I WOULD RATHER STAY POOR. By James Hadley Chase

 

Yes, Dave Calvin, small time bank manager, is a cruel man, ready to do anything to make big money, including taking murder in his stride. And we know the author is quite adept at depicting ruthless, cold people. Here is a swift unnerving description of Calvin when he thinks his partner in crime would no longer be helping him:

"When he heard the lock turn, his fleshy face became hideous. He looked like a savage, his face convulsed with rage. Suddenly he spat on the carpet and clenching his fists, he began to pound them on his knees..."

For such a man, murder is of course par for the course, despite his cosmetic superficial charm. He has no qualms in taking human life; as he again admits along the line:

"... I am no stranger to murder. I murdered a number of people during the war ... not only soldiers, but also civilians who got in my way. I have waited years for the chance to get my hands on big money..."

Hence Dave has no remorse at all in not only brutally killing a harmless, innocent, shy young woman (Alice) but also setting her up as culpable for the robbery that would shock this particular society, and beyond. Will ruthless Calvin get away with it ...?

 – Lupna Avery

A FAMILY AFFAIR. By Sue Nyathi

 

A Family Affair is a big dramatic novel centering a family, the Mafus, and follows the lives of their three daughters, Xoliswa, Yandisa and Zandile. With a narrated time of nearly a decade, Sue Nyathi gives us more than a slice of life of a family, perfect at first glance, but faulty on closer inspection like any other family.

The story starts with an amazing setting, the youngest who has misgivings, Zandile's big fat white wedding flanked and supported by both her sisters on her way to church to marry the love of her life, Ndaba. Soon the tone is set through what Zandile's father's sisters say, BoRakgadi, about the sisters as the bridal party walks down the aisle. Both aunties body-shame Yandisa and reduce Xoliswa's status, an accomplished woman, because she is unmarried and lament their brother's agreeing to have Zandile marry before her older. Zandile has two older sisters, but they both do not expect much from Yandisa because we are the total sum of our experiences right, particularly the negative ones. Somehow society erases you once something bad happens to you even through no fault of yours.

The matriarch and the patriarch of the family, Phumla and Abraham Mafu, have a tight grip on the family using the Bible as both a staff and a rod and are on a mission to create and maintain a picture consummate to their status as founders and drivers of a megachurch. Meanwhile a cauldron is cooking. Xoliswa finds herself in a position totally different from her vision board, Yandisa ends up with a ring which costs her more than she wants to pay to keep, but will not give up and Zandile yearns for more than being a wife and mother. A question is raised by one of her Rakgadis: "Can you have both a family and a career?". Nobody asks men that. That is never offered as a choice to men. They can have both, but for women...a sacrifice has to be made.

Pretty soon things unravel. Devastating secrets threaten to spill out and as with all secrets, they cannot be hidden away forever. The daughters of the family move on to carve lives separate from their parents and we experience their different journeys, some with devastating consequences, with them.

As with all families, our parents had lives before we came along. Had dreams and hopes and had made decisions which devastated their familial relationships and this becomes glaring in the third quarter of the book when the evidence of the beginning of Abraham and Phumla's story unveils itself and Abraham's guilt drives him to an atonement of disastrous consequences. Many of us will find this part of the story so relatable and I chuckled from an encounter my siblings and I had a few years ago and how that situation turned out to be more hilarious than devastating.

As you can imagine, a story this big and this long will cover a myriad of themes. From grooming teenagers and sexually assaulting them, unplanned pregnancies and the rights of a teenage girl pertaining to an unwanted pregnancy. That theme still haunts me as a parent and as a daughter.

The romanticizing of the culture of endurance and silence as a symbol and trope of a "Strong black wife" is carried throughout the narration. From the makoti duties which border on the abusive, to the burden placed on the wife as the sole builder and carrier of the family whose main job is to make the husband happy at all costs. The in-laws expectations and role in the establishment of new families is foregrounded and we experience not only the perpetuation of patriarchal norms and customs whose sole purpose is to oppress, shame and suppress the new makoti, we also see how Zandile's identity and "womanhood" is reduced because of her birthing, childcare and housekeeping choices.

A Family Affair is not only a melodrama, it contributes to the greater discourse on Gender Based Violence, the value and worth of women in the African context, the law of inheritance in the African context, our agencies as black women which are always overshadowed by the demands of the family and how married women often defer their dreams to assist their husbands build careers and still have their contribution minimized.

Sue Nyathi interrogates important women-centric issues against the background of a collapsing Zimbabwean economy. The widening inequality gap resulting in forced migrations and the burden young families carry in supporting elderly parents. We also experience a day in the life of an affluent Zimbabwean. Such big lives mirroring the affluent American reality shows. The shopping across the border. The chauffeur-driven excursions.

A Family Affair is an important family-oriented story and reminds us that in the midst of uncertain political conditions, personal loss, gruesome experiences, we still carry on loving and supporting our parents, siblings and extended families and hope that our children experience better than we did.

This story elicited laughter because we've been hypocritical, as women, and tears because though we cry foul, change is within our reach. Once we stop accepting the perils of patriarchy and start chipping away at their systematic foundations, the world will be a better place for all genders. It is up to the women to fight this because the men have no incentive to see the dismantling of a system which solely benefits them end.

(* Courtesy Lorraine – goodreads)

 

 

LOVE'S PERSUASION. By Ola Awonubi

 

Award Winning novelist AMAKA AZIE has written thus about this work:

‘Absolutely lovely sweet romance story! And very Nigerian!!! I found myself reminiscing about office romance gossips working in the University teaching hospital Benin city, Nigeria. And how heartbreaking it could be with scandals.

‘My first book from this author.... I would definitely be reading more!!!’

THE DOLL'S BAD NEWS. By James Hadley Chase

Fenner - A ladies' man !

Dave Fenner - intrepid investigator, and humane to boot in his own way. He can be ruthless, and takes human life every now and then. Yet the ladies always find him so attractive and nice. I found this particularly fascinating in this work. A few samples here:

Starting with him meeting the lady, Curly early on. "...She was a blonde and her big gash-like mouth was very red with paint". Soon she is saying, "I like you. You've got nice eyes". And a bit later on, we read:

"She leaned towards him, raising her face; so because he thought she was pretty good, he kissed her. She wound her arms around his neck and held him. They stood like that for several minutes... She stood looking at him, breathing hard. "I guess I am crazy" she said, colour suddenly flooding her face..."

Some time later Fenner would meet Glorie Leadler, a young, gorgeous woman men drool over. Perhaps we should not be surprised again, that from the very beginning she likes our Fenner. Hear her talking aloud:

'"I think he's marvellous. I think he is absolutely, incredibly marvellous"

And she adds for good measure, even embarrassing Fenner: "He's the most beautiful thing I've seen. Look at his arms. Look at the size of them. Look at the set of his neck - the way he holds his head..."

Not too surprisingly, she finds her way to Fenner’s room, and bed. He does not seem to like her much, though she assures him that she would "grow on him". Certainly not for want of trying on her part, as we find out:

"She lay with her red-gold head on the pillow and looked up at him. She looked suddenly very young and defenceless. She said, 'I want to whisper'.

Fenner shook his head. 'Try another one. That one has whiskers on it.'

She reached up her two arms. 'Please!'

He bent his head and she kissed him. Her lips felt very soft against his. It was just a youthful kiss, and Fenner quite liked it..."

Lucky bloke! lol.

- Paul Lothane

ABBA KYARI: Portrait of a Loyalist. By Magnus Onyibe

I find it interesting that the editor of this book - a powerful journalist and intellectual- divides the Tributes in this work into 3 sections, Good, Bad, and Ugly. Many - if not most - of the contributions included in "The Bad" are actually quite positive (Good). Then of course the "bile" is published under the "Ugly" section, many of them still somewhat making sense.

With the contribution of Remi Oyeyemi here (under Ugly of course), one definitely comes across very unpleasant, uncharitable sentiments. There is nothing to show that he knew Kyari personally, but he calls him all sorts of terrible, crude, vicious names that would make decent people shudder. It is definitely from the gutter, and not what one would expect from a human being, never mind a decent one. It is shocking. Yet Oyeyemi's piece does not necessarily reflect badly on Kyare, but on Oyeyemi himself. We have seen the tributes of those who personally knew Kyari, and though of course nobody is perfect, this book shows that he was far from being a demon.

-         P. Lothane

 

Titbit from Kyari’s Daughter (Aisha):

"My dad had almost everything that most people yearned for. Personal success, financial security - his needs were basic - and towards the end, political influence albeit nowhere near as much as many Nigerians think. But the true measure of a man, particularly in the eyes of God is in his kindness, selflessness, loyalty, generosity, and humility. And with all these virtues as yardsticks, he truly was immeasurable...

"Like many others, I tried unsuccessfully to get him to respond to the more preposterous and spurious allegations but he never did. He refused to take on the character assassins... "

There are dozens of intriguing contributions from disparate writers in this book, all focusing on Abba Kyari, the protagonist of this work.

EVE. By James Hadley Chase

'EVE' is one of the most famous and controversial books published by James Hadley Chase. The book has been made into movies, and reviewed in manifold fashion all over the world. Here, two of this blog's contributors, reveal their perspectives on this powerful 'psychological' work...

This novel features a "wanton" woman (Eve) who has no scruples, no alleged heart of gold, as she sells herself to diverse men to survive. Clive, the main male protagonist here becomes obsessed with her, and his "successful" life is ruined in the end. Yet Clive himself is a fraud, his success anchored on the creative genius of another man. Clive passes himself off as a resourceful, fine playwright, but he has actually stolen the work of someone else. And Clive shows in this book that he is not only vain and shallow, he is a fool. His preference of Eve to the superb Carol is one evidence of his idiocy.

Mr Gold, a very important Hollywood personality, is spot on with his assessment of Clive: "I am surprised that Carol has fallen in love with anyone quite so worthless as you... you are not only a bad writer with no future, but you are also an exceedingly unpleasant character... you have actually been stupid and weak enough to let this woman (Eve) infatuate you. Surely there can be no better example of spineless degeneracy than that? ..."

And at the end, Clive receives a horrific beating at the hands of  Eve! "There was no escape from that whistling thong that cut at me with white-hot streaks of pain" . This seems like a symbolic punitive atonement for Clive's misdeeds, his shallowness, and idiocy. He deservedly loses it all. 

-          Paul Lothane

-------------------------------------------------------------

I have noted before in my other reviews' of Chases books how he loves to create larger than life women who of course destroy the lives of hapless men. Yet at the same time, the author hardly gives us convincing physical  descriptions of such women who one would expect to be irresistible beauties. Here is how he describes the "magnetic" Eve here: "It wasn't that she was pretty. She was, if anything plain,  but there was something magnetic about her... just to look at her was like getting a jolt of electricity " And as the story goes on we see that Eve is selfish, very dishonest, calculating and callous. And a prostitute.

So one wonders what her irresistible attractions are. One would expect that if a woman is physically plain, one might be attracted to her by other qualities, maybe decency, being friendly and nice, considerate and kind etc...but the fact is that Eve is thoroughly bad and cold. She is even quite filthy, as the "hero", Clive Thurston testifies. Yet he continues to be crazy over her, happily ruining his own life in the process.

It might well be that the author (judging from his books) really believed that men can be so daft, but for me his approach does not ring true. The simple truth is that the way Eve is presented in this book, she is unattractive, almost repulsive, someone to avoid. Yet the men keep on going back to her, especially our Clive. Daft, daft.

-          Lupna Avery

CLOUGHIE

The late Brian CLOUGH is one of the managerial legends in English and European football. He conquered England and Europe with relatively small unheralded sides. This autobiography gives us glimpses into how he did it. An excerpt here:

"...There was the small matter of 270,000 pounds for Peter Shilton (goalkeeper) from Stoke. We were 'mad' in many people's eyes to spend a record fee on him...History now tells us that Shilton was worth twice the price. We were not mad at all; we were magic...

"...there was a familiar, tried and trusted formula - a goalkeeper, two centrehalves in this instance, and a centre forward. There they are. There's the framework, the backbone, those are the key components in the skeleton of any side"

I love the succinct tribute of Sir Alex Ferguson to CLOUGHIE here: "To win back-to-back European Cups with Nottingham forest has to go down as one of the finest managerial achievements of all time"
- Henry Ozogula

THE MADONNA OF EXCELSIOR. By Zakes Mda

Two things came to my mind after I read this novel (which was recommended to me) and I did some research on the author; firstly here is an African author who deserves the Nobel award for Literature, and secondly, the author is also an excellent painter/artist. The latter is very much evident from this work, the start of chapters and the profound descriptions of painting and its arsenal, so to speak. The author certainly vividly tells his story (ies) and we become highly engrossed. We see the plight of women again here, suppressed but still used as sex objects with the (white) fathers completely uninterested in the products of such 'illicit' unions, the children. It is a brilliant novel written by a man who understands South African history and politics very well. Mda's profile shows that he has published like a dozen or more superb novels over the decades. Perhaps in Africa only the hallowed Ngugi has come near such prolificacy. So why should Mda not be recognised for something like the Nobel award?
- Madolyn Chukwu

LA CONNECTIONS. By Jackie Collins

The author has a long-standing reputation as a world class writer who infuses a lot of sex into her books. That might well be so, but this book (four short novels as it were) does not really reflect it. She does hint a lot at it, but the descriptions of same are minimal, or even non-existent. Gratuitous sex is kept at a minimum. There is no doubt that Collins can tell a good story convincingly and swiftly with arguably realistic common place innuendos (dialogue). It is also clear that she prefers intelligent, attractive characters which I suppose most readers would appreciate too. The first part of this work is quite sedate, and then in the beginning of the second part a horrific murder is introduced as the author tightens the screw. A dazzling look into the world of entertainment (USA) - we have wheeler-dealers, super agents, top notch actors, prostitutes (at least one prominent one), fitness addicts, journalists and media personnel, photographers, perverts... and a vicious killer.
- P. Lothane

THE SUCKER PUNCH. By James Hadley Chase

Chad, the main character of this book is a very wicked, cruel man, very bad indeed - the type of man women must pray they never come across with socially in their lives.

Even before he kills the woman he marries for her money (Vestal) in such a cruel, evil manner, his uncharitable comments about her (a woman who turned a nobody into a very comfortable man after she married him) makes one cringe. Here are some samples:

"I could see her emaciated chest and her flat unformed bosom...I shifted my eyes. There was no beauty there, just something dried up and unlovely"

"Did this wizened, flat chested ugly little creature really imagine I should want to peep at her. Did she imagine I was that hard up for women?"
"Her naked desire shocked me. She was such a wizened, ugly little thing...I could not imagine her having those kind of feelings...not this skinny, brittle bundle of bones... it did not even seem decent "

"They say love can make a woman look beautiful. Well nothing could make Vestal look beautiful, but at that moment...she at least managed not to look ugly, and that was quite an achievement"

As we say in Africa, "when we think or talk about someone, we should remember it is in respect of a human being, not an animal". Chad is worse than a beast with his approach to a woman he married for her money, without any iota of respect or affection for her. Yet she loves him with all her heart; and she is brutally killed by him in the end.

The only good thing about this book is that Chad is somewhat punished in the end too. But his end still seems inadequate for such a bad, bad man who brutally kills three people!!

-          Lupna Avery

GOWON. By J. Isawa Elaigwu

This book is marvellously well researched and written, focusing on a former leader of Nigeria who was in power during the civil war (Yakubu Gowon). The author (biographer) has a lot of respect for Gowon's wife, Victoria, as he commends her character, and her support for her husband (now for like 5 decades in marriage!). He sums her up: " Generally she is a straightforward and frank lady". Yet one would have appreciated it more if the author had managed to write more about how the couple met, their feelings whilst young... although hopefully, the lady herself can tell the "juicy" story in a book too (eg there is a famous book written about Obasanjo, former Nigerian President, by his first wife, Oluremi) But of course the main focus of this particular book is General Gowon himself.

- Madolyn Chukwu

SAFER DEAD. By James Hadley Chase

I have never really been a fan of Chase books, but accept that so many male readers in Africa love the author. I can read him sometimes, like now, but it seems the author believed women are always dangerous, and he often exaggerated their attractions.

And in the process he often contradicted himself I think. In this novel eg the young "Madame", Cornelia Van Blake is depicted as a femme fatale. Yet it is clear throughout the work that she is very cold, hostile, and never smiles. Yet she is incredibly attractive! How? 

Even the way she is described rings false to me: "She was around 26, small, compact...there was a flame burning within her that made her more than a beautiful woman...it made her alive, desirable seductive and feminine (like) Helen of Troy..."

Really? A small, compact, cold woman with an irresistible burning flame? Please!!

- Lupna Avery