419
1 journaler for this copy...
Looks like the sort of thing I should read.
This is the most magnificently written novel I have read in a long time. Characters appear to be on separate lines but you know there is going to be some form of meeting along the way and you just hope that the meeting will be good for all concerned but this is pretty close to real life so the odds are not good. We're following the result of an ordinary Canadian's involvement in one of those "Nigerian" e-mail frauds and the reaction of his family members to it all. We're also following a girl from the Sahel who is walking "south", we don't to where or why she has left her family. Then there is a boy raised in the Niger Delta who is watching his area disappear as the oil people lay pipelines across the country so they can capture the sweet crude that is found in the Delta. Yes, they all meet up and the results are what you might expect, some good, some bad.
We're left to think about the Nigerian song which asks who is the victim and who is in control now? It would seem that laying blame is easy as long as you are only looking at this immediate act and not at all that went on before. If you look back you find that there are no innocents: Amina's people prided themselves on being able to live by raiding the caravans crossing the African desert, Nnamdi's people are not concerned that they trapped people to sell to the slave traders, Europeans are not concerned about the ruination of the Delta, only that they can produce good, cheap crude oil, and there is the background of the slave trade. In the light of all this the cry that the 419 frauds is merely a way of getting back some of Africa's own is almost acceptable. (419 refers to the Nigerian criminal code's section on fraud.) It helps that the cry that Europeans wouldn't be falling for these frauds if they weren't so greedy is answered by Laura's father's desire to help "Miss Sandra."
This was a novel full of action but with constant reminders that whatever is happening is connected to events half a world away. Excellent. Laura's brother's reaction to events: shouting and blaming everyone else just sounds so likely and I had a great deal of sympathy for Amina, even at the end.
We're left to think about the Nigerian song which asks who is the victim and who is in control now? It would seem that laying blame is easy as long as you are only looking at this immediate act and not at all that went on before. If you look back you find that there are no innocents: Amina's people prided themselves on being able to live by raiding the caravans crossing the African desert, Nnamdi's people are not concerned that they trapped people to sell to the slave traders, Europeans are not concerned about the ruination of the Delta, only that they can produce good, cheap crude oil, and there is the background of the slave trade. In the light of all this the cry that the 419 frauds is merely a way of getting back some of Africa's own is almost acceptable. (419 refers to the Nigerian criminal code's section on fraud.) It helps that the cry that Europeans wouldn't be falling for these frauds if they weren't so greedy is answered by Laura's father's desire to help "Miss Sandra."
This was a novel full of action but with constant reminders that whatever is happening is connected to events half a world away. Excellent. Laura's brother's reaction to events: shouting and blaming everyone else just sounds so likely and I had a great deal of sympathy for Amina, even at the end.
