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Aug 29

2023 Booker longlist: A Spell of Good Things by Ayòbámi Adébáyò

Next up for our panel is Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀’s A Spell of Good Things. Adébáyọ̀ is no stranger to literary acclaim. Her novel Stay with Me won the 9mobile Prize for Literature and Prix Les Afriques and was shortlist for the Women’s Prize. Many of our panelists have raved about her work.

Synopsis taken from Booker Prize website: Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀’s breathtaking novel shines a light on the haves and have-nots of Nigeria, and the shared humanity that lives in between.  

Ẹniọlá is tall for his age, a boy who looks like a man. His father has lost his job, so Ẹniọlá spends his days running errands, collecting newspapers and begging – dreaming of a big future.  Wuraola is a golden girl, the perfect child of a wealthy family, and now an exhausted young doctor in her first year of practice. But when sudden violence shatters a family party, Wuraola and Ẹniọlá’s lives become inextricably intertwined… 

You can purchase a copy of the book here

Keep reading to find out how our panelists rated this book.

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Aug 29

Read Around the World August 2023: The Democratic Republic of the Congo

Fun facts website https://factcity.com/facts-about-drc/

  • Due to its long name, Democratic Republic of the Congo is often referred to as DRC.
  • It is the second largest country in Africa
  • The capital city is called Kinshasa
  • Whilst you’re visiting, make sure you don’t take any pictures of the locals; it is believed to remove their spirit
  • Residents here enjoy a topical climate with wet and dry seasons split above and below the equator – north of the equator has a dry season from December to February and wet from April to October, whilst south of the equator is the opposite.
  • Several species of animal are endemic to DRC, including the Bonobos and Eastern Lowland Gorilla
  • French is the official language of DRC, however, around 700 native languages and dialects including Lingala, Kingwana, Kikongo and Tshiluba are also spoken here.
  • Despite not being one of the richest countries in the world, DRC actually has a space program
  • DRC grows coffee and sugar and produces palm oil, rubber and wood products
  • DRC exports diamonds, copper, crude oil, coffee and cobalt.

I chose to visit the DRC via Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila. This was a 3 star read. Tram 83 is a night club in an un-named African country. The story revolves around those who frequent the night club and those who work there and specifically friends Lucien a writer fleeing from censorship and bad boy Requiem.

This is a very male novel, everything is seen through the eyes of the men, male characters are referred to by name whereas the women are referred to in sexual terms and appear to be either single mothers, respectable married women or prostitutes.

The action revolves around corruption, scamming tourists and the mining rush. The men are all there to exploit the countries natural resources or its women.

While the novel is vivid and alive it is also too male in outlook for me to fully appreciate it.

This quote for me best sums up what the novel is aiming to achieve:

“We’ve already had enough of squalor, poverty, syphilis and violence in African literature. Look around us. There are beautiful girls, good looking men, Brazza Beer, good music. Doesn’t all that inspire you? I’m concerned for the future of African literature in general. The main character in the African novel is always single, neurotic, perverse, depressive, childless, homeless and overburdened with debt. Here, we live, we fuck, we’re happy. There needs to be fucking in African literature too!”

Other readers visited in the following ways:

Currey from Litsy: King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild rated Pick and Before the Birth of the Moon by V. Y. Mudimbe also rated Pick.

Another book I read years ago and would recommend although the author is not from the DRC is Blood River by Tim Butcher.

Did you join us on this leg of our trip? Let us know what you read.

Next month we are off to Canada – this is the home of one of my favourite authors Margaret Atwood and she does have a new book out…Share your reading plans with us.