The Boko Haram Kidnappings and Islamist Militancy in Nigeria
On 15 April 2014, 267 girls from the Chibok Secondary School in Northern Nigeria were kidnapped by Boko Haram, Mr. Habila shares with us the personal stories of some of the girls who managed to free themselves. “The Chibok Girls” is poignant portraits of everyday Nigerians whose lives have been transformed by extremist forces.
In his chronicle, Nigerian born poet and novelist Helon Habila has written with sensibility an eloquent account and has illuminated us with the long history of colonialism and cultural and religious differences that eventually lead to conflicts that is ravaging the country. 128 pages of the most devastating experience to both Christians and Muslims: Boko Haram.
It took Mr. Habila months of research, travelling in the northeast part of the country, interviewing many people, observing conditions in camps and talking to displace persons adding his experiences as a born Nigerian and interpreting the material in order to somehow be able to articulate to his satisfaction the fears and concerns of the victims of this insurgency and trying to personify the victims beyond mere statistic and transmit his thoughts to us in a simple and comprehensive manner. He did a fabulous job with this heartbreaking story. Even with its small size “The Chibok Girls” contains a wealth of information.
I received an advance copy from Columbia Global Reports via “NetGalley” for an honest and unbiased review.
Book #3 in The Sin series
This short tale part of the contest was the last puzzle to solve. Although I knew I was too late to participate in the contest I still wanted to read this spooky story.
In a nutshell: Twins brothers are left a mysterious map that would lead them to a secret that will unlock wealth and power.
I had a sense of déjà vu reading this story. I knew what would happen before the events occurred. I can’t remember where I read something similar, maybe it was more developed in the Arkane series or I simply read it someplace else. Having said this, I nevertheless enjoyed the 30 or so pages this short story offered. It is written with the expertise Ms. Penn is well-known for and has provided us a supernatural topic and has delivered it in her usual captivating ways.
All three books have separate stories and can be read on their own, no need to follow them in sequence.
Book #2, in the Sin series
This 30 pages short story sends us deep in the post-apocalyptic world in the city of Dis where the Minotaur lives and where rituals are performed. This was part 2 in a contest that ran on Kobo some time back. Key to cracking the code laid beyond the book….although I discovered this author too late to play the game I couldn’t resist giving this tiny series a go.
Not really my type of story but it is so well-written that after a few pages I was drawn into it, yes even with its spookiness and weird happenings. Ms. Penn is at her best writing stories with supernatural topics, religious events, ancient myths, psychology twists to them.
This is the perfect book to tackle when time isn’t on your side….at the time of this post it was still available free at Kobo.
Stay tuned for my thoughts on book #3 “Sins of Treachery”
