The only worrying thing about this is that unless a story is profoundly moving, it becomes like the many lives out there that are the norm. How teachers in an African setting would never ever conceive of the notion of having an affair with one of their students, yet post colonial - it might be a problem in some secondary schools etc. For instance how traditional Africans in general simply cannot accept homosexuality, yet child marriages are the norm.
By that I mean, perhaps telling stories with bite. They are either pre-colonial or post colonial so obviously narratives are shifting continuously BUT they still seem to be limited in their scope and won’t go out of boundary. So I find it quite frustrating that African stories are becoming quite predictable and a little stale. One has to be mindful that writing these type of stories one has to stay on the path of authenticity. Unfortunately this particular story was based on a true story, so that my idea to shake things up a bit would not have rung true or done wonders for the narrative. However, bringing this novel into its element, I would probably have introduced a different narrative to this particular story, by perhaps placing Adunni in a white household or working for a family with a rich political Nigerian History. In Africa this is a no brainer and Adunni’s life’s struggles are really quite common. Lol I know what goes on in Africa! So saying, as a writer myself (Soft in Flowers), I recognised this story for what it was.
I kinda lost my interest because as an African myself, I felt that Adunni’s life as a house girl was rather predictable. Towards the end though, I couldn’t wait to finish reading it. The first few chapters of this remarkable debut novel drew me in, and I liked the way the story was being told through the eyes of Adunni the main character in the novel.
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