Kaine Agary - author's photo collage courtesty of Bella Naija
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Kaine Agary
Author of Yellow-Yellow
Reads as part of the Poetry Potter series
Venue: National Library Hall
Opposite Casino Cinema
Alagomeji, Yaba, Lagos.
Date: Saturday 30th June @ 2pm
Admission is free.
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Posts
8 comments:
MW, just to let you know that this is the worst book that have read in years. Given the brillant writing coming out of Nigeria, this book is a real let down. It could have done with thorough editing. Actually, it is not worth the N500.
thank god am not alone in thinking this is a really awlful book. My cousin bought it for me when she was last in Nigeria. Don't they have a proper publishing companies in Nigeria? It was really awlful. Nothing more than vanity publishing. My advice to readers, please don't buy it, don't waste your time reading it, you're better off doing chasing the cobweb in your house.
Abby
Ah-ah? Na waa my people...
Any blog readers who enjoyed "Yellow-Yellow" out there?
Do you feel strongly enough to want to balance out these unimpressed readers' comments above?
The blog floor is yours....
It is difficult to be so harsh on things that somebody has put a lot of effort on. however, I read it and I was unimpressed. But you have to give it to her - she managed to complete a whole novel.That must count for something. it would be nice to hear from people who have read it and liked it. I have met a few people who have read it and all were unimpresed.
But these are just opinions of a few people.
but she tried...
Thanks for your insight, Kemi.
MW
Yellow Yellow is largely unspectacular in its narrative energy. So if you enjoy "word power" - creatively carved phrases, sentences, turns of phrases etc, the book might seem "dry" to you. The "telling" is kept simple and straight-forward and in some portions, almost veers towards the simplistic and the colloquial.
So,to some,Yellow Yellow's lack of narrative colour might be termed "restrained." The plot is also pretty much simple; still, better simple than sorry!
But the author needs be commended for understanding that books can attain to "greatness" by melding the personal lives of its characters with larger momentous issues of the era in which they are situated AND working towards achieving that in her debut novel(4GET THAT NOT!)- hence the Niger Delta focus.
For me, Yellow Yellow has gotten the general thumbs up because, like Ahmed Yerima's Hard Ground which won the 3rd Edition of the NLNG Prize,it has arrived at the "right time" to address a "topical issue"- the Niger Delta question. Whether this is a matter of sheer market-intelligence or deep-seated commitment to the issues or a cosmic ordering of things, or indeed, all of the above,I am not in a position to pronounce. Regardless, the book engages the Niger Delta issue through the detached(and therefore believable and convincing)perspective of its apolitical protagonist. When one reads it, one appreciates the issues better and sympathetically.
Having read some other writings by the author,(see the Ogogoro story in Farafina's Women's Issue) I do sincerely believe, she has the markings of a good writer-which some literary grooming would certainly hone.
Yes, there's been better telling coming from Naija but this isn't a bad first attempt at all.So,let's give it up for Yellow Yellow, at the very least, for its thematic relevance.
Nike
Nice to have you here. And thanks ever so much, for this thorough contribution.
Mo dupe o
MW
its a pity most people dont read for the indepth meaning instead they read for pleasure. this novel serves as a sattire to the goverment of this country especially to that of the niger delta. its a powerful blow to the face of the niger-delta government as they watch their people suffer and allow the white men take over. it also briefs thru the life of a naive girl who has lived in the village and came to seethe city life because she felt that she had a bright destiny ahead of her. she is very naive and had never felt real love so she let her emotions take over. this novel desrves a very loud applause. kudos to kaine Agary.
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