REVIEW: TO SEE THE MOUNTAIN AND OTHER STORIES

The Caine Prize for African Wrinting 2011

My Rating: 4 Stars

Genre: Short Story/Fiction

Year Of Publication: 2011

Number of pages: 224

SUMMARY
A gang of young children from a camp pay a marauding visit to a rich neighbourhood... Will the murder of her daughter shake the foundations of Molly's world?... The death of the village Lothario causes a sexual revolution as husbands try to figure out what he had been giving their wives... A girl abducted by a rebel group years before comes home to pick up the threads of her life... A woman looks back over her long life and wonders how she ended up with her husband's mistress's dog...

MY VERDICT
This is the first Caine Prize book I've read, so It's safe to say I was impressed with what I read. This book contained a collection of 17 short stories by different authors from various parts of Africa. I love reading stories by other African Authors, mainly because of the knowledge and edge it adds to my mind.
Comments on some of the stories: What Molly Knew (so didn't expect the end) , In The Spirit of McPhineas Lata ( I found this story particularly amusing) , Butterfly Dreams ( this was sad) , Hitting Budapest ( odd), Afritude (it reminded me of life in boarding school, but my experience wasn't so hardcore).
In my opinion, no story was "bad". I didn't quite grasp the plot or point of some stories , but they were all quite good and it was exciting to see that no two stories had identical plots. They were all unique in their own respect and the book helped me discover new authors, whose other literary works I look forward to reading in future.
You can purchase this book from Africareeds for 1,200 naira only.

PS: Check out my favourite quotes page for new quotes xx

Comments

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...

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....

REVIEW: THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR

Author : Yewande Omotoso My Rating : 5 Stars Genre : Fiction Year Published : 2016 ISBN : 978-978-54604-2-1 Date Read : 18/01/2018 SUMMARY Hortensia and Marion are next door neighbours in a charming, bougainvillea-laden Cape Town suburb. One is black, one white. Both are successful women with impressive careers behind them. Both have recently been widowed. Both are in their eighties. And both are sworn enemies, sharing hedge and hostility pruned with zeal. But one day an unforeseen event forces the women together. Could long-held mutual loathing transform into friendship? Love thy neighbour? Easier said than done. MY THOUGHTS The story is centered around Hortensia James and Marion Agostino; two women who appear different on the outside, but who have quite a number of startling similarities. The first thing, other than all the mini instagram reviews I read of this book, that drew me to it was the fact that the protagonists were elderly. I recall th...

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