Community Library Notes
“And After Many Days,” by Gowhor Ile, is the story of a family in Nigeria: Ma, a housewife and teacher; Bendic, kind father and wealthy community leader; Bib, their young daughter; Ajie, the youngest son who tells this story; and Paul, the eldest son who goes out one day — and never returns.
When they, in a flashback, visit their ancestral home, we learn how the oil company has enabled the community to have potable water, a decent secondary school, and tarred roads. Nowthe company wants to build a pipeline for gas through their farms. One of the elders speaks in favor of the Company. Another, a radical member of DYF, says the elder has taken money from the Company to allow them the pipeline.
Author Ile is a young man from Nigeria who describes the environment, the swamp and jungle, the customs of that country. He speaks about the haircuts at the barbershop and of the secondary school. In their village, four boys are arrested and Bendic does his best to save the situation. In the mornings, they all read biblical scenes and learn fromthe motivations. Ma teaches Ajie about photosynthesis. This is a way to extract hydrogen from plants with light.
At age six, Ajie plants seeds and watches as they grow toward the sun. When Ma and Bendic go to America for two weeks, the children stay with an aunt and uncle. They hear about a plane crash, and fear their parents were on that plane. Ajie gets sick and the servant girl lies next to him in bed. He learns about touching a woman. Author Ile takes us to every-day ordinary events and makes them meaningful. He creates tension among the family and encourages the reader’s curiosity.
After they return home, they hear of an altercation between Ogibah youths and pipeline workers. Soldiers tried to quell the disturbance, and Bendic goes to the site of trouble, which lasts two weeks. Boys have been killed and houses burned. Paul is missing still. Ajie the narrator, misses him terribly, although he does finish school. What has happened to Paul? Dowe ever find this out? Does the family ever recover? How does the oil company relate to the family’s crisis? Do these situations occur where entire countries are held hostage to “progress”?
Find this exciting novel on the fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library when it re-opens.
The Mendocino Community Library is at the corner of William and Little Lake streets, Mendocino. Hours: Monday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; closed Sundays and holidays, 707-937-5773.