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WORK TITLE: Taduno’s Song
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Abuja
STATE:
COUNTRY: Nigeria
NATIONALITY: Nigerian
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in Lokoja, Nigeria; married.
EDUCATION:Times Journalism Institute, Lagos, Nigeria (graduated).
ADDRESS
CAREER
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Odafe Atogun is a Nigerian writer and novelist. He was born in Lokoja, in a region where two important African rivers, the Niger and Benue, come together, noted a writer on the Toby Mundy Associates Website. He is married and currently makes his home in Abuja, Nigeria. He studied journalism at Times Journalism Institute in Lagos but has turned to full-time fiction writing.
In an autobiographical article in the London Guardian, Atogun described in detail the writer’s rituals and habits he observes before starting a new work of fiction. These include small but important tasks such as cleaning and rearranging his workspace, making sure the view from his window is exactly right, and working out in the local gym. “The conditions are so important; I prepare my work space for days,” he stated. Not only must the physical conditions be exactly right, the outside environment must also be suitable. “I write mostly at night when the world is asleep,” he commented in the Guardian piece.
Atogun is philosophical about the opportunity he has to make his living as a writer. “This is my life now. I’m grateful that I have arrived at this point. This is where I had always wanted to be; writing full-time is much more challenging than I had imagined, but I’m truly enjoying the experience and learning from it each day,” he stated in the Guardian (London).
Taduno’s Song, Atogun’s debut novel, presents an allegorical tale of exile, music, and hope. Taduno is a talented musician who was once very popular in his homeland of Nigeria. Now, however, he is in exile, forced to flee when the lyrics of his songs became too critical of the country’s military government and its brutal dictator. He is surprised one day to receive a letter from Lela, once his lover, who tells him that she has been imprisoned by the dictator. Returning to Nigeria to help her, he finds that no one remembers him; his existence has, in essence, been erased. Even his music cannot make people remember him, as his voice has deteriorated since his exile. As he searches for Lela, he makes a startling discovery: the country’s malevolent dictator requires him to perform in support of the military regime. If he does not, Lela will be tortured or killed. Taduno faces a profound dilemma: either sing for a regime he despises and betray his personal honor or refuse to submit to the coercion and allow his lover to be harmed.
In an interview with Jove Sheppard in the Washington Independent Review of Books, Atogun commented on his goals for his novel and why he wrote it to reflect an allegory. “I must admit that I was driven by the desire to write a timeless story. As such, I had to capture it in such a way that the reader can absorb it from another time and place, hence the allegorical tone. Because the decision that Taduno must make is so difficult and unpleasant, I tried to present the story as a phase in human history that marked the end of tyranny. So, it is a story of hope,” Atogun stated.
“Atogun’s allegory, at once bleak and hopeful, needs no external glosses to speak clearly and powerfully,” commented a writer in Publishers Weekly. “Atogun has a fluid style, and the narrative handles issues such as the malevolent dictator with a gentle elegance that mirrors the protagonist Taduno’s character,” observed a writer in the periodical New African. In assessing Taduno’s Song, Library Journal contributor Sally Bissell remarked, “this beautiful little book deserves a place on the shelf. Thoughtful readers will be enthralled.” Booklist writer June Sawyers called it a “very impressive debut.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, February 1, 2017, June Sawyers, review of Taduno’s Song, p. 18.
Guardian (London, England), August 19, 2017, “Odafe Atogun: ‘I Write At Night When the World is Asleep,'” autobiography of Odafe Atogun.
Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2017, review of Taduno’s Song.
Library Journal, January 1, 2017, Sally Bissell, review of Taduno’s Song, p. 83.
New African, August-September, 2016, review of Taduno’s Song, p. 96.
Publishers Weekly, January 30, 2017, review of Taduno’s Song, p. 174.
ONLINE
Edinburgh International Book Festival Website, http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/ (October 30, 2017), biography of Odafe Atogun.
Huntress of Diverse Books Blog, https://huntressofdiversebooks.wordpress.com (August 1, 2017), review of Wake Me When I’m Gone.
Of Books, http://www.ofbooks.org (July 17, 2017), review of Wake Me When I’m Gone.
Toby Mundy Associates Website, http://www.tma-agency.com/ (October 30, 2017), biography of Odafe Atogun.
Washington Independent Review of Books, http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/ (April 18, 2017), Joye Shepperd, “An Interview with Odafe Atogun.”
What Cathy Read Next Blog, https://whatcathyreadnext.wordpress.com (July 20, 2017), review of Wake Me When I’m Gon.
ODAFE ATOGUN was born in Nigeria, in the town of Lokoja, where the Niger and Benue rivers meet. He studied journalism at the Times Journalism Institute in Lagos and is now a fulltime writer. He is married and lives in Abuja.
Odafe Atogun: ‘I write at night when the world is asleep’
The Nigerian writer on a tidy desk, a lucky laptop and matching David Beckham for sartorial style
‘This is my life now. This is where I had always wanted to be’ … Odafe Atogun. Illustration by Alan Vest. Illustration: ALAN VEST
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Odafe Atogun
Saturday 19 August 2017 10.00 BST
Last modified on Wednesday 20 September 2017 10.27 BST
F
or me, writing is a journey, and the start of that journey is a well-worn ritual that I must observe for several days before I can even begin. In that time I allow myself to embrace a certain idleness, engaging in small, menial chores that drain my energy. Purposefully. I clean, I scrub, I rearrange my study and shred useless documents I have amassed over the years. I adjust and readjust my chair and desk, sitting down to make sure that the view from my window is just right – tall trees in the distance, and beyond them a blue sky. The conditions are so important; I prepare my work space for days. Finally I take to the gym. Only then am I ready to start putting pen to paper – fingertips to keyboard – for the weeks and months that lie before me.
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I write mostly at night when the world is asleep, and when the world stirs I allow myself a couple of hours’ sleep. By 10am I’m up, though. I start my day with two bottles of water, sometimes three, and a cup of black tea. No sugar. I potter around for half an hour and then eat. Then I take a shower and here I find I can begin to work again, developing my story in my mind. I could stay under the shower for an eternity. Maybe in my next life I will come back as a fish.
It is almost noon by the time I sit down at my perfectly arranged desk, and from then I write until my neighbour’s dogs start to bark. They can’t see me but I glare at them through my window anyway. The harder I glare the louder they bark. I keep writing while they bark and tell myself that I must learn to write to the barking of dogs. If they refuse to stop, I open the window, place a small speaker on the ledge and play loud music. I leave my study for a while and use the opportunity to get something to eat. The music often does the trick: the dogs stop barking and I can return to my study to continue writing.
I’m working on my third book. Depending on my mood, I play quiet jazz on my computer to start me off. I turn off the music when I’m in full flow, pulled deeper into the world I’m creating.
I’m writing on a Dell Latitude E4310; I flew all the way to Lagos to purchase it back in 2011. It’s a lovely laptop that has produced two books. I guard it jealously. No one is allowed to touch it, not even my wife. I’m thinking that when I finish my third book on this faithful computer, I will put it up for auction and become rich from the sale of my good luck charm, a laptop able to produce three novels in as many years. Life is so funny. Ironic. I used to believe that my books would make me rich, but it looks like it might be the computer that produced my books that makes me rich. If my books make me a million pounds before I finish the third, I might drop the ugly idea of putting my dear computer up for auction. #SaveOdafe’sLaptop!
I remember the days when I had no shoes at all, as a child living under a master who had two wives
Sometimes, when I’m drained from writing, I take a break and count my shoes, of which there are a few dozen. I remember the days when I had no shoes at all, as a child living under a master who had two wives. I try on shirts, trousers and shoes to determine the right combination, until I’m convinced that I can match David Beckham for style. It is not vanity, it is procrastination, something that becomes a bit of a talent for the full-time writer. And it is a good affliction, because it purges me in a way, and helps me channel my creative energies when I get back to my desk.
The dogs are observing siesta now. Silence settles on the world. I’m oblivious of that silence as I type away. I take a break at 6pm. Time to do some exercise – push-ups, planks, weights and so on. Then I get back under the shower and allow my mind to go blank. Dinner and TV take the next hour of my life. I go to sleep at about 8.30pm, waking up just before midnight to continue my work. It is much calmer at night, there is perfect peace.
This is my life now. I’m grateful that I have arrived at this point. This is where I had always wanted to be; writing full-time is much more challenging than I had imagined, but I’m truly enjoying the experience and learning from it each day.
• Odafe Atogun’s Wake Me When I’m Gone is published by Canongate.
An Interview with Odafe Atogun
By Joye Shepperd
April 18, 2017
The debut novelist talks about the timelessness of music and love.
Taduno’s music used to bring life to his people. He is the most famous musician in the entire country until he disappears — not only physically, but also from the collective memory of his countrymen. He soon wakes up with his guitar, alone in an unknown town, trying to remember how he arrived. Taduno’s Song, the debut novel by Nigerian-born Odafe Atogun, is the story of Taduno finding his way back home.
Why do you set the beginning of the story off-stage, with Taduno waking up in an unknown city? Is it a way to sort of unground the reader?
Yes, in a way, to unground the reader. I thought it necessary to start off from a place of calm and peace so that, as the story progresses, the reader would fully appreciate Taduno’s dilemma. It is also to help the reader see the contrasts between a peaceful society where civil liberties are respected and one where dictatorship is the order of the day.
In the description of the story, “Kafkaesque” is used. Would you agree? Taduno, the main character, wakes up, and no one recognizes him. Yet, he is not the one who has transformed. Everyone else has, too. You never really tell us how everyone’s memory is altered. Would you tell readers now?
Let’s start with the second part of the question. Memory, individual and collective, can be altered by fear, by intimidation, by brutal force. Joseph K. must have realized this in The Trial. The atmosphere in Taduno’s homeland is unwholesome, made so by ruthless dictatorship. So it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that tyranny destroys memory and violence corrodes the character of a people. One of the great weapons of a dictatorship is the ability to carry out propaganda onslaughts to take control of people’s minds, such that even the dictator is left deluded.
With regards to the first part of the question, indeed, Taduno’s Song could be seen as a sort of homage. But in all honesty, I hadn’t read Kafka prior to writing it. Prompted by the description of the story as “Kafkaesque,” I read a couple of Kafka books. I have since come to believe that, sometimes, it is possible to pay homage without realizing you are doing so.
Do you believe music has the power to save the world? If so, should it be without lyrics?
The idea of “music without words” is born of the fact that music can be enjoyed by all even if the words are alien to the listener. No matter what language we use to make music, the words of our songs cannot be lost. Rather, they are amplified. So, because of this universal nature of music, it makes it possible for us to convey the message of peace and love devoid of the rhetoric of politics and religion. Yes, music has the power to save the world.
Taduno’s guitar seems to lead the way, but is his voice still required?
Taduno’s voice represents his values — what he stands for and lives for. His guitar helps him to showcase his values in the simplest and most endearing of ways.
Star-crossed lovers Lela and Taduno share a romance that is less a reality than an idea. Is it stronger because it’s the stuff of fantasy?
Since the beginning of time, the only way man has been able to measure love is through the sacrifice we make for love. How big is the sacrifice (the ultimate being paying with one’s own life)? The sacrifice both Lela and Taduno must make shows the timelessness of their love; their lives are at stake. So, sharing a love life that lives in the past actually helps to gauge the strength of their love, considering that they are unable to consummate it in the current circumstances. The stuff of fantasy? This is what makes their love, like all true love, stronger and fascinating for us, I believe.
Since we, as readers, can’t actually hear Taduno’s music, which real-life song most embodies it? Can you name a musician who would be like Taduno?
The song “One” by U2. According to Wikipedia, “One” is often used by the group to promote human rights or social-justice causes, and the song lends its name to Bono’s charitable organization, the One Campaign. The musician that would be like Taduno: Bono.
There is a distance in Taduno’s Song between the reader and the narrative, a wonderful sense of a different time, an allegorical tone, as if the story takes place before life begins. Why?
I must admit that I was driven by the desire to write a timeless story. As such, I had to capture it in such a way that the reader can absorb it from another time and place, hence the allegorical tone. Because the decision that Taduno must make is so difficult and unpleasant, I tried to present the story as a phase in human history that marked the end of tyranny. So, it is a story of hope.
Joye Shepperd is senior features editor at the Washington Independent Review of Books.
Odafe Atogun was born in Nigeria, in the town of Lokoja, where the Rivers Niger and Benue meet, but hails from Edo State. He studied Journalism at the Times Journalism Institute, Lagos and is now a full-time writer. He is married and lives in Abuja.
World rights to Atogun’s first novel, Taduno’s Song, have been acquired by Canongate and sold in the United States, Germany and Turkey.
Odafe Atogun
Odafe Atogun presents Taduno’s Song, his Kafkaesque Nigerian tale.
Odafe Atogun was born in Nigeria, in the town of Lokoja, where the rivers Niger and Benue meet. He studied Journalism at the Times Journalism Institute, Lagos and is now a full-time writer. He is married and lives in Abuja.
Taduno’s Song follows African singer Taduno, who returns from political exile to the country of his birth to find that the dictatorship's efforts to erase all trace of him have been so successful that he has been entirely forgotten, even by his closest friends and neighbours. But one man remembers: the country's dictator. And upon his return home Taduno discovers its leader has imprisoned the woman he loves and will murder her unless he performs in support of the regime. Taduno must make an impossible choice: fight the power or save the woman he loves.
Taduno's Song sees Atogun tackle major universal themes of resistance in the face of a dictatorship's oppression and in the background of this novel lie hints at the incredible life of Fela Kuti, human rights activist and Nigeria's greatest singing superstar, who regularly clashed with the authoritarian Nigerian regimes of the 1970s and 1980s. This is a story of sacrifice, love and redemption, from an utterly fresh new literary voice.
Atogun, Odafe: TADUNO'S SONG
(Jan. 15, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Atogun, Odafe TADUNO'S SONG Pantheon (Adult Fiction) $24.95 3, 17 ISBN: 978-1-101-87145-4
Debut novelist Atogun delivers a fine, allusive challenge to the dictators who infest Africa--and the world.Taduno, "no last name, no address, just Taduno," is a musician in a strange land, where a letter from a lost love reaches him, pulling him back to Nigeria. He has been anonymous in that orderly place of winding streets and neat gardens. To his surprise, when he arrives in his homeland, from which he had exiled himself, he is anonymous there, too; even his oldest friends don't recognize him, though all agree that "he was a nice man who had lost his mind." As for his lost love, she has been detained, though the police sergeant whom Taduno calls on puts it more baldly than that: the government has kidnapped her for reasons that perhaps even its agents do not know, and even though Taduno protests that "arrested" is the better word than "kidnapped," Lela is gone. Now the goal is to find her but also to find his long-abandoned trove of guitars, find a voice grown so scratchy that the neighbors think it's coming from a ghost, and persuade the president to intercede. All of that is easier said than done, and, even as he winds his way through a weird bureaucracy full of post-adolescent technocrats and strong-arm cops, it forces Taduno to grapple with the big question: does he save his skin, or does he resist? It's a timely question for readers no matter where they may live, and though some of the events of Atogun's novel speak to the real-life travails of Nigerian singer Fela Kuti, the story has universal appeal as it broadens from Kafkaesque allegory to broader satire, the writing assured and controlled as it places Taduno at that existential crossroads at which he knows "that his redemption song would be a very short one." Not quite with the narrative power of Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Wizard of the Crow, yet, but a fine beginning to what we hope will be a fruitful career.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Atogun, Odafe: TADUNO'S SONG." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA477242432&it=r&asid=5f789ff2bb23a698708f2824091eb0b8. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A477242432
Atogun, Odafe. Taduno's Song
Sally Bissell
142.1 (Jan. 1, 2017): p83.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Atogun, Odafe. Taduno's Song. Pantheon. Mar. 2017.240p. ISBN 9781101871454. $24.95; ebk. ISBN 9781101871461. F
For millennia, the intersection of love and politics has been the subject of great literature. In this beguiling debut novel, Nigerian writer Atogun augments the canon with a dreamlike parable of exile and homecoming. Once a prominent musician and performer, Taduno was forced into hiding when his lyrics became too critical of Nigeria's military dictator. But a letter from his lover, Lela, jolts Taduno out of his ennui. Retuning to Lagos, he discovers that Lela has been imprisoned and that he has been forgotten. Unrecognizable to his former neighbors and friends, Taduno walks the streets with his guitar, hoping that his mesmerizing music will speak for him where his words have failed. Not until he is recognized will Taduno have the power to negotiate with the dictator for Lela's release. Atogun's simple, direct prose is the perfect vehicle for the complex questions he poses. Should love for an individual take precedence over love of country? How much suffering does loyalty demand before we say enough? How far will one go before he can no longer compromise his ideals? VERDICT Nominated for a First Book Award for international writing in English after its release in the UK, this beautiful little book deserves a place on the shelf. Thoughtful readers will be enthralled. [See Prepub Alert, 9/12/16.]--Sally Bissell, formerly with Lee Cty. Lib. Syst., Fort Myers, FL
Bissell, Sally
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Bissell, Sally. "Atogun, Odafe. Taduno's Song." Library Journal, 1 Jan. 2017, p. 83+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA476562295&it=r&asid=81706746f3566a74e246d277088ecd87. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A476562295
Taduno's Song
June Sawyers
113.11 (Feb. 1, 2017): p18.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Taduno's Song.
By Odafe Atogun.
Mar. 2017. 240p. Pantheon, $24.95 (9781101871454); ebook (9781101871461).
Taduno, a Nigerian musician in exile from his troubled homeland, receives a cryptic letter from his old girlfriend Lela ("I don't know exactly what's going on--nobody knows," she writes) that sets in motion a series of actions that will change his life, and the lives of those around him, forever. When he returns home to Lagos, he realizes that no one recognizes him, even though he remembers them and even though the only change to his appearance is a full beard. Instead, everyone agrees that he is simply a nice man "who had lost his mind." Nor do they know where Lela is; they say she has been abducted by government agents. Atogun's smart and thoughtful tale is Kafkaesque in tone and said to be inspired by the life of the Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, a prominent opponent of the government. Atogun's ominous and cautionary fable on the themes of home, exile, identity, and the power of music is infused with anger, loss, and resignation as well as hope. A very impressive debut.--June Sawyers
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Sawyers, June. "Taduno's Song." Booklist, 1 Feb. 2017, p. 18. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA481244747&it=r&asid=ae8126ae0eacce39a6341707df92de53. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A481244747
Taduno's Song
264.5 (Jan. 30, 2017): p174.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
* Taduno's Song
Odafe Atogun. Pantheon, $24.95 (240p) ISBN 978-1-101-87145-4
Uniting a retelling of the Orpheus myth, an indictment of totalitarian inhumanity, and a Kafkaesque meditation on identity within the spare language of fable, Atogun's memorable debut novel testifies to the power of both oppression and art. Its protagonist, a musician known only as Taduno, runs afoul of the ruthless Nigerian government for stirring up the populace with his protest songs. Losing his famous voice as a result of their brutality, he goes into exile. Three months later, he receives a letter from his girlfriend, Lela, warning him that their homeland is changing dangerously. Deciding to reunite with her, Taduno returns to Lagos only to discover that no one recognizes him, all of the documents that prove his identity have mysteriously disappeared, and Lela has been abducted by the government in its attempt to gain leverage over him. Taduno realizes that the only way to regain his identity is to regain his voice. But his musical rebirth has an impossible cost: will he save Lela by singing for the government, or remain true to his people and his soul? Readers familiar with Nigerian political history or the country's late musician-activist Fela Kuti will find echoes of both in the novel. But Atogan's allegory, at once bleak and hopeful, needs no external glosses to speak clearly and powerfully. (Mar.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Taduno's Song." Publishers Weekly, 30 Jan. 2017, p. 174. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA480195152&it=r&asid=1033d21d158130cafd159c947860f528. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A480195152
Taduno's Song
.564 (August-September 2016): p96.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 IC Publications Ltd.
http://www.africasia.com/icpubs
TADUNO'S SONG
BY ODAFE ATOGUN
10.99 [pounds sterling] CANONGATE
ISBN 978-1-78211 805 3
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Nigerian author Odafe Atogun pens a tale that describes a world that is partly Kafkaesque and perhaps partly inspired by the life of his late compatriot, the rebellious musician Fela Kuti. The story it tells is of a singer who discovers when he returns home that his people no longer recognise him and no one can recall his voice.
His girlfriend Lela has disappeared, abducted by government agents. He wanders through his old house in search of clues but any trace of his old life has been erased.
As he begins to realise that all that there is left of his old life is the house, and the shell of his old self, he determines to unravel the mystery of his old life, regain his lost voice and find his lover.
Atogun has a fluid style, and the narrative handles issues such as the malevolent dictator with a gentle elegance that mirrors the protagonist Taduno's character. Is Taduno's predicament political in nature? Had he become too popular with the people, inspiring fear among the president and his clique of his influence with the public?
Is it the president's sorcery that has caused his alienation amongst the people? Has his girfriend been abducted as a means of punishing him, or perhaps to bring pressure to bear on him? Will Taduno sing the praises of the dictatorial head of state?
Slowly regaining the people's confidence and recognition, Taduno once again becomes a musical hero. But, ultimately, the price he has to pay is incredibly high.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Taduno's Song." New African, Aug.-Sept. 2016, p. 96. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA462237204&it=r&asid=8577e3826078cdd0ec960850b1a4a2f5. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A462237204
Wake Me When I’m Gone by Odafe Atogun
17 July, 2017 by Alice
There are books that pass me by as though I had never read them, books that become part of me and all my words are spent describing them, and then there are astonishing books my vocabulary can’t even vocalise. Wake We When I’m Gone by Odafe Atogun is just that.
“Everyone says that Ese is the most beautiful woman in the region, but a fool. A young widow, she lives in a village, where the crops grow tall and the people are ruled over by a Chief on a white horse. She married for love, but now her husband is dead, leaving her with nothing but a market stall and a young son to feed.
When the Chief knocks on Ese’s door demanding that she marry again, as the laws of the land dictate she must, Ese is a fool once more. There is a high price for breaking the law, and an even greater cost for breaking the heart of a Chief. Ese will face the wrath of gods and men in the fight to preserve her heart, to keep her son and to right centuries of wrongs. She will change the lives of many on the road to freedom, and she will face the greatest pain a mother ever can.” GoodReads.
Set within village democracy familiar and yet so removed from what I know in my Western existence, Esa must rise above the tradition of her village to claim her right to exist and protect her son. The Chief rules the village and the rules are dictated by folk law and the Gods (reminiscent of medieval England).
Esa, her son, the Orphans of the village and the villagers themselves overcome tradition and adversity to fulfil their dreams. It’s brilliant, it’s frightening and heartbreaking – just when you think something worse could never happen and it does.
Wake Me When I’m Gone is a powerful story of one woman’s fight for change and independence, despite the obstacles.
ARC Review: Wake Me When I’m Gone – Odafe Atogun
1. August 2017 Huntress of Diverse Books
Book cover: A man on a white horse is on the right side of a tree. A woman and child are on the left side of the tree.
Everyone says that Ese is the most beautiful woman in the region, but a fool. A young widow, she lives in a village, where the crops grow tall and the people are ruled over by a Chief on a white horse. She married for love, but now her husband is dead, leaving her with nothing but a market stall and a young son to feed.
When the Chief knocks on Ese’s door demanding that she marry again, as the laws of the land dictate she must, Ese is a fool once more. There is a high price for breaking the law, and an even greater cost for breaking the heart of a Chief. Ese will face the wrath of gods and men in the fight to preserve her heart, to keep her son and to right centuries of wrongs. She will change the lives of many on the road to freedom, and she will face the greatest pain a mother ever can.
‘Wake Me When I’m Gone’ is a story of curses broken, and lives remade, of great tragedy and incredible rebirth. In this, his second novel, Nigerian writer Odafe Atogun unfolds a world rich with tradition and folklore, a world filled with incredible people of remarkable strength, a world that is changing fast.
I received an ARC of Wake Me When I’m Gone from Netgalley. I decided to request this book mainly because of the cover. However, the blurb itself was also quite intriguing.
This book is #ownvoices for Nigerian representation.
Ese is an interesting main character. Her experiences and the people around her lead to her starting to question some of the customs in her village, which leads to her standing up for herself and trying to find a way to do something good for those who have less than she does. She’s strong in her convictions and believes in her own strength.
The writing is very simple and not at all flowery. It’s very on-point and rarely connects with other topics. There’s a very clear red line throughout the book. Most of the characters aren’t as developed as Ese is. I feel that this made the characters very one-dimensional, even though we do see an indirect mention as to how not everything is black and white later on in the book, when Duka meets Ese again. It is very clear throughout the book that the story focusses mainly on her and her development. Since Ese is the focal point of this story, most of the story is telling not showing, because she finds out about certain people and events through other people. I didn’t like this that much.
The topic of religion is introduced after a few pages. I thought that we as readers would find out more about how Ese feels about religion and how her belief changes, however we didn’t really find out much about her thoughts on religion. I was quite surprised about this, since it is mentioned quite regularly throughout the book, so I was expecting it to be discusses before the book ends.
Wake Me When I’m Gone is an interesting book that portrays how a woman started to realise that some of the traditions in her village were oppressive and how she finds the strength to change these rules. I wasn’t a fan of the writing style and in my opinion, some parts of the book could have been written in more detail. However, it was a nice read, and some of you are bound to enjoy this more.
Book Review: Wake Me When I’m Gone by Odafe Atogun
Posted on July 20, 2017
by whatcathyreadnext
About the Book
Everyone says that Ese is the most beautiful woman in the region, but a fool. A young widow, she lives in a village, where the crops grow tall and the people are ruled over by a Chief on a white horse. She married for love, but now her husband is dead, leaving her with nothing but a market stall and a young son to feed. When the Chief knocks on Ese’s door demanding that she marry again, as the laws of the land dictate she must, Ese is a fool once more. There is a high price for breaking the law, and an even greater cost for breaking the heart of a Chief. Ese will face the wrath of gods and men in the fight to preserve her heart, to keep her son and to right centuries of wrongs. She will change the lives of many on the road to freedom, and she will face the greatest pain a mother ever can.
Format:
Hardcover
Publisher:
Canongate
Pages:
247
Publication:
3rd August 2017
Genre:
Literary Fiction
Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ Barnes & Noble
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme
Find Wake Me When I’m Gone on Goodreads
My Review
Wake Me When I’m Gone tells the story of Ese, widowed and bringing up her young son, Noah, alone. The language is simple and straightforward, almost in the manner of a fable, and the sense that the reader is listening to a story is enhanced by the first-person narrative. There is a timeless quality to the tale being told, although from the mention of items like radios, it is clear that it is set not that far off the present. I felt the picture of the small village and the faraway big city also contributed to the feeling of a fairytale.
Through Ese’s eyes, the reader witnesses the inferior position of women in the social order of the village. In this patriarchal society, a woman’s role is circumscribed and tradition is used as a reason for preventing any change. Hence, the attempt by the Head Priest and Chief of the village to force Ese to remarry or face the prospect of losing custody of her son to a male relative.
This is also a community influenced by superstition, fearful of the wrath of their gods in case they send bad weather or other natural disaster and who believe that defiance of the gods will bring madness and death. The people cling to cruel beliefs such as children made orphans by the death of their parents are responsible for those deaths because they are cursed. The orphans must be shunned, left homeless and without means of support.
Ese is unwilling to accept unquestioningly the customs of the village, particularly where they threaten her son or where they seem morally wrong. Her resistance brings unwelcome consequences and she is forced to begin a lonely search for safety and shelter.
Throughout the novel, stories play a key part. There are the fearsome stories the priests tell to prevent resistance to the laws of the village. And there are the stories Ese tells to help her son cope with the loss of his father and the difficulties they face; hopeful messages that ‘one day things will change’ and that she has given him ‘the secret of happiness’ so he will never be sad. Her simple wisdom is rooted in principles of truth, kindness and generosity.
I found Ese’s story, although sad at times, ultimately uplifting with its message that good can come out of tragedy and a person’s legacy can persist long after they are gone. I really enjoyed this book: for the story, the insight it provides into Nigerian customs and traditions, and its simple, graceful prose. I will definitely seek out the author’s first book, Taduno’s Song.
I received an advance reader copy courtesy of NetGalley and publishers, Canongate Books, in return for an honest review.
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In three words: Uplifting, hopeful, magical
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About the Author
Odafe Atogun was born in Nigeria, in the town of Lokoja, where the Niger and Benue rivers meet. He studied journalism at the Times Journalism Institute in Lagos and is now a full time writer. He is married and lives in Abuja.
His first novel, Taduno’s Song, was published by Canongate Books in 2016.
Connect with Odafe
Twitter ǀ Goodreads