we were to graduate by August. But the strike only stopped in July, since about May. So while this happened, some lectures went on but I didn’t attend, though I was in the hostel. 😭 Kai. But we move. I am still hoping to see my complete results but as the streets would say, “Your results don’t define you, it is what you know.” (Your CGPA would define you like mad.) But my CGPA is currently taking a sabbatical. I am praying and hoping that it booms when it wakes.

Obafemi Awolowo University Staff School Ile-Ife. Seeing my almamater almost 10 years later.
Obafemi Awolowo University Staff School Ile-Ife. Seeing my almamater almost 10 years later.

Money


Na God dey run am for us. What comes to mind the most here is how I ran an online project for a person since June. I had totally forgotten about it. Then I was told to send my account number later this December. I was like why??? You know with all this fraud et al. Then she explained and I was like ohhhhhhhh. Few minutes later, I saw an alert. God is wonderful. I had a target to save. I reached the target and in a way I asked myself if it wasn’t too small. And steadily I know I need more than one source of income. I know. But the problem is packaging the skills one has. Throughout 2024, I didn’t do it. In 2024, I want to know how to package and sell my writing and research skills. 1 billion dollars is the goal and I can get it. I can. Also I spent recklessly on food ohhhhh. Snacks, eatables, anything you call them. The inflation hitting Nigeria is a confam one. I hope with all in me that it would get better. But as most people know, prices of things once increased rarely reduce in Nigeria.

An outreach to Christ Academy in Anti microbial resistance.

Leadership


I ran for Presidency in 2023. I lost woefully. My opponent at the time gave me the position of AG. I at first refused it. The Machiavellian understanding of what was being done first stopped me. Later I sat down and looked at what could be the worst-case scenario. Having the worst-case scenario settled, I realized I could become the Attorney General. As the AG, I led various first-time initiatives, from the first spelling bee to the first physical CV writing section, to night prepping of younger levels. I connected by heart to most of the 100 level students because they were ready to learn. Higher levels were stubborn and unavailable. Something that has taught me the need to depend on availability not ability more often. Also, dealing with seniority respect was a tough pill. I had to make students who showed uncouth behavior be punished. In retrospect, don’t openly punish your best persons immediately and publicly. Do it only when you are certain your team would be safe from the consequences. If not, the punishment would backfire. Leadership is fun. I certainly know I would be doing more of it.

Faith


God thank you. Being in the early twenties makes the existential questions of life hit deeper. What is life? Would I ever be rich? Why do people die? For myself, I had a community. Baptist Student Fellowship, the community strengthened me and gave me clarity. A place to learn God’s word more and go teach it too. And most importantly, a chance to do more of God’s will. It was also this year, with the help of Fadeyi Abayomi, that I did Marathon with God. It was surprising. But I did it. Still, as man that we are, I still feel vacuum and I try to come closer to the giver of life, to my helper, to my lover. As I leave school, the fellowship is no longer possible and church can’t replace the impact of what a fellowship can do. Still, I know it would all play out well. I also read the book of the New Testament through. But keeping memory verses in my head has been tough.

Love


I know I must not fall in love. No matter how helplessly romantic I seem. It is something I know I must not fall for. This year made me understand women more, and in a way that I ask myself, doesn’t this gender want too much? Time, Devotion, Presence, all at 100%. Well, I can’t do that now. So yes, while love might have been clearer this year, the stakes for its achievement would cost a lot. A lot that my future self would hate. My heart goes to all the ladies who thought we had a spark. I have used cloth to stamp it out.

Friendship


Little as I am, let me be meaningful. I thank God for the future, the community. Throughout 2024, I still had the same set of friends, friends that were ready to speak the truth and provide for me when I was down. The men of trust are a one-in-a-million elixir. I also had more female friends. Friends who made me understand the meaning and signs their fellow colleagues were showing. Slowly, I want to build my network to have people who are tech-inclined. The ability of tech to make people climb the social ladder so fast amazes me. So I definitely want to use that benefit too.

Bye bye to Uniabuja

Personal Development


I gave myself about 6 targets; I met three. One was reading six books on time management. I didn’t do this because I didn’t read enough, while for another, I almost got the chance but at the last minute it was cancelled. I did develop my research skills. I finished my project work long before the end of the first semester. Did I develop? Not much. Apart from my leadership skills, I didn’t grow my writing skills, neither my content creation nor graphic designing skills. I took up volunteer roles in Carerrex and High Law but I haven’t been able to contribute maximally, most times due to my inability to align with what is needed. I couldn’t just create the content that the stakeholders needed. And AI hasn’t been very helpful. But I must grow. I am thankful to Mbuotidem Friday for firing up my Google Sheets skills and my thinking process. I am grateful to Ater Solomon for opening my eyes to the niches of freelancing. May God bless Ayeni Idesukhe for uncommon advice and good food. This next year my accounting and Excel skills must develop. It is a must. Because this future needs me prepared.

Travel

For the first time I traveled to the southern part of Nigeria. I went to Port Harcourt. We used almost a whole 20 hours for the journey and I did my first ever night journey. Traveling with people you know gives your heart comfort. I saw Ninth Mile, a very ordinary place. Before we left, the news said there were killing in the city. But all through our stay we heard nothing and were kept safe. We went to Port Harcourt for Christian Law Student Fellowship Association of Nigeria Conference. I didn’t get as much numbers as last year but still I connected with people. Then I traveled to Ife. Alone. Few times after my journey, they said kidnappers and armed robbers plied that same road. I thank God for safety.

I thank God for 2024. I need to improve my SEO writing, I need to be able to learn faster and retain much knowledge, I need to be disciplined to use time on things that would help me and not social media. I need to create more relationships with people in tech. I am happy with my leadership skills. I am happy with my research skills. What can we say if not thank you God.

2023 in review

Pictures tell stories. However, sometimes some pictures are for your consumption. Not for the public. And it is then, that we decide to use words, to express the things we want, and to hide some parts. Because with words, no one knows what is hidden only what is shown. I have pictures for every month in this year. But I do not have words for every feeling that I experienced. Still, though, I would write as a memorabilia of what 2023 brought and what 2024 must bring.

Health

Though this year had its challenges, I’m thankful even the difficult moments were fleeting. I didn’t stay sick for long, just hours until I was myself again. It’s often the little things – brief hardships passing quickly – that remind me to appreciate each day. The worst storms roll through fast, and the sunshine always returns.One thing I learnt about health is how in defining our well-being, the physical state wasn’t the only definition. There was the mental health, the psychological wellbeing, the spiritual man etc.

In terms of mental health, the election time around October/November made me have a lot of internal conflicts. So while I was okay physically and all. I was passing through anguish on how far or dirty I could play. Well, in the end, the mental gymnastics simply made me resolute on playing clean. But my health felt it. Going forward, i realize it is only right to make a conscious effort to block out people, thoughts and narratives. Then and only then would you have peace of mind.

A campaign flyer for the LAWSAN election

Academics

90% of my current life circulates around school. And every day in 2023 what my uncle says about not having the chance to come back to it reverberates. Whatever I do now stays forever. But life isn’t that easy. I attended classes with flavour in my 300lv. Contributing a helping hand while creating group work. Still days to the exam, I was tensed and hadn’t read. I wore upon myself a suffocating sort of confidence. My results were impressive still.Go to classes. Listen to lecturers, and participate in group work. Write exams. Excel.

However, my 400lv academics were exhausting. I stabbed classes for no good reason. A particular lecturer didn’t help matters and I had to go to textbooks to learn. A whole me had to go and re-read. The results for the course isn’t out yet. But I am certain, I did woefully. Still, it would be worse if not for friends who are used to the owl life reading technique. They would wake me at random hours to come and read. I would chase them off and they would keep disturbing me. Those reminders helped me push a bit.

Money

My aunt sat me down and made me realize how bleak the future would be if I didn’t step up. Be a man. She said it so well and convinced me. Though money was tight, I still managed to save a bit from what I had. Growth comes in all sizes – even small steps forward are progress. I’m proud I improved my charitable giving and tithing this year, even if some people misused my generosity by asking for outrageous things.

Looking back, I can see my finances have grown, even if each step felt small. It’s not how much you have that matters, but what you do with it. I’m thankful for the little bits of progress that have brought me here today.I tried different means of gauging who to give things to. A friend of mine said I should always ask if the WhatsApp account was hacked before continuing any lending conversation. Funny.

Leadership

If someone said, I could direct or serve, I might believe and think of it at a local corner. It was not to be, I ran for the president of my faculty. And though I lost. I am grateful for the 86 people who voted for me. My permutations had put my vote at <70. Within that time, humans stood by me. Friends, people I didn’t necessarily see eye to eye with, and fans. I am most especially grateful to Ayeni Idesukhe and Osamudiamen Asake. They were political magicians.

During that time, I received messages from junior colleagues telling me that it was a give-and-take relationship. I had given nothing and expected to take. Simply put, they made it glaring to me that I was reaping where I didn’t plant. I think the one that caught my attention the most is the one that said while I was doing big outside university, I didn’t have charity at home. Man, the election was a learning curve. And next time, I want to do something, I would plan for it, far ahead with everything in my arsenal.I was also appointed Deputy FCT director of LAWSAN, later promoted to the Director. I created competitions, programs and all. I had the opportunity to work with people from all over Abuja. I couldn’t accomplish everything I wanted, most especially because of poor time management on my side. And because I didn’t make my campus director realize the benefits of some of my goals.

However I am happy. I made new acquaintances as director and got more conversant with Politics as it is. And not as it should be.Going forward, I learned that personal sovereignty matters. Man know thyself and when needed, be selfish about yourself.

With the team at onpoint. Creating the first BIG ITSM event in Nigeria

Faith

This year, I think I have an on and off and off relationship with God. However God surprises and does miracles with all. God did big miracles in my spiritual life and towards the end of the year, I could communicate with God more through reading the bible. A conversation I have strived not to forgo even as the next year unveils. God exists. God works. God surprises. Most especially grateful for Baptist Student Fellowship. A community of kingdom champions.

Near Central Mosque for an AIESEC hangout with Emjay

Love

Nothing to say here. I avoid anything that would give me butterflies. And people who can give butterflies avoid me. What could be more fun than that? WorkI write SEO articles, white paper, press releases and a little social media management. Earlier this year, I was jobless and I didn’t care but with what my aunty said. The stakes became higher. I needed to get more jobs. In ways I can’t express, employers were the ones who would cold-reach me. Providing me offers I couldn’t but just say God is wonderful. Me that writes 1 Naira per word, writing for a fatter chunk than that. I am praying that God continues to favour me and bless me in ways I can’t express.

I also got into event management. I joined various teams of people who organised big, medium, small and failed events. And from every single one of them, I learnt. One of the most important lessons is that have milestones, they help you know if you are successful or not. In addition to that, start something, don’t wait for the money.

Friendship

I didn’t exactly make new friends. But I was friendly to a lot of people. And a lot of people were friendly to me. With them, I grew, learnt and got exposed to the different realities of life. With my close friends, it was a roller coaster, getting them offended, providing for me when the country was hard, and supporting them when I could. One thing that stuck with me is that your tribe members always have your back. Even when it is difficult. No strings attached, and though sometimes you might get annoyed or feel ostracized. When it matters, they show up.

At an Art gallery, during North Central LAWSAN Zonal Convention

Personal development

Usually, I have found no use in being an extrovert. You will likely get baggage and you are expected to smile at everyone. Still this year, I connected more. I left the comfort of the hostel to Go to the chilling night classes. To campaign, to talk, to laugh and sometimes read. I joined AIESEC Abuja and met amazing and beautiful minds. Most especially Emjay. She has made my AIESEC life a cocktail of learning and fun. I remained a Team Member throughout the year but let’s see what 2024 brings.

I also landed a Master of ceremony job numerous times, from my fellowship, my law student body, and my clinic family. I did some of them well. For some other, I was clueless. And wished that the events finished early. Nevertheless, I have grown and begun to understand the art of coordinating and creating fun in events. Cheers to more events.I volunteered this year for events, connect Conference, YALI ABUJA and more. The one thing I loved was the hands-on experience I got. I understood why things worked the way they did. And most especially the role of honour. We humans are simple beings, when you honour a person you get to do a lot.And oh the travels, I travelled a lot this year. Little me that prefers staying inside. I travelled by plane, bus, car and almost by boat. And I made significant efforts to take pictures of where I went to. And to have contacts and people in the location. A breathtaking year.

The next year, Testimony Akinkunmi be so good they can’t ignore you.

My 5 Best African books for 2022

The greatest literature for 2022 stressed how we are influenced by the people we surround ourselves with, as well as by those whose memories we carry with us even if they are no longer physically present.

So whether you read a lot or fell short of your objectives, this article is a recommendation and comfort to return to reading.

The best books I read in 2022, were not necessarily written in 2022. However, it was when my eyes touched them. And that is all that matters.

This is the best book recommendation you could get in 2022

Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Témi Oh

Do you think of Terra Two? Is a tale about coming-of-age centered on optimism, youth, and a compelled existence? The only approach to assure our survival on this planet is to work together for our common good. Temi Oh easily, convincingly, and unmistakably depicts each of her characters.

Do you think of Terra-two? If you’ve ever questioned why people exist, this book is for you.

Read the full review here

Lightseekers by Femi Kayode

This book focuses on a youth-related aspect of Nigerian society. It creates a story that claims that even modern-day Nigeria is in just as much danger as it was before the colonialists took control, with pages devoid of historical proverbs or typical African folktales. In a way, The Lightseekers is an exorcism of some sort to strip crime naked and point out the havoc it is creating.

Read the full review of The Lightseekers here

You made a Fool of Death with your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

Though there is a significant amount of loss and survivor’s remorse, this is a romance, so a happy-ever-after conclusion is expected. Akwaeke Emezi’s ability to innovate within the constraints of a well-known narrative arc is what sets these novels apart from others in their category. Emezi succeeds in this work by maintaining traditional romantic tropes while subverting a wide range of expectations.

The Madhouse by TJ Benson

If you enjoy reading novels with realistic many viewpoints, in which each character lives life to the fullest, has hysterical fantasies, and engages in errant intimacy, this book is for you. However, a variety of wistful Nigerian melodies are thrown about the books like artistic bread crumbs in the same sentence. A strange and foreboding reminder that there are other ways to tell this tale.

Read the full review of the madhouse here

Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye

This amazing tale drawing deeply from Yoruba mythology is wonderfully and movingly told by Deborah Falaye. That we give up and make an effort to put ourselves in the protagonist’s position. Blood scion’s linguistic choice is a significant upgrade over previous Yoruba fantasy recently released in America. When the characters talk, their words are well-supported linguistically and emotionally.

Read the full review of blood scion here

Which books caught your fancy in 2022?

Add it in the comment section. 

A book review of Taduno’s song-a deceptively simple fiction

SUMMARY
Title: Taduno’s song
Genre: Fiction
Author: ODAFE ATOGUN
Publisher: Ouida Books/CanonGate
Year of Publication: 2017
Number of Pages: 218
ISBN: 
Reviewer: Testimony Akinkunmi
Patience is a subtle thief review

Suppose you are a treasonist given a chance to start life again. Would you persist in fighting for freedom, or would you try another path to justice? 

Taduno, a popular musician everyone has forgotten about, had that chance to exist without his treasonous past life clinging to him. 

Most people that mattered in his life told him to move on, sing for the government, save his fiancé and live, but TK, the music manager that discovered him, said;

The government wants you to support it with your music. They will use you, then they will silence you. But I tell you that you are as good as dead if you do that.

So he returned to the battlefield, armed with his guitar and once angelic voice.

That decision would spell doom for everyone about him. The sergeant who helped him with the information will die. TK, who advised him to keep on, would disappear, and his fiancé, the love of his life whose threatening letters wanted him to keep fighting the faith, would be lost forever.

Hope would flee.

Lagos truly had fallen. The protesters refused to return to the streets. Too many of their own had died in battle. ‘Maybe we shouldn’t have taken up arms against the government,’ they wailed. In anguish, they realized that the dictator had them exactly where he wanted.

Yet, the nation still wanted a miracle.

Odafe Atogun‘s Taduno song.

Something isn’t right about Taduno’s voice. It lacks the passion that used to inspire joy in us. What is happening to him? What is happening to us?’ She left the questions hanging and added: ‘We still love him dearly. We still want his voice to lead us. The whole nation is waiting.’

From the onset, the story’s didactic nature strikes a chord of reminiscing in the Nigerian man about a time that hasn’t yet left.

The ghost of Anikulapo Fela Kuti, represented by Taduno, reminds us of what is at stake in our democracy and country.

The story ends with Taduno singing. A song that loves and betrays.

About the Author

Odafe Atogun was born in Nigeria, in the town of Lokoja, on the confluence of the rivers Niger and Benue. He is now a full-time writer, married, and lives in Abuja.

Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye Review- a tale of blurred morality and traumatic injustice

SUMMARY
Title: Blood Scion
Genre: Fiction
Author: Deborah Falaye
Publisher: Harper Collins
Year of Publication: 2022
Number of Pages: 432
ISBN:9780062954046
Reviewer: Testimony Akinkunmi
Blood Scion review

Blood Scion creates a fantasy world of blurred morality and over aching injustice.

Despite her dead mother’s attempt to give Sloane a chance to start life with a clean slate. She fails. Her Yoruba identity means her death, but it will only get worse for everyone around her when her Scion identity is recognized.

Deborah Falaye tells this incredible Yoruba-based mythology story brilliantly and tearfully. That we surrender and try to see ourselves in the character’s shoes. 

Blood Scion has some trigger warnings. It is heavily character-driven, and Sloane makes it emotional and real. The dilemma where she had to decide whether to kill her friend since childhood or be killed is something a fifteen year should never be asked to choose. And with that act, though, she becomes a murderer. 

‘Once again, I must sacrifice others to save myself, trade their lives for my own freedom.’

Sloane’s story isn’t that way. Her character makes us root for her, wishing that, with the new friends she would get in the camp, she would be able to kill the royals and escape to the lands beyond. And happily ever after. 

She would have to decide what matters most: her humanity or survival. She could never have both.

Blood Scion
Blood scion eso

The choice of language in Blood scion is a big improvement from other Yoruba fantasies published in America in recent years. When the characters speak, there is strong linguistic and emotional support for what they are saying.

“A little too late for that, don’t you think? I have no use for your apology, Sloane. I just want you to pay for what you’ve done. It’s the only way to make it right.”

When Malachi speaks here, we see him as a vengeance stalker and hurt orphan. It is a painful recollection.

The ancestors are fucking with me.

Preying on my vulnerability.

This sentence shows a rare sample of American English in a well-balanced linguistic diction. Deborah Falaye prostitutes the English language and hails the Yoruba linguistic catalog.

This book is for you if you want to know more about bloody betrayal, spiritual incantations, and how what is wrong might be the best option.

Note: Trigger warnings are laced across the text.

About the Author

Deborah Falaye is a young adult novelist from Nigeria who lives in Canada. She grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, where she devoured African literature, pestered her grandmother for folktales, and tricked her grandfather into watching Passions every night. When she’s not writing about powerful Black heroines with badass powers, she’s obsessed with reality TV. Deborah presently resides in Toronto with her husband and their Yorkie companion in crime, Major. Her debut novel is Blood Scion.

Patience is a subtle thief review-a Nigerian story of lost innocence

SUMMARY
Title: Patience is a subtle thief
Genre: Fiction
Author: Abi Ishola-Ayodeji
Publisher: Harper Collins
Year of Publication: 2022
Number of Pages: _
ISBN: 9780063116917
Reviewer: Testimony Akinkunmi
Patience is a subtle thief review

In her journey, Patience Adewale will find love. She will find her mother. But at a very huge cost.

Imagine a young teenage Nigerian girl who has everything, money, prestige, and even elite education. But lacks a real family. That was Patience’s life. Rather than guide her on a journey through the memory path. Her father would antagonize her. The relatives will reprimand her. And she would live the life of a prodigal one. Hustling her way into the school through scams and bad company.

Her desire to know her real mother remained strong, despite its cost to her relationship with her father. A poorer condition of living. And forfeiture of the good things and comfort of life.

And in a conversation with her father, we would find the truth.

Patience, how did you become like this?”

“Like what, Daddy? Lost? Because I am lost, Daddy. I am lost, and you refuse to help me. Why? What did she do to you? How can you keep my own mother from me?” Tired from the struggle, she allowed her tears to run.

Patience is a subtle thief summary

Slowly, the pressures of life would make her forget her family. Until she meets Kenny.

“You say her name is Patience?” Kenny said, smiling. “I thought you don’t believe in ease. Ease is the cousin of patience.”

“Patience is a subtle thief. It’s a thief of time and a thief of money. See this country? People have been patient with democracy. Patient for change. All their patience will eventually steal their hope. They say fraud, and they say 419 when they speak of what I do, but the government is really the biggest fraud. Anyway, the girl Patience is good for the job. I don’t care what her name is.”

As the book comes to an end, against the backdrop of a broken 1990s Nigeria. Patience will remember the fragility of her life. And decide to do all it takes to get to her mother in the USA. Even if it will cost her love, life, and comfort.

You can also read the review of Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi here.

Either you assume Patience is a noun or an adjective. You are right. Her Character growth surprises and intensifies. She grows along with situations. That way they work for her and if they don’t, she strives to make it better.

About Abi Ishola-Ayodeji, Author of Patience is a subtle thief

Abi Ishola-Ayodeji is an award-winning journalist who has written and produced for a variety of platforms such as ELLE.com, PBS, Ebony.com, CUNY TV, and others. She has covered amazing people, communities, and events in New York City, Washington, DC, London, Paris, Nigeria, Ghana, and elsewhere as a reporter and TV producer.

Beyond Classically Beautiful, her acclaimed photo series turned lifestyle brand that celebrates Black women who defy traditional beauty standards, was named one of ESSENCE Magazine’s Woke 100 Women in 2017.

She grew raised in Miami Gardens, Florida, as a first-generation Nigerian American, but she cherishes her brief period in high school in Lagos.

She may be found writing, brainstorming, and reading novels when she is not spending time with her husband and two children.

Review//Madhouse-T.J Benson

SUMMARY
Title: The Madhouse
Genre: Fiction
Author: Tj Benson
Publisher: Penguin Random House/Masobe
Year of Publication: 2021
Number of Pages: 313
ISBN: 978-1-4859-0415-1
Reviewer: Testimony Akinkunmi
a table showing the madhouse review

THE MADHOUSE is the second of Tj Benson books, the first he is getting as a Masobe author. The book is a reminder to hold on, breathe deep or get lost in a subjective world of madness.

The Madhouse is a rhapsody of narratives, intimacies, and the unorthodox. And house number 37 on Freetown Street, Old Quarters, Sabon Gari is the cardinal point. The house is a comfort for foreigners from the heat and travails during colonial times. Years later, Sweet Pea and Shariff would find the same strange assistance within the same walls. Succor that would be questioned by ‘the women of Freetown Street, who chorused, “God of Elijah, send down faya with flame torches in their hand.”’ And strays who want to find out what is special about the Madhouse.

Set in the 1990s, the Madhouse would be the slight aftertaste of Ben Okri’s The Famished Road in how the sentences flow and the plot moves. The viscerality of shared dreams looks less taboo and more like a miracle in how Tarfa Jason Benson explains the phenomenon of Macmillan finding himself in Andre’s dream. The author’s note reminds you that he knew there would be queries about some elements of his book. So, it should be fewer questions, more understanding.

cover photo of the madhouse

This book is for you if you love authentic multi-perspectives in a novel, with each character living life to its fullest, having maniacal dreams and wayward intimacy. But in the same breath, different nostalgic Nigerian songs are scattered like aesthetic bread crumbs around the books. A queer and ominous reminder that there isn’t one way to tell this story. 

The Madhouse takes you to Amsterdam, India, and then, with a thud, back to Nigeria, with a simple tune of disorganization and poverty weaved to mean child-friendly and untouched by the state of affairs in the country. The loss of innocence leaks from father and mother to sons, then daughter {Ladidi}. So that even when it means death, you take hand to eye, wishing them to hope as the military dictatorship grows.

  

Review // Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi-a redemption or another dystopian

Onyebuchi in Riot Baby depicts a fatherless family with a society-battered woman, a faulty super heiress, and a trouble magnet son. After the mother dies due to cancer, and the son is incarcerated for what the system makes him do, he asks:  What happens? Redemption or another Black Life Riot.

When you have within you the power to wreck cities & see the future. You tend to overlook the fragility of family and immerse yourself in the chaos of a wider world. In a now-more-than-ever-relevant dystopian. Tochi warns us that Black American crises like racial profiling, police brutality, and broken families will always exist. Brewing below, the calm of innocence and curiosity.

In a viewpoint that combines the dynamism of an omniscient perspective with the intimacy of the first person, balance, not even peace, and hope, not even compromise, makes its presence felt more clearly. As I immerse myself into Ella, seeing what she sees, using a superpower with no manual, nearly being killed and trying to kill another. Fear waters down into freedom, family builds up into an incarcerated companionship. All symbolism tells a tale of when would we say never again.

riot baby cover picture

Kev, born while Los Angeles was on fire, continues to burn into the precipice of jail. It is as if a part of him magnets into the ironic calm the prison can bring. Despite warning by friends, half enemies and Ella, robbery gives him up to jail. And in jail, He seems as if it isn’t him who is in jail, almost like a part of who he is, separated from him. He is then forced to see as this part of him gets beaten and lacking a chance to be human.

Riot Baby Quotes

“When you have a purpose that doesn’t involve hurting someone else, it changes the way you walk.

Baby, that’s just the Devil at work. But you know there’s more out there than just the Devil.

Riot Baby Awards and nominations

Nebula Award for Best Novella Nominated

Goodreads Choice for Science Fiction Nominated

2021 Alex Award Won

Locus Award for Best Novella Nominated

World Fantasy Award for Best Novella Won

Hugo Award for Best Novella Nominated

Nommo Award for Best Novella Shortlisted

Ignyte Award for Best Novella Won

About the author of Riot Baby

Originally from Nigeria, Tochi Onyebuchi is a science fiction writer from the United States and a former civil rights attorney. His first adult novel, Riot Baby, was nominated for the Hugo Award, Nebula Award and Nommo Award in 2020.

Review|| Lightseekers by Femi Kayode- a hymn of campus gangterism

The mystery-thriller genre in Nigeria has got a new pacesetter. Lightseekers indulge in our mundane Nigerianness- think of strikes, cultism, and revenge- to create a breathtaking plot and dopamine accentuating pace.

Femi Kayode’s characters are Nigerians in their totality, except perhaps John Paul, whose characterization is a suppressed characterization in African fiction. Kayode knows this limitation, and he uses the classic American mystery template to build an in-depth, almost relatable villain. But he doesn’t stop there, he makes us realize that a character like John Paul is often on the sidelines. “There will always be a Tamuno (John Paul) around us. You see it everywhere. Politicians. Businessmen. People who prey on our fear of each other for their selfish gains.” But they all do it in subtle, harmful yet praised ways.

The character of Beatrice falls in the field of more conveniently formed than realistically possible. It makes you wonder what the likelihood is of Dr Taiwo meeting a woman who has 5-star accommodations for him, knows everyone in the village, and can easily be a romantic figure. It was too stereotypical. However, her legal ‘betrayal’ punctured a hole in her stereotypical caricature.

LIGHTSEEKERS COVER BY FEMI KAYODE

Kayode’s plot stand tall, and he plays the Agatha Christy game card of revealing our culprit early on, but in an off-handed by-pass. The intrigue hardens when the President of a national bank is ready to commit murder just to attack his grief. And avenge his son whose innocence is unbalanced.

Femi Kayode vistas into the Nigerian University life and the beneficial but uncomfortable symbiosis with their native environment. ‘Look around my town, Dr Taiwo,’ The Chief uses his walking stick to sweep the air in an arc. ‘How many youths do you see from here going to that university? How many people from this town have access to the teaching hospital without paying plenty of money? The list goes on. What has that university brought us but discontent?’

‘But you said it brought the money?’

The Chief breathed deeply. ‘Money only breeds a desire for more money. Nothing more.’

At junctures, where our dopamine might seem to be reaching intensive suspense dosage. The author puts a bit of normalcy and questions to make us back off and see the big picture. He insists with his pace that this town ‘knows who kill these three students, but it is why we should worry ourselves about.’

Ultimately, this novel takes a piece of the fabric of Nigeria that concerns youths. It weaves it in pages lacking in historical proverbs or usual African folktales, a narrative that says even the contemporary Nigeria is in as much danger as when the colonialists came to power. In a way, it is an exorcism of some sort to strip crime naked and point out the havoc it is creating.

To say the truth when lights reveal some of our secrets, like Chika’s cultist background or the darkness in Emeka. We might want to tell the light seekers. ‘Off the Mic.’ But we must remember what Beatrice says, ‘My mother’s people are not bad people,’ she says, looking down at me. ‘They’re not good either. They are just humans. What they did is inexcusable in a world that makes sense. But you’ve been here long enough to see that very little makes sense in this part of the world. And though it is not an excuse, it is the reality of what happens.’ 

Should you read Lightseekers?

Yes, LightSeekers is an organismic brain satisfier. You wouldn’t be able to put it down.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Femi Kayode trained as a clinical psychologist in Nigeria, before starting a career in advertising. He has created and written several primetime TV shows and recently graduated with a distinction from the University of East Anglia Creative Writing program. He lives in Windhoek, Namibia, with his wife and two sons.

Review| Clap when you land-how to write a novel-in-verse

WHY SHOULD YOU READ CLAP WHEN YOU LAND

Elizabeth Acevedo’s use of novel-in-verse beautifies fiction with a peculiar style. But she doesn’t stop there. She recounts real tales and humane flaws in a way that makes us love and cry.

Clap when you land is Acevedo’s third fiction piece, and its chasmic yet deliberate plot tells history from a bereaved teenage mouth. Secrets are not only ugly, sometimes they are destiny-alternating. And that is exactly what happens to Camino and Yahaira. The unveiling of what binds them is exactly the same thing that makes them ask the difficult question of whether they wanted to wield the secret or get emotionally mutated by it.

Clap When You Land is a young adult literature that explores themes of heredity, class and privilege, as well as the complex, conflicted emotions the girls feel toward their birthplaces

clap when you land cover

As consistently seen in Acevedo’s work, her characters fight grief, and betrayal just to understand their place in the world after their pillar dies. The settings flow seamlessly between the Dominican Republic and the United States, not only in landscape but in word usage. Brings us closer to the intricacies and nuances of an anglicized national dialect.

YOU CAN ALSO READ THE REVIEW OF THE TELLER OF SECRETS HERE

But death and secrets aren’t all that clap when you land by Elizabeth Acevedo is about. Our main characters also have their life, Yahaira and her female friend. Camino and her friend who is a teenage mother. Yahaira and her obsession with being normal, Camino and unsafe men. At every point, where the characters alternate between who tells the story we nod to them when they say, we can only go ‘Onward. Always onward.’

A genre-defining piece of brilliance and love.

WHERE TO GET CLAP WHEN YOU LAND

AMAZON || BARNES AND NOBLE

ABOUT ELIZABETH ACEVEDO

Elizabeth Acevedo is a Dominican-American poet and author.[1] She is the author of the young adult novelsThe Poet X, With the Fire on High, and Clap When You Land. The Poet X is a New York Times Bestseller,[2]National Book Award Winner,[3] and Carnegie Medal winner.[4] She is also the winner of the 2019 Michael L. Printz Award, the 2018 Pura Belpre Award, and the Boston-Globe Hornbook Award Prize for Best Children’s Fiction of 2018. She lives in Washington, DC.[5][6]

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