Voice of America
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 7/2/2015
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 7/2/2015 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I got this fair-condition ex-library hardcover from Better World Books. I'd wanted to read it since seeing this review on Unshelved.com. It's an anthology by a Nigerian author, and features stories set in widely different times and places, sometimes focusing on racial and cultural issues and sometimes on purely human concerns. Among my favorites:
"Waiting" is the first story in the collection, and introduces us to people living in a refugee camp. [It opens with some disconcerting comments on the Red Cross-supplied clothing - if you ever wondered where all the excess novelty T-shirts went, many of them apparently go to charity, so the camp is full of people wearing shirts with legends like "Tell Me I'm Sexy" and "See Paris and Die".] The story's narrator is a survivor, and more upbeat than I suspect I'd be in those circumstances, but the view of life in a refugee camp is harrowing.
"Jimmy Carter's Eyes" begins with a young child suffering a horrible accident with a pot of boiling oil, which blinds and scars her - but after a lengthy stay in a hospital she and her mother return to their village, where the child appears to have acquired second sight. Time passes and she becomes a celebrity in the area, helping people find lost objects (and lost children), solving crimes, predicting weather and market prices... And then a group of American doctors come to the village offering to help cure the epidemic river-blindness and other eye problems that affect the region, and the story takes an unexpected turn.
"A Letter from Home" is a Nigerian mother's letter to her son, who's gone to America but who has, so far, failed to return with riches, nor has he come back for a visit; the tone of the letter mixes nagging-mom with increasingly-desperate-woman.
"Miracle Baby" is about a woman's search for a cure for her infertility, via a mix of miracle-cure cult, ancient traditional remedies, and modern technology.
"A Simple Case" features a man who's caught up in a police-sweep and gets embroiled in a corrupt-police situation; things look grim for our protagonist, and while he eventually gets off lightly the whole story depicts a culture in which random imprisonment is simply a part of life.
"Teeth" is a part-whimsical, part-unnerving tale of a long-awaited baby which has an unusual attribute that sets its parents at odds.
"Waiting" is the first story in the collection, and introduces us to people living in a refugee camp. [It opens with some disconcerting comments on the Red Cross-supplied clothing - if you ever wondered where all the excess novelty T-shirts went, many of them apparently go to charity, so the camp is full of people wearing shirts with legends like "Tell Me I'm Sexy" and "See Paris and Die".] The story's narrator is a survivor, and more upbeat than I suspect I'd be in those circumstances, but the view of life in a refugee camp is harrowing.
"Jimmy Carter's Eyes" begins with a young child suffering a horrible accident with a pot of boiling oil, which blinds and scars her - but after a lengthy stay in a hospital she and her mother return to their village, where the child appears to have acquired second sight. Time passes and she becomes a celebrity in the area, helping people find lost objects (and lost children), solving crimes, predicting weather and market prices... And then a group of American doctors come to the village offering to help cure the epidemic river-blindness and other eye problems that affect the region, and the story takes an unexpected turn.
"A Letter from Home" is a Nigerian mother's letter to her son, who's gone to America but who has, so far, failed to return with riches, nor has he come back for a visit; the tone of the letter mixes nagging-mom with increasingly-desperate-woman.
"Miracle Baby" is about a woman's search for a cure for her infertility, via a mix of miracle-cure cult, ancient traditional remedies, and modern technology.
"A Simple Case" features a man who's caught up in a police-sweep and gets embroiled in a corrupt-police situation; things look grim for our protagonist, and while he eventually gets off lightly the whole story depicts a culture in which random imprisonment is simply a part of life.
"Teeth" is a part-whimsical, part-unnerving tale of a long-awaited baby which has an unusual attribute that sets its parents at odds.
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at Park And Ride (At Exit 2) Bookshelf in Salem, New Hampshire USA on Monday, August 10, 2015
GoryDetails at Park And Ride (At Exit 2) Bookshelf in Salem, New Hampshire USA on Monday, August 10, 2015
Released 8 yrs ago (8/10/2015 UTC) at Park And Ride (At Exit 2) Bookshelf in Salem, New Hampshire USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I left this book on the book-swap shelves in the Exit 2 Park-and-ride terminal at around 4:30 or so; hope the finder enjoys it! *** Released for the A-to-Z challenge, for the letter "V". ***
