The Most Profound Nigerian Novel in Recent Times is, Perhaps, Nine Lives by El-Nukoya – Winner 2007 ANA/Jacaranda Prize for Prose! And, trust me, I have read quite a few.

I have read this novel two times already, and that is really weird, considering it’s 500 pages and I am an extremely busy professional!

The power of Nine Lives has been eulogized in several newspapers reviews. I actually got some extracts from the author’s website which I will share with you here, but I’m sure you can Google more yourself.

I also got a free e-copy of the prologue from a literary event last week which I have attached here for your exclusive enjoyment (, and say thank you, please).

Review extracts:

• “….keeps you reading, keeps you turning the pages; and it has all the touches of a bestseller…romance, intrigue, murder and an erstwhile hero who goes from rags to riches…the main character is not all good, nor all bad, someone most people can relate to…. a hit!” – Chris Bankole, editor and publisher

• "Grips you from the very first and doesn’t let up until the last revelatory page” – Uzor Maxim Uzoatu, writer and poet.

• "A totally riveting page-turner, El~Nukoya weaves a moral tale and takes you on a journey across decades of Nigerian culture." – Joy Joses, National Magazine, UK

• “That rare thing: an authentic Nigerian blockbuster” – Adewale Maja-Pearce, writer and editor

• "A powerful story! El~Nukoya is a very descriptive writer and I found myself visualizing the scenes – especially the ones in Nigeria." – Gordon Barnhart, USASK, Canada

• "…Nine lives is just great! Exciting…a book that must win awards. This excellent book must be promoted widely. El-Nukoya deserves acollades - Prof. Yemi Farohunbi.” – Sage, Elder Stateman

How can I get a copy of it? seems like an interesting read

You can get if from www.amazon.com or via PayPal at www.elnukoya.com. I was told they ship pretty fast at these two sites. It's also available in most major Nigerian bookstores and locally at www.buyright.com

It's also at Glendora Bookstores at the MM and new local Airport in Lag and I hear they now have it at http://www.booksng.com/

Here's what it looks like: (I have attached the cover from the website.)

Somehow when I read the caption I just knew you had to be talking about Nine Lives! Wow! What a novel!

Now, I am not a literary expert in any shape of form, but Nine Lives is breathtaking! Simple! I took a renewed interest in Nigerian novels recently and I have read a handful of good ones. However, I got a copy of this book at Thisday Media Centre at the Palm Mall during my last trip to Nigeria at Christmas and I was simply consumed from page 1!

The author’s style is unique, sort of like a blend between Sydney Sheldon, Harold Robins and Achebe – strange, but I mean that. And it’s real stuff; about real people and real events concerning the everyday Nigerian at home and abroad.

…I have to stop here, because I can go on and on. Pardon, me, but I must confess that I cried when I read that episode in Book 3, when Olupitan returned home from the States and his father didn’t want to accept him.

Hey, enough said, I'm already tripping again, 

Anyway, thanks Fela for the attached prologue. I can share this with my online friends!

Nine Lives is an amazing Novel - a must read! If you haven’t read it, then you may not understand why Fela_1 is all so fired up about the book!

I was privileged to have stumbled on one of the Public Readings at Nu-Metro, Silverbird and I got my copy autographed by El-Nukoya himself. I plan to auction this on e-bay in five years time and hopefully reap a handsome reward!! Call me cheap!

I just nipped some photos of my own from the website: Check them out!

Abeg has anyone who has been a member of Nairaland for more than six months read this book? Please reply ASAP with your verdict if you have. Thanks.

Hey True Brit, being a Nairaland veteran yourself, your "verdict" is much solicited and will be much appreciated.

Fela-1:

Hey True Brit, being a Nairaland veteran yourself, your "verdict" is much solicited and will be much appreciated.

I am not a veteran. As you can see, I have only been a member for about 7 months. I am thinking of buying the book (In fact I have asked a friend to buy it for me in Naija) but I have bought a few books which were much hyped by some of the author's friends but ended up being practically crap. When I read it, if I find it to be worth the hype, I will big it up as well, if not, I will share my opinions too.

Fair enough, True Brit, and I feel you on all that. Matter-of-fact, I was a skeptic myself until I actually read the book. That was even before the national award and all the hype in the media. I’m just one for promoting “our own”, especially when it’s truly warranted. Indeed, I think something remarkable is happening amongst a sub-set of new generation Nigerian creatives (writers, artists, musicians) that needs to be recognized, discussed and defined for what it truly is. Look forward to your comments when you eventually read Nine Lives.

n

No intent to doubt u cos i have not heard of this book, i beg to differ cos there's no place for Half of the yellow sun!

Since my days with paceseter this is the best i have read.

midee

Surely, that should be a turn-off rather than a turn-on. While Pacesetters were enjoyable to many people as youngsters, surely no one will ascribe to them the status of serious literature. So if the best thing you can say about this book is that it is the best in comparison to Pacesetters, that is no glowing praise.

prolly meant it's the best he's read in pretty looong time.

just read the book.

It actually is off da chain.

nice work El~Nukoya.


b't'w, is El~Nukoya some euphemism for "Ayokunle"? (reverse)

blissfullynaughty:

Surely, that should be a turn-off rather than a turn-on. While Pacesetters were enjoyable to many people as youngsters, surely no one will ascribe to them the status of serious literature. So if the best thing you can say about this book is that it is the best in comparison to Pacesetters, that is no glowing praise.

I wonder too. Being in the book publishing business and an avid collector of Nigerian authored novels, I'm surprised I haven't heard a lot of hype about this novel. Actually I'd like someone to compare the work with that of Chimamanda's 'Half of a Yellow Sun' on one hand or Sefi Atta's 'Everything good will come' or Onyeka Nwelue's 'Abyssinian Boy'. 

One thing I know about Nigerian authored books: Because Nigerians are proud of their people and where they come from, if the book is really as good as they say, then word of mouth alone will sell the book. 

lamidebaby:

just read the book.

It actually is off da chain.

nice work El~Nukoya.


b't'w, is El~Nukoya some euphemism for "Ayokunle"? (reverse)

When was this book published? And yes, you may be right about the name. El~Nukoya does suspiciously seem like Ayokunle. Now, what are the odds?

so is the book as good as the hype?

No hype = no book reading in Nigeria? I'm seriously confused! 

So gone are the days when people go to a bookstore and pick up a book they haven't heard of previously? So now we need to hear "hype" before we read a book, even those authored by our own country men?
Imagine if Americans or the British behaved like that, too? Who would have mustered up the courage to be the first to read Grisham, King, Brown, Rowling, Meyer, and the rest of today's big names?

Well, God bless the first person who read "The Potters Wheel"; The Concubine"; "The Bottled leopard"; "Jagua Nana"; "No Longer at Ease"; "Purple Hibiscus"; "Half of a Yellow Sun"; "The Abyssinian Boy"; "Everything Good will Come"; "Feddie Girl"; etc. etc. etc.

If Nigerians keep maintaining this attitude of "A book must win an award before I read it," then I'm afraid our book industry has a long way to go.

Will order my copy from amazon right away

naliakar:

Will order my copy from amazon right away

That's the spirit!

While you're at Amazon you may also want to check out "Feddie Girl" by Nona David. Wonderful piece of fiction!

PEACE!

Ifez:

That's the spirit!

While you're at Amazon you may also want to check out "Feddie Girl" by Nona David. Wonderful piece of fiction!

PEACE!

Will do just that and in a weeks time be able to share my reading experience of the texts.

A good, and, great book.
Unputdownable. Same feeling I had when I read Papillon, my book of all books.
By the way, I bought Papillon in 1976, and I always like to tell the story.
I had bought the book from a drug store at Mokola, Ibadan - I was at the place last year, and it was a shadow of itself. I had seen Papillon, read the blurb, and I was gripped. A young school leaver, working as an office assistant, while waiting to pass a couple of subjects to be able to get admision. It was a few days to pay day. I had no money on me at that time. So, I hid the book behind a couple others. And, I would return there almost every day to be sure it was there. Until when I could buy it.
I have passed Nine Lives to a number other book enthusiasts and they have kept thanking me.
I bought my copy at the ThisDay Media Store at the Palms.
I would be checking there today to buy another copy.
A damn good book.

I tink d most profound naija book i've read in recent times wil hav 2b buchi emecheta's 'joys of motherhood' buchi writes her stories wit so much depth n profoundnes dat makes u feel 4d protagonist. I tink she is my naija version of danielle steel.

Will check it out.

Ifez:

No hype = no book reading in Nigeria? I'm seriously confused! 

So gone are the days when people go to a bookstore and pick up a book they haven't heard of previously? So now we need to hear "hype" before we read a book, even those authored by our own country men?
Imagine if Americans or the British behaved like that, too? Who would have mustered up the courage to be the first to read Grisham, King, Brown, Rowling, Meyer, and the rest of today's big names?

Well, God bless the first person who read "The Potters Wheel"; The Concubine"; "The Bottled leopard"; "Jagua Nana"; "No Longer at Ease"; "Purple Hibiscus"; "Half of a Yellow Sun"; "The Abyssinian Boy"; "Everything Good will Come"; "Feddie Girl"; etc. etc. etc.

If Nigerians keep maintaining this attitude of "A book must win an award before I read it," then I'm afraid our book industry has a long way to go.

so is being authored by "our own countrymen" now an automatic guarantee a book is good?

My most profound Nigerian novel is Waiting for an Angel by Helon Habila. I was shocked that we have such a great writer in Northern Nigeria (No insult meant, but the North has not been producing great writers).

To tell u the truth, that's the ONLY modern Nigerian novel I have read without complaints.

From Chimamanda (Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun) to Kaine Agary  (Yellow Yellow) to Sefi Atta (Everything Good Will Come), etc- all Prize Winners - I have felt not too impressed with their inability to keep the writer from going to sleep and the unpardonable grammatical errors in their books - I never saw such bad English in Achebe, Soyinka, Ekwensi, Ola Rotimi, Elechi Amadi, Flora Nwapa, Odia Ofeimun, Ngugi etc.

Imagine Chimamanda, Sefi Atta and Agary not knowing the difference between bride price and dowry, or that "on your lap(s)" is wrong. (Correct thing is 'in your lap - without an 's').

Imagine Chimamanda saying "talkless of" instead of "not to talk of" or "not to mention"

Imagine Agary thinking that "Mammy-water" is an English word instead of mermaid.

Imagine Sefi Atta writing "for you and I" instead of "for you and me." Etc.

But I read Habila without feeling like dropping it, and surprisingly it was free of the trademark indecency that dots many modern Nigerin novels like Half of a Yellow Sun. I counted 16 sexual scenes in Half of a Yellow Sun - among them one fel.la.tio ('Bblow Jjob'), one "dog style". Ppornograpppy was so dripping out of the pages that I hid the book from my teenage cousin in secondary school, who had asked for it

Furthermore, Habila was in control of his grammar like a true writer.

Before you crucify these writers, ensure that you identify the context in which those words were used, and also the characters that used the words. U don't expect a character without formal education like Ugwu's sister in Half of a Yellow Sun to use words like "let alone", instead of "talkless of", etc. Understood?

slap1:

Before you crucify these writers, ensure that you identify the context in which those words were used, and also the characters that used the words. U don't expect a character without formal education like Ugwu's sister in Half of a Yellow Sun to use words like "let alone", instead of "talkless of", etc. Understood?

It would be foolish of me to make my comments without knowing what is accepted or what s not. When a character in a novel talks (dialoque), he/she is free to speak according to his/her level of education or as he/she pleases.

I am talking about cases where the author is narrating the story.

Mind you, I am young too, (age-mate to most of the young writers). Again I share the same state/zone or region with them. HABILA whom I praised in from the NORTH. I am proud of the young Nigerian writers but they need to be thorough like the older generation. That someone has won awards does not mean that he/she cannot get better.

Lol. . .I read Habila's Measuring Time

A remarkably apt title for a most boring novel

Half of a yellow sun

Azuka.O:

My most profound Nigerian novel is Waiting for an Angel by Helon Habila. I was shocked that we have such a great writer in Northern Nigeria (No insult meant, but the North has not been producing great writers).

To tell u the truth, that's the ONLY modern Nigerian novel I have read without complaints.

From Chimamanda (Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun) to Kaine Agary (Yellow Yellow) to Sefi Atta (Everything Good Will Come), etc- all Prize Winners - I have felt not too impressed with their inability to keep the writer from going to sleep and the unpardonable grammatical errors in their books - I never saw such bad English in Achebe, Soyinka, Ekwensi, Ola Rotimi, Elechi Amadi, Flora Nwapa, Odia Ofeimun, Ngugi etc.

Imagine Chimamanda, Sefi Atta and Agary not knowing the difference between bride price and dowry, or that "on your lap(s)" is wrong. (Correct thing is 'in your lap - without an 's').

Imagine Chimamanda saying "talkless of" instead of "not to talk of" or "not to mention"

Imagine Agary thinking that "Mammy-water" is an English word instead of mermaid.

Imagine Sefi Atta writing "for you and I" instead of "for you and me." Etc.

But I read Habila without feeling like dropping it, and surprisingly it was free of the trademark indecency that dots many modern Nigerin novels like Half of a Yellow Sun. I counted 16 sexual scenes in Half of a Yellow Sun - among them one fel.la.tio ('Bblow Jjob'), one "dog style". Ppornograpppy was so dripping out of the pages that I hid the book from my teenage cousin in secondary school, who had asked for it

Furthermore, Habila was in control of his grammar like a true writer.

haven't read helon habila but commonsense sells and a thing of beauty cannot hide. haven't even read adichie etc. told myself i wont read anything again till i write mine. anyway, like someone said earlier, adichie etc are acclaimed because theya are themselves and use contemporary nigerian expressions like you aptly brought out. have you read a western 'cowboy' novel before. i believe they dont speak mainstream english. as for the sex scenes, a novel without them is bland because the truth is that sex is all around us, all we avoid is being explicit. to cap it all up, i think a writer should identify with his target crowd especially if he doesn't want to win a nobel prize