Skip to main content

REVIEW: SWALLOW

 

Author: Sefi Atta

Genre: Fiction

Year Of Publication: 2008

My Rating: 3 Stars

SUMMARY
It is the mid 1980s in Lagos and the governement's War Against Indiscipline and austerity measures are fully in operation. Tolani Ajao is secretary working at Federal Community Bank. A succession of unfortunate events lead Tolani's roomate and colleague, Rose, to persuade her to consider drug trafficking as an alternative means of making a living. Tolani's subsequent struggle with temptation forces her to reconsider her morality and that of her mother Arike's, as she embarks on a turbulent journey of self discovery.- Written by author.

"The bustle, choas and fast rhythm of Lagos jump from the pages of Swallow, Sefi Atta's new book. It is fiction steeped in life."  - Veronique Tadjo, author of As the Crow Files

MY VERDICT
Don't judge a book by It's cover. That's one thing I learnt from reading this novel. I guess I was so allured by the cover, that I expected too much from the book. In spite of the dissapointment, I enjoyed this very brief story and I also learnt a few new words. Sefi Atta could have  done better, considering how wonderful Everything Good Will Come was for me. The most important lesson I learnt from Swallow is that drug trafficking  is a no-no and using drugs also is detrimental to your health - obviously.

You can acquire the novel Here and also at the Jazz Hole, Shop No. 168, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi.
Sefi Atta (I adore her name)

P.S: Check out my Favourite Quotes Page :)


 Other books by the author:

 Everything Good Will Come
It's My Turn
News From Home...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE FULANI CREATION STORY

    Right from the moment Mr.Salami -my social studies teacher in year 8- taught us about religion and what different ethnic groups in Nigeria believe the true creation story is ;according to their norms and traditional orientation. I took a  particular interest in one story , which was The Fulani peoples' story.      I guess my reason was because it was so different from all the other stories. I was captivated by how they incorporated different elements of life ; how it was presented in  poem form ,but it isn't a poem lol. Let me spare you the detail . Here is a brief history of the Fulanis , for those who aren't too familiar with who they are and what part of Nigeria they hail from. Fulani, people of Africa numbering about 7 million and dispersed in varying, often sizable, concentrations throughout the grassland areas of West Africa from Senegal and Guinea to Nigeria , Cameroon, and Chad. Their Fulfulde language is closely relate...
6 comments
Read more

REVIEW: A COWRIE OF HOPE

Author : Binwell Sinyangwe My Rating : 3 Stars Genre : Fiction/ Literature Year Published : 2000 ISBN : 9780435912024 Number of Pages : 152 Date Read : 03/12/2017 SUMMARY 'These were the nineties,' reflects the narrator of A Cowrie of Hope , and for the young widow Nasula they are years of relentless economic hardship and privation. She dreams of a better life for her beautiful daughter, Sula, free from poverty and independent of marriage. But when Nasula finds herself unable to pay for Sula's education, her hopes seem to have been extinguished - until a friend advises her to go to Lusaka and sell her last sack of highly sought-after Mbala beans. Nasula makes the journey, but in the city she finds herself exposed to new, and predatory, dangers. MY THOUGHTS The author's writing style was pretty basic. The plot was kind of predictable, nothing mind-blowing, but pretty decent. I especially loved how the story gave me Joys of Motherhood vibes....
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Enemy Within

Author : Steve Jacobs My Rating : 4.5 Stars Genre : Fiction/Literature Year of Publication : 1995 Date Read :16/08/2017 Number of Pages :185 ISBN : 9780435909987 SUMMARY A black man, brutalised by apartheid, murders his wife. His fate is in the hands of a young Jewish lawyer, Jeremy Spielman. As Jeremy prepares to defend his client, he discovers uncomfortable facts about his own life: the racism of his girlfriend, the injustice of the legal system and his own weakness in the face of his country's enemies . MY THOUGHTS The Enemy Within   is one of numerous books, which are part of the African Writers Series (AWS). If you don't know what the African Writers Series is, click  here  to educate yourself :) This book was really quick and easy to read, yet it carried so much depth in it's pages. This is a quality that all the AWS books I've read all possess and for this reason, I hope to read all the books in the series- all 200+ of them. I caught a gli...
2 comments
Read more