Helon Habila measures the passage of time, in this beautiful consuming classic. He writes about Mamo and LaMamo, whose mother a victim of arranged marriage, dies upon their arrival. But the narration stretches beyond just a set of twin abandoned by their love struck father, it is all encompassing.
We are again student in history class; as we watch Habila weave colonial administration, the advent of Christianity in North East Nigeria, military rule, traditional rule, the Biafra war, the brief violent democracy interrupted again by the military, into a single story resonating with the tragedies of love and loss.
We meet Lamang (king of women), in love with Saraya, he would let himself be swayed into marrying Tabita, the sick daughter of a wealthy cattle merchant, for the singular reason of inheritance. His dreams will come to pass with the death of his father in law and the death of Tabita at childbirth.
He gets to keep and grow the wealth he inherited further, but the dream of marrying the love of his life Saraya, who was now bedridden from partial stroke, remained a dream. Lamang prospered. His business grew in lips and bound, but he lacked any interest in the children, just like their mother. A respite from military rule provides an avenue for democracy to strive, Lamang saw the opportunity therein. Little did he know that this new venture would be the end of him. But not before the miraculous return of Haruna, a half-brother of his who had gone to the Biafra war and was assumed dead as he didn’t return after the war. Obviously depressed, Harauna commits suicide a short while after his return.
The twins, Mamo and LaMamo had always dreamt of life elsewhere, somewhere far away that they could go and perhaps return back several years later, famous, fulfilled. A recruitment opportunity into the Nigerian army came. They set out together with their cousin Asabar, to the capital where the recruitment exercise was ongoing. But Mamo didn’t get very far, stuck in the world of sickle cell anaemia, a crisis soon sets in. He urges them to go on without him.
In the capital, LaMamo and Asabar are turned down by the military on account of being underage. Poised to do great exploit, LaMamo would go on to join a group of trained military personal in Chad. While Asabar, devoid of the courage and madness of his cousin, returns to Keti, where he his made the youth leader of a new political party and would become crippled after being shot while trying to swap ballot boxes.
While LaMamo was busy fighting a senseless war in Mali and later on Liberia, his brother Mamo, was getting an education in history in the university. But he soon becomes a dropout, owing to a crisis that arrived on the eve of an exam. His Uncle, Iliya, offers him a post as the history teacher in the community school.
Mamo meets Zara, while teaching at the community school. They reunite, making love as though to make up for the years gone by. He discovers a book about the history of the people of Keti, written by one of the early missionaries. She urges him to write an essay about it. The essay, surprisingly scholarly, is published in a magazine. News of the essay goes viral and he is soon invited to the palace to write about the history of the Mais of Keti. But Zara, the key to his sudden fame, a victim of bad marriage, depressed, leaves for South Africa with an old school friend in search for fulfilment.
Grief collected like sand in a bowl of water with the return of LaMamo, who was now married to the pregnant Bintou whom he saved from the hands of the rebel leader. Mama who had discovered the mischief of the Waziri, lets his brother in on the devious plans of the Waziri. One thing led to another, soon, LaMamo leads a group of angry villagers and invaded the palace asking for justice, seeking the Waziri and the Mai. He is shot dead in the process, but the Waziri is killed notwithstanding.
Meanwhile Zara had returned from South Africa. Their affair suffered a bit of setback. Zara sink deeper into depression. But this love, jagged from age and turmoil, would be saved not only for Zara’s sake but for Mamo as well.
Helon Habila, is a distinct storyteller. He brings a congregation of stories and makes them one, yet gives each story a chance to come alive, none overpowering the other. It is a worthy read, as worthy as any African classic.
