Book Review
Oseloka Obaze*
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Thou Shalt Not
R. C. Ofodile
(ISBN: 1-905252-05-6: Veritas Lumen Publishers, London, UK, 2009; p.192; Price, ₤8.99)
Available at: regofodile@hotmail.com
Reginald Chiedu Ofodile’s Thou Shalt Not is a novel about fate, human foible, clash of cultures, betrayal, retributive justice, and the redemptive power of love and trust. It also speaks to the high and deep-seated hold of certain African traditional values that continue to frown on acts such as teen pregnancy or having a child out of wedlock.
In Thou Shalt Not, two distinct and distant lives unfold dramatically, one in colonial Africa and the other, in imperial England, hallmarked by its challenges and live-changing offers. Bassey Tobias Simango, clever, cultivated and cosmopolitan is destined for worldly renown; for “life had dawned plenteous- he was born into the professional elite of Mipoko”. Initially, drawn to the legal profession, for which Bassey had the natural flair and vocation, he suddenly and inexplicably, as if by a twist of ill luck, which some call fate, opts for a divergent career path –priesthood in a vastly remote village of Kenje. Unbeknown to many, that singular act was his dose of recompense and atonement for a contrivance, his fragile vanity, peccadillo, and an unrevealed and unending personal burden of his being haunted by a casual lover’s suicide to avoid ostracism resulting from an unwanted pregnancy.
On the other side is Odauzo Atuma, a local debutant, trader and elegant dancer, raised in customary ways and traditional magnificence in the town of Nimili. She “sprang from several generations of wealth and status” but with fate, she also fared no better.
In time, the two lives intertwine with dire consequences. Before then, both protagonists are by pedigree and calling, many degrees apart and therefore, unlikely choices of inhabiting the same parish and socializing. That is until fate intrudes with an unprecedented tragedy that wipes out Odauzo’s family. In addition, she tramples on cultural social mores through her dalliance a charming local boy. The resulting pregnancy would become her ticket to exile. What’s more, during an outing for a nocturnal frolic, Odauzo’s charge, her aged grandmother and the lone surviving relative dies in a house fire. Guilt and shame wracks her. “Her overwhelming wish was to move as far away from Nimili as possible.” Kenje town became her orphanage haven.
Bassey and Odauzo, two exiles fleeing from their opaque and veiled past, find themselves mired in the ways of life and antics of Kenje, small unfamiliar town, where they had respectively sought a new beginning and shelter from their personal guilt and tormenting times gone by. Having respectively drank from a poisoned chalice, and therefore stranded by choice in their new abode, their lives inevitably waiver between ostracism and elusive freedom.
In the town’s only Anglican Church, Bassey is the much-revered and diligent pastor and Odauzo, an active and congenial member of his congregation. A kindred spirit of sorts, both share the commonality of long repressed anxiety orchestrated by suppressed guilt and extreme trepidation of being exposed.
Their personal lives and expectations begin to unravel when they interface with certain norms and values of the town of Kenje, thus propelling them into unexpected but divisive conflict with two unrelenting institutions; the local community and the religious establishment. Clash of the Christian and local akwa religion creates a palpable rift in the community with deep dichotomies and divided loyalties. Bassey and Odauzo transcend the conflict, however, matter worsens, when their lives intimately intersect, dredging up their buried pasts. The otherwise tranquil landscape is no longer peaceful nor accommodating as hostility towards the two rented the confined air, no holds barred. The vortex of the conflict: Odauzo’s out of wedlock pregnancy and the suspicions of whodunit.
Though people of faith, the incongruity of the situation Bassey and Odauzo find themselves, is compounded yet, by the unknown, the unspoken and the effervescent industry of village gossips that churns malevolent and scurrilous lies, denigrates and makes unfair assumptions before asking for explanations. In Kenje, Bassey and Odauzo discover that ribaldry - the use of indelicacy, vulgar and lewdly language – had been elevated art form at their expense.
In the consequent Consistory Court’s inquest, Bassey and Odauzo testify and are stand alones, even from each other. Unrehearsed, yet for different reasons, mostly born of pride, dignity and circumspection, they respectively refuse to affirm their one night liaison, and least of all, that it might have resulted in Odauzo’s pregnancy. Bassey is defrocked and Odauzo further ostracized.
Thou Shalt Not reaches its denouement, when Bassey decides to seize the moment by marrying Odauzo. His action is compelled by his integrity, care and love, but also by the desire to rid himself of Meme’s haunting ghost. He offers marriage, only for but Odauzo to tell him that he was not responsible for the controversial pregnancy. I retort, Bassey proclaimed, “Meme, you may rest in peace. Your killer suffers still”.
Ofodile uses his steep intimacy of the English and African socio-cultural landscape and his full grasp of the mores of the two distinct and often contradicting cultures to enrich the cultural and personal mosaics that he renders. He does so, effortlessly and with inebriating prose form and rich diction. Thou Shalt Not also affirms the universal moral, that whilst there are shades of deceit, there are hardly any degrees of honesty. Truth is always a constant.
Thou Shalt Not is a riveting seamlessly captivating and gorgeously written novel. The plot, story lines and use of language and translated idioms are superb. Ofodile unveils a charming and captivating style of storytelling. He has manifested traits of an elegant writer endowed with great verve and erudition. He is a novelist to watch. This novel is highly recommended.
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Mr. Oseloka Obaze is a founding member of the Kwenu.com Book Review Forum, which is dedicated to the promotion of books with Igbo and Afrocentric themes. He is also a supporting Member of the African Writers Endowment (AWE). From 1999 to 2005, he served on the editorial board of INYEAKA, the journal of Songhai Charities, Inc., a New Jersey community-based charity founded and run by Nigerians based in New York Tri-state area in the United States, first as its founding Publisher and later as the Editor-At-Large. He is also on the editorial board of The Amaka Gazette, the journal of the Christ the King College, Onitsha Alumni Association in America. His collection of poems, “Regarscent Past: A Collection of Poems” was second among the top three finalists in the poetry category in the African Writers Endowment Publishing Grant Program for 2004. He is working on a novel titled “Happy Eulogy”. He reviews books and arts strictly as a hobby.
© Copyright 12 September 2009.