Lesley Lokko’s Novel Sundowners

By Djami Diallo, The Afro News Burnaby  : Rianne, Gabby, Nathalie and Charmaine form an unlikely foursome in Lesley Lokko’s novel Sundowners. Rianne, the daughter of the infamous Marius de Zoete, heiress to the huge de Zoete fortune, is a spoiled brat at best. Her South African heritage and privileged upbringing guarantee her a life of luxury, but when she is whisked away to boarding school in England things change for the teenager in ways she could never expect: horror of horrors, she is has to share space with natives and for the first time in her life, nobody defers to her. For readers her behavior is annoying and by the time we realize who Rianne’s natives are, we may want to put the book down in anger and question why the author has chosen to make the story revolve around her. Enter Gabby, Nathalie and Charmaine who also take an instant dislike to their new roommate. But as the book progresses and the realization that Rianne’s boarding school stay is more than a weekend arrangement kicks in, the girls get to know each other and we tune in to the schoolgirl drama that promises to keep us glued to the pages of this book.

What I liked about this novel was the amount of exposure that I got both in terms of personal and global perspectives. We could think of Rianne as the main character around whom the story and the development of other characters revolve. Certainly her wealth and renowned family name could justify that; however, I preferred to think of the four characters as sharing the protagonist’s seat. Gabby is studious and clever. Her slightly awkward disposition can make readers either dislike her or take to her almost instantly. I definitely identified with her where her sense of ambition is concerned and have a suspicion that female readers might find her very relatable because of her early struggles with weight and her silent teenage crush on Nael, whose own questionable heritage keeps him in a cloud of mystery and ensures his status at the Boys’ College. For Gabby the library is a refuge that pays off as she earns a very rewarding career, but what defines her most is her loyalty to the friendship; even as Rianne’s presence threatens the threesome, she takes on the role of peace-maker and is often the glue that keeps the group together as they move away from their boarding school days. Readers will pick up on Gabby’s intellectual approach to her personal relationships. In fact, her command of world history dictates Gabby’s interaction with Rianne: she understands the full implication of Rianne’s South African background and the political repercussions of her family’s global monopoly. Her tendency to overanalyze the situations she is in results in lifesaving problem-solving skills for Gabby, but I often found myself sighing, cheering and holding my breath for her as she navigates her relationships; ever the crowd pleaser, silently holding her heart for the one person who she always measures her relationships against. Gabby and Neal are mirror images of one another at different levels of their bond. Both of them open, or reopen our eyes to some of the most horrific and politically defining conflicts on the global scene of the ‘80’s and ‘90’s. If in some ways Gabby starts off a little rough around the edges or slightly ill at ease, by the end she will emerge as a confident go-getter, the star of her own fairytale. But for Rianne, the story will be much different.

Born into the de Zoete dynasty, Rianne has the world at her feet. Servants wait on her hand and foot; she has a closet full of clothes; the choice of a fully-furnished family home in each major city in and around South Africa; a trust fund with her name on it, not to mention stunning good looks which in addition to her family name, give her a free pass everywhere she goes. But all of these accolades to her name cannot begin to make up for the incredible loss Rianne suffers at an early age. She never manages to recreate the mother-daughter bond with her aunt, except if readers consider the financial dependence Rianne has on Lisette. Breaking that relationship will be an essential turning point in Rianne’s otherwise sheltered mentality. For much of the novel, Rianne’s sense of entitlement is strong if not irritating to readers. It is clear from the culture shock that she experiences initially that she has had no exposure to the world outside of her cocoon. However, readers need to factor in the upside of being sent across borders for Rianne: her boarding school experience and her extended stay in Europe and America thereafter, are eye openers. Her longstanding battle with Riitho Modise, the charismatic leader of the pack at the Boys’ College and a Black South African stands as another challenge to Rianne’s snobbish ways. Both share an upbringing in prominent political families, but where Riitho’s is reputed for its forward thinking militancy and has had a high price to pay for this, Rianne’s family wines and dines with members of South Africa’s apartheid government, sits high at the top of the pack, carrying on in their business only to keep their position. Riitho is in more ways than one Rianne’s diametrical opposite. He shows her that she lives on a false sense of security, that her world is not as black and white as she thought. A twist of fate will reunite the two. Not only will Rianne cross otherwise immoveable borders with Riitho, but their relationship will be an important refresher in South Africa’s history for readers. In this way, just as Gabby is our eye and ear on the international scene through her love of history and her high profile career, Rianne and Riitho help us zoom in on the South African conflict. With these characters, Lokko boldly takes on a political discussion with her readers while exploring the personal lives of her four main characters. With the inclusion of Nathalie and Charmaine in novel, Lokko is able to really get down to the personal, this time engaging us in a discussion of how we negotiate our innermost private selves in the world.

At boarding school both Nathalie and Charmaine are pretty girls, although none of them can compete with Rianne. While Nathalie is pretty and shy, Charmaine knows that her looks can carry her and for every eye that strays her way, Charmaine gives up her charms. Both girls end up being taken advantage of, but for Charmaine, who falls into the vicious cycle of sex, drugs and alcohol of the ‘80’s the consequences are markedly more dire than for Nathalie. With Charmaine Lokko cleverly takes us through the upheavals of triumphs and tragedy. Where Charmaine is concerned everything is about extremes; thus the conversation we take part in is about what social extremes are acceptable for the individual. Is it acceptable for a young woman to use her feminine wiles to get ahead and where do we draw the line? On the other hand, Nathalie does not possess some of the street smarts that we see in Charmaine. She leaves a good relationship for a man she cannot have, but her business savvy and strong rapport with her brother help her settle into a comfortable life. I found it interesting that with Nathalie’s Lokko flips the coin, posing very similar questions here of the men in Nathalie’s life as she does with Charmaine. At second glance both girls face similar questions regarding how they understand themselves and how they define self love, but it is how they deal with these issues, which will ultimately separate them.

Despite their differences and despite the fact that life comes at them in unexpected ways, the foursome we find at the beginning of the novel only grows stronger throughout. Rianne surprises both herself and readers by finding a little space to inhabit among the already tight-knit trio. We enjoy cheering Gabby on and alternating between disapproval and admiration of Charmaine, or almost knowing what to expect from Nathalie’s romantically stunted-business-as-usual personality. The sense of intrigue and adventure, the high political stakes, romantic connections and backstabbing, the desire we have to know where life will take the four girls, and the tour we take around the world all the while, provide all the elements we would want to see displayed in a novel. At least, it sealed the deal for me. I really appreciated Lokko’s multi-lingual, multicultural, global approach throughout the novel. All of the characters she writes in have some connection to the world outside their borders and I could really sense Lokko’s own mixed background; her exposure to different places and cultures. At the center of it all, Lokko poses a question about whether important human relationships can survive against the backdrop of everyday life, where unthinkable events make the news and where, sometimes ordinary people must take extraordinary measures to keep the fabric of their lives intact.

Please send your comments in to redearthwriting@hotmail.com.

Since her first novel, Lokko has come out with two new hits! Check them out and learn more about the author at: http://www.lesleylokko.com/

Dayo Forster’s Reading the Ceiling

By Djami Diallo The Afro News Burnaby

If I had to pick only one word to describe Dayo Forster’s novel, I could not do it. That’s because Reading the Ceiling is not just one thing. It is bold, it is wittingly laugh-out loud, it is smart, realistic, deep, riveting and heart-rending. What grabbed me initially was the fact that this was a story about a young African girl on the verge of womanhood who decided to take her life into her own hands. And not just with an impulsive act of teenage rebellion, but with a decision to find ‘the One’ among a host of three very different characters with whom to transition into womanhood. There’s Reuben, Yuan and Frederick. Eighteen year old Ayodele has her own ideas for each of them and while she does not know what decision she will ultimately make, she is intoxicated with the range of possibilities, with the sense of excitement and independence that comes with finally turning eighteen. In Ayodele Forster presents an experience that is universal to every girl, regardless it seems, of place or time. I remember thinking how scandalously sweet a plot that could possibly be and picked it off the shelves with the curiosity of someone who had found a treasure. I started the book right away, picking a bench outside the library. The sun sat over my shoulder and the wind tousled the pages as if I could not get through it fast enough. I was trying to figure out how the title fit in with the plot and while it was not obvious right away, I was taken with the story before me, the beautiful prose and the wittiness of Ayodele’s voice. I found myself laughing out loud in those first few moments with the book; the awareness that I was outside in the company of strangers fell away.

The book opens in Gambia; the author invites us into Ayodele’s house where Satiday soup is cooking, mother-daughter tensions are holding on by a thread, and where Ayodele is plotting quietly for the night that will change her life. Although I knew nothing about Gambia, this knowledge was not required because no one was testing my geography; I was simply being presented with a typical scene that could remind me of my own house if a few elements were interchanged. This realization put me at ease and it is bound to serve the same function for readers. I could almost smell the scents, sense the movements of the household, the shifts in mood between Ayodele and her mother, who has warned her daughter about men and who would clearly disagree if she knew what her daughter was really up to. The readers will immediately pick up the dynamics between Ayodele and her mother: Forster has fashioned Ayodele’s mother after every ‘African mama’ we know, whether the mother is your own or not, you will all be able to relate. Readers will also be able to visualize Ayodele lying in her room, looking up at the ceiling, toying with the possibilities of a life with either one of her would-be suitors. Here Ayodele is a perfect example of an irritable teenager, whose mission in life is to get away from the family home and above all, avoid turning into her mother. But the catch is that Ayodele’s sassy, don’t-mess-with-me attitude, which readers will love, is exactly like her mother’s. And it’s exactly the boldness she will need to carry out her plan.

“In the slit between my bedroom curtains, I see a long triangle of sky more grey than blue. The light changes with each sweep of my eyelids. At this time of year, when the harmattan blows straight off the Sahara, not even the wide expanse of the River Gambia can add enough wet to stop it in its tracks. It has coated the mosquito netting on my window with dust. Today is my birthday. It is also the day I have decided to do The Deed. It’s almost as if I can see a list of names in my head, with mini head shots alongside, each taken in a studio with a full glare of lights, so that as I peer into each photo, I can see the pimple above Reuben’s eyebrow, notice that Yuan’s eyes are set slightly too close together, linger over the pout in Idris’ lips, observe the sheen on Frederick Adams’ face. I can choose whether to put a tick, a question mark or an x against each name on my list. It’s in my power, it’s up to me.”

In this short passage, readers will get a sense of the strategy that Ayodele tries to apply to the decision she has to make, but no matter how methodical she may want to be, the author manipulates certain elements in the story that put the brakes on her process. Clearly Ayodele and Forster act as counterparts who happen to have found the perfect balance in order to make the story work. For Ayodele, her decision is a question of power-feeling powerful, feeling validated in her choice. She is the epitome of someone who has agency and has decided to exercise it. In this aspect, we should recognize Ayodele as a role model to other girls regardless of their situation. In contrast, Forster acts like an invisible hand, mastering the parts of Ayodele’s life so as to teach both her and readers that fate has the last word in the course of our lives. We will see how fate plays out in each of Ayodele’s scenarios, sometimes so much so that she ends up with neither one of her initial candidates. One path will keep Ayodele in Africa into the hands of a polygamous marriage, another will have her pursue a European education and experience heartbreak, yet another will have her buried in unspeakable grief and trying to put the pieces of her life back together. In each scenario, readers will recognize common elements that are meant to show us that regardless how much we try to control, some things will remain the same constant facts in our lives. Ayodele’s friendships will be tested, she will discover new bonds; we will see her strength waning at times and all the while, catch a glimpse of the same spirit that brought her to each path. I really appreciated that Forster gave her protagonist several options: it’s not because Ayodele is African that she is bound to a life of polygamy, with ten kids and a High School education. And Forster forces us to ask ourselves who set the standard, who said that was a bad option? For readers who are at a crossroads in their lives, for anybody who is facing a major decision, Reading the Ceiling is a must read. Ayodele’s story can be anybody’s. Whether you are an African girl or just one at heart, you will love Ayodele and you too will find your favorite mate in Reuben, Yuan, and Frederick.

For me Dayo Forster’s novel was a lucky find. It took a lot of searching and patience, but I was thrilled to stumble on it in my local library. It made me realize that if we want to see African, African American and Caribbean literatures showcased the way they deserve to be, we need to be more proactive about it because the idea of missing a gem like Reading the Ceiling and other like it, is unthinkable. Forster, for whom this is the first literary effort, has undoubtedly come out with a bang. I know I won’t be the only one waiting to see what else she has in store. And in the meantime, I might just fix myself a pot of that Satiday soup.

Please send your comments in to redearthwriting@hotmail.com

To read more about Dayo Forster and the idea behind her novel, visit: www.dayoforster.co.uk/book.html

Dionne Brand’s The Puzzle of Humanity: What We All Long For

Dionne Brand’s What We All Long For

By Djami Diallo The Afro Vancouver

It is essentially the same question we ask ourselves as the clock strikes midnight to announce a new year. What do we wish for? Each year we make resolutions to get fit, be better friends, have more fun, work harder, get better job satisfaction, make more time for the things and the people we love. And each year, well, somehow we come up short despite our best efforts and vow to try again next year. Dionne Brand’s latest novel, What We All Long For gets right at the heart of this very question. She creates a colorful cast of characters in Quy, Tuyen, Carla, Jackie and Oku, whose stories she tells in a cyclical turn. The book opens with a description of the city taken with the passing of the seasons: winter, spring and weekday mornings on a subway train. Mundane scenes abound in this novel, but it is Brand’s eye for the detail of the everyday which we often miss that makes these scenes so real. We first find Tuyen, Oku and Carla in the ever familiar setting of the subway on a quiet weekday morning. The spotlight is on them in this city, the noisy, laughing, defiant, random trio at the back of the subway. Read the full story

By Djami Diallo The Afro News Burnaby

The last contribution to the literary world that the late Bebe Moore Campbell

 72 Hour Hold. The last contribution to the literary world that the late Bebe Moore Campbell, who lost her battle with brain cancer in 2006, made to the world. I did the one thing we are taught never to do when it comes to literature: I judged a book by its cover. But the book cover donned the image of a young Black girl with her eyes cast partly on the reader and partly in the shadows. Her face with its striking features was captivating to me, but I could also tell it held secrets. If the story was about her, than I wanted to know it. The only way to access this girl’s story however, was through her mother’s own.

Keri Whitmore’s daughter Trina is perfect by her mother’s own admission: her beauty is striking and her standing as a straight-A student would make her the envy of any parent. Keri, who tells Trina’s story is taken with her daughter’s beauty and surprised by the fact that it could not suffice to ease Trina’s way in the world. Keri’s assumption that physical beauty should lead to happiness and perhaps even perfection, is something that makes her immediately realistic to the reader, human. However, she shatters all expectations that this is the story she is going to tell. The moment we meet Keri, we get a sense that her fairytale has long ended. She is walking on eggshells, because her perfect daughter has bipolar disorder. Because at the moment we meet her asleep in her mother’s bed, recalling an earlier angelic version of herself, Trina is a ticking time bomb. One of the indications of this to Keri is Trina’s babyish voice, a red flag that keeps Keri hanging on to her daily routine, to her sense of peace by a thread.

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Reforming Leadership Across Africa

Reforming Leadership Across Africa ,Author: J. William Addai

Publisher: Publishers Graphics Indiana, USA, 2009 Price: US$24.99 plus shipping

Reviewer: Kofi Akosah-Sarpong The Afro News International

Increasingly, leadership has emerged as a key factor in Africa’s progress. Bewildered leadership schemes have seen a good part of post-independent Africa sinking, some leading to horrible civil wars and state paralysis. Africa’s leadership jam reveals that African elites have not understood their environment in relation to Africa’s progress, especially how to draw leadership materials from within their raw cultural values. Nigerians, Kenyans, Guineans and Central Africans will tell you they have everything but leadership. This acknowledgement was revived when I read Reforming Leadership in Africa, a contribution to the on-going discussions continent-wide for the need to appropriate Africa’s cultural values and institutions into Africa’s progress, as a matter of psychology, confidence, dignity and logic. Such appropriation will help the continent’s progress by fostering the required self-assurance considered necessary for progress. The schism in Africa’s leadership organization has come about because the ex-colonial structures have not been harmonized skillfully enough with Africa’s indigenous ones, especially in the on-going decentralization exercises and the talk of developing new leaders for tomorrow’s Africa.

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By Djami Diallo The Afro News Burnaby

Helon Habila’s Measuring Time

His first novel Waiting for an Angel, which was originally published as a collection of short stories won the already accomplished poet and prose fiction writer Helon vingHabila praise and recognition as a contemporary African writer whom, according to the London Times, was able to “filter the political through the personal with such grace”, giving readers a perspective so new it could be compared to a breath of fresh air. Now out with his second novel, Habila has kept in the same vein delivering something that is highly politicized, but equally charming, dramatic, humorous and altogether captivating. Measuring Time takes us to Nigeria where we meet Mamo and LaMamo, mischievous twin boys whose single goal is to make their father pay for his apparent indifference toward them. The book opens with a flashback to the father’s playboy ways and to the night of the twins’ birth. Habila paints the scene perfectly of the stormy winter night and right away we get a sense of the foreboding gloom that is going to follow us as the story unfolds. But if this provokes a shiver of fright in some readers, then others are bound to get hooked to Habila’s storytelling style, not to mention the memorable characters he creates in Mamo and LaMamo, the duo whom we fall in love with from the outset.

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By Djami Diallo The Afro News Book Review

Mende Nazer Slave Book Review

My interest was piqued after having read Mende Nazer’s account of her life as a slave in the Sudan. Properly titled Slave: The True Story of a Girl’s Lost Childhood and her Fight for Survival, the book makes for an atypical summer read. Sure, it follows the same formula as many accounts of slavery do, putting the reader through the wringer on a journey from freedom to captivity, through a battle to ultimate salvation. However, not only is the book nothing of the traditional romantic and breezy summer picks; but Nazer delivers something surprisingly different from the linear account of slavery. As the Observer put it so well, “all the clichés of such survival stories are inadequate to describe the impact of Nazer’s eventual deliverance.” To me, this story is unique because in remembering the Nuba Mountains Nazer breaks many of the stereotypes we might come to expect of Africa and Africans. In fact, readers will find themselves in the colorful world of the author’s childhood and possibly be quite thrown by the normalcy of it all: Nazer remembers doting and supportive parents whose life centers around her, the last of five children. Surrounded by the Nuba Mountains, she is free to explore her boundless imagination and encouraged to speak her mind. What results in the young Nazer is a boldness that characterizes even her dreams of postponing marriage for a medical career. In this sense the heroine defies every stereotype we might expect from African girls and women. What’s more is that Nazer’s men are strong, funny, articulate and fully capable of providing for their families. As the central male figure, Nazer’s father commands a respect that we would attribute to any head of household and his bravery is almost too big to behold. For centuries in the tradition of European slavery, we have been told that Black men could never embody this, but Nazer’s male figure struck me as possessing everything that colonialism and slavery systemically denied the Black man.

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A lively crowd welcomed the arrival of a new book by Addena Sumter-Freitag at the colourful and friendly Rhizome Café, 317 East Broadway,  7 pm  on July 23^rd.

Back in the Days, 2009, published by Wattle and Duab Books and North End Girl Productions is a collection of exquisite poems and stories from different generations reaching back into the thirties and continuing on to the present.  A major theme was the great love and pride that Addena has for her family.  Here is an excerpt from a poem the new book, Back in the Days entitled Elegy to Dad:

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Written by Alexander Nkrumah

Authors George and Darryl Fosty (relation) capture a significant contribution by descendants of African American slaves who made their way through Canada and settled in Nova Scotia.

Black Ice tells the story of African Canadians and their immense contribution to the development of Canada, “The history of Black Canadians has, for the most part either been forgotten ,deliberately destroyed or conveniently ignored,” the Fostys wrote in Black Ice. They go on to say that most historians have often dismissed the accounts or have viewed them as irrelevant.

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