DOWN SECOND AVENUE. By Es'kia Mphahlele

Reading this book, an early classic of African literature, it seems unbelievable that the author could have somehow gone on to become not only one of the finest writers in Africa, but in the whole world. Mphahlele's childhood is rocked by poverty (and SA's political, economic, social discrimination against blacks) but this does not stop him from learning to read and write relatively very early, and compulsively going through (reading) as many books as he can "devour" no matter how decrepit their condition. There can be no doubt whatsover that he was born to write and excel in intellectualism and "African humanism". Still in his 20s, despite all strictures, he publishes a first book, Man Must Live. Evidence that for him, writing is life, is clear from the fact that he not only keeps and comments on all those early varying reviews of the book, but he exults in them. The literary perfectionist and critic in the author is obvious again when he somewhat criticizes his stint at the renowned Drum magazine, not happy with some of the editorial policies of the magazine. As this book shows, Mphahlele is the utmost stylist and writer. One might have expected him to be unduly tedious or boring, but he can be pretty humorous and unorthodox; for example when he ironically chides a supercilious white woman at the time who loved referring to him (a full-fledged adult with a family) as "boy". The author says to her: "What makes you think I am a boy, and not a girl?" !! - H Ozogula

HEAD ABOVE WATER. By Buchi Emecheta

The author, Emecheta, who died last week, was certainly one of Africa's all time great creative female writers, alongside the likes of Ama Ata Aidoo, Flora Nwapa, Bessie Head, and Sindiwe Magona. But many would reckon Emecheta as the greatest since her output was astonishing, well over ten world class novels. Ironically Head above water is auto-biographical, revealing many aspects of this astonishing woman, how she triumphed against all odds. We can see that she is a personality with so much belief in herself, great endurance and fortitude, doing everything to single-handedly take care of all her children after landing in London. She has her own principles and ideas and can be termed a "powerful" woman, certainly her achievements attest to this. She just goes on and on, spreading her wings, even adding drama to her literary corpus, etc - all with a strong determination. Yet her great talent should never be underestimated, she was a born writer and proved it over the decades. In this book for example, she has a disagreement with her daughter, who promptly announces that she would be going to stay with her (estranged) father! This shocks her mother very much; yet this galvanises her to swiftly write a wonderful novel titled The joys of motherhood - about a long suffering mother! This episode demonstrates how much of a creative, skillful writer the author is, creating another enduring work spurred by what was a painful episode in her personal life. This is a very powerful autobiography.
- Review by Henry Ozogula