Book Summary
A modern classic set in Akure, Nigeria. A story of four brothers, an ominous prophecy from a madman and the unraveling of a family.
We have the typical educated Igbo family. The learned strict father, the submissive mother and their six kids. But the story is about the first four boys and how their actions led to the unraveling of their family into loose threads. Their names are Ikenna, Boja, Obembe and Ben (in order). It all began when their father got transferred to Yola for work. Their father who held the family together tightly with his strictness and inability to take nonsense. He was a disciplinarian, so the boys feared him and they wouldn't do anything that would earn them lashings or their father’s displeasure. So, when their father leaves, they don't know what to do with their newfound freedom. Their mother is softer and doesn't really have much of a hold on them. These boys test out their freedom by trying to join the community boys on the football field but they are not accepted because they are known as snobbish. No fault of theirs though, just the way they were raised.
Then Ikenna’s friend suggests that they go fishing at the Omi Ala river. This river is known to be forbidden due to the dark deeds that has happened there in the past. Bodies found beside or floating in the river. But the stubbornness of youth and that feeling of being untouchable pushes them to start fishing there, without the knowledge of their mother. On a fateful day after fishing, they encounter the renowned madman, Abulu on the path that leads back home. They make a mockery of him as he is a spectacle to them. One of the boys says they should go because the madman might be dangerous but Ikenna fearless, threatens to kill the madman if he comes close to them. There and then, the madman makes the ominous prophecy that is the leading plot of the story. He prophesies that Ikenna would be killed by one of his brothers. Everything goes downhill so fast after that.
The madman has been known for his prophecies coming true. He is believed to be possessed by a spirit or demon who can see spiritual things, the past and the future. So, gradually Ikenna is driven mad by this prophecy and is suspicious of his brothers. He goes through a metamorphosis and cuts himself off from his family, getting into fights and arguments with his mother and brothers, especially Boja. It is no surprise that he is killed by Boja and Boja commits suicide thereafter. Obembe, driven mad by thethirst for revenge on Abulu for making the prophecy that kills his brothers, decides to kill Abulu. He involves Ben in the plan and together they kill Abulu with fish hooks. Soldiers are witnesses to this killing and they start looking for the boys who killed Abulu. Obembe and Ben plans to run away from home. Obembe goes through with the plan and runs away but Ben stays back and faces the consequences of his actions. He is arrested and jailed for manslaughter. Because he is still a minor, he is given a sentence of eight years.
My Thoughts
This is my first read of the year. I had to catch my breath after this traumatic read. I finished reading this book at exactly 7:45pm and I sat on the floor for one hour after to gather my thoughts and to marinate all that I had read.
This book is an amazing read for real. It is dark, petrifying, horrifying and intense. With each page I flipped, it was like there was a mounting feeling of dread. Imagine a book starting out as normal, then getting so abnormal real quick. I believe there was more than one mad man in this story. It wasn't just Abulu who was mad. Ikenna was mad, so was Boja, so was Obembe. Okay, Abulu prophesied something to Ikenna but Ikenna was actually the mastermind of his death. He put it in fast motion. Despite his brothers’ pleas and vows that they could not kill him and they loved him so much, Ikenna kept being suspicious of them, destroying precious things around the house (including their relationships) and pushing them away. He got into consequent fights with Boja, who he believed was the one that would kill him. It was during one of their fights that he got stabbed by Boja and Abulu’s prophecy was fulfilled. For me, i think Ikenna’s death was something that would not have happened if he had just ignored the mad man’s prophecy.
Well, Boja committed fratricide and decided to kill himself too. One thing that added to the horror of this book was the way the author gave a detailed description of each gruesome murder , death or accident. I blame their father who was absent. Yes, he was on transfer but when his wife started reporting the boys wrongdoings to him and Ikenna’s building madness, he should have dropped all things and come back home. Maybe he would have managed to stop the resulting deaths. He was only able to return home after their deaths. Not like he could do much reparation to the damage that had already been done. Due to grief of losing two sons in one day, their mother slowly ran mad too. It seems like this book was basically about madness all through. There was just so much unnecessary tragedy in this book.
Their mother had just recovered, when Obembe’s madness started. Obembe just wanted to get revenge on Abulu for making the prophecy that destroyed their family. He didn't even care about the prospects of going to Canada with his brother, Ben. He made so many plans but each had loopholes or failed. Eventually, he came up with a plan where he and Ben would accost the madman at the Omi Ala river and stab him with fishing hooks. It was quite crazy because this boys were basically just 10&12. They kill Abulu and there are repercussions after that.
The pace of this book felt slow, there were some overly detailed explanations and there was me just really wanting to know what happened next. I didn't like that the author gave a large chunk of the book to explaining Abulu’s escapades and atrocities (necrophilia and incest). It started making me wonder if the book was about the brothers or the madman, Abulu. Also, the author’s writing style wasn't the easiest to follow, the language wasn't that simple. It was also quite unbelievable that a minor (10 year old) boy would be sent to jail. I think the author probably related it to the fact that it was a military government then and they basically, didn't care. But I liked the plot, the setting, the characterization and the subtle incorporation of other real events like the MKO Abiola campaign, elections and deaths. All in all, this book was an amazing and gripping read.
Rating
7/10
Thanks for reading.✨
Book cover sourced from Twitter
Other screenshots taken from my e-library
