Ikhide R. Ikheloa. Reads and writes obsessively. Passionate about the stories of Africa. Has strong opinions about the way things are. It is what it is.
Twitter: @ikhide
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Father, Fighter, Lover, Troublemaker
Pa Ikhide 
[…] courtesy xokigbo, Johnny Laird, British Council, African Women Writers Network, Dayton Literary Peace Prize, […]
Hey dear,
I will include your blog in my blog list. please visit my blog and follow. http://www.maryokekereviews.blogspot.com
Nice blog you have here, very interesting!
9ice blog! Read the article on my oga at the top. love the cartoon illustration too, great concept.
I read your write ups on Michael Peel’s “A swamp Full of Dollars and Helon Habila’s “Oil on Water” and they are interesting write ups love them and kudos to you.I’m a university undergraduate and I’m on my project which revolves around reasons for insurgencies in the Niger-Delta with Helon Habila’s “Oil on Water”and another Niger-Delta novel to analyse on this topic.I love Michael Peel’s “A swamp Full of Dollars which I could read it but I’ve tried some bookstore in Lagos but couldn’t get it .Can you link me to any reliable bookstore to get it?Thanks
Thank you, thank you, thank you ! At last someone who can see through the well over-inflated praise that has been lavished on Americanah ! I couldn’t agree more: Adichie should have written a series of lectures or essays on this interesting issue, rather than a simplistic novel where anecdote after anecdote on the subjects of racism and gender are clumsily layed atop a flimsy and rather underwhelming love story. There is only one tone, which is sneering and whiney, and, in being irritatingly formulaic, heavy-handed on caricature and proselytising, it lacks all subtlety. A truly great novel should consist of so tightly woven a material of criss-crossing, coloured threads, that the themes, meanings and insights on the human condition need to be teased out by the reader,(who also enjoys the richness of the overall pattern) without the author unpicking them and piling them up in front of the reader in a garish tangle.
In my view, Americanah is an ambitious story, with some excellent observation and very good passages of writing, but it is not an accomplished novel and it is hugely disappointing from an authoress who proved herself so skillful with Half of a Yellow Sun. Why is it that critics seem to lose sight of pretty fundamental flaws just because the subject matter is weighty? Are they afraid that their readers will think that they do not sympathise with the issues that are being treated as opposed to not rating the manner in which they are treated?
My only point of disagreement with you about Americanah is the editing (or in my view, lack of) ! The book is way overlong and out of control and I think this might have been a case for ‘less being more’. Judicious removal of a lot of the scornful and rather samey anecdotes and set-pieces at dinner-parties would at least have made the reader less worn-down with glumness !
Thank you also for flagging up the debut works by NoViolet Bulawayo and Taiye Selasi which I am anxious to read to compare with Adichie,
Ma’am, e n tojo o. Jeez! I was wondering where Adichie featured in all of this. Jeez, your comment is ‘overlong’ but your zest and brimming enthusiasm make up nicely. But jeez, overlong?
Hello, I`m Crystal Roman.
I`ve just looked through your website and I need to say it`s great!
How do you feel if we collaborate? Could you please let me know if you accept guest posts ? If it is so, we can discuss everything in detail.
King regards, Crystal.
One whose passionate write-ups I enjoy immensely.