Book Review | Easy Motion Tourist by Leye Adenle | Fiction published by Cassava Republic
BOOK:
Easy Motion Tourist.
AUTHOR:
Leye Adenle
PUBLISHER:
Cassava Republic
REVIEWER
: Nana Sule
“In the open gutter by the road, flourishing
with wild vegetation and an assortment of discarded plastic bags, lay the body
of a girl”
What Guy Collins, a British journalist
would find on his second night in Lagos, Nigeria, would be the body of a young
girl, devoid of its breasts. He would have originally come to cover the
presidential elections for his news line. He would have fought amongst his
colleagues to be in Nigeria, only so he could return to Mel - his ex. To tell her how Nigerian he
could be, and how she needed to take him back for he understood her people.
But he would get arrested by the
Nigerian Police, he would almost sleep in a Nigerian cell, and he would meet
the beautiful Amaka. And Amaka would steer him in another direction.
“I work for a charity. We work with
prostitutes. We give them counselling, financial support, shelter if they need
it, medical aid, that sort of thing. Prostitution is illegal in Nigeria. So
nobody watches out for these girls. They are molested, extorted, short changed,
raped, killed, you name it”
She would introduce him to the world
she coordinates. There, where a safe system has been created for the girls
registered with her, and where one had somehow turned up in the gutter. She
would direct his writing to the existence of a society under men, who deal in
human parts at night, yet control the nation’s affairs in the day.
And between finding the girls’ killer,
bringing down the men of the underworld and hunting their ring leader, Amaka
and Guy would find themselves with affections dancing between them.
What Leye did was explore the power of
individual choices and their resultant effect on the society at large.
“God says be patient, but the devil
says I will give you now. And we believe in God as much as we believe in the
devil”
But for the need for good living,
people are often pushed into things they ordinarily wouldn’t do. Be they the
thugs at the bottom, or the faceless leader of the body part market- Malik.
Interestingly, the best part of this
fiction will be in the droplets of humor, the Fela inspired title, and the closing. The imageries, so vivid, you
will see the shock in Amaka’s face, when she hears the voice on the other line
say,
“I hear you have been looking for me, my name
is Malik”
Easy Motion Tourist is a fast paced,
well knotted tale of poverty, lack of apathy and much more. A worthy book for
your reading shelf.
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