The Palm Wine Drinkard is the first novel by Nigerian author Amos Tutuola. The story follows the mystical odyssey of a devoted palm-wine drinkard, who introduces himself as "father of gods who could do everything in this world," but loves nothing more than to drink palm-wine all day and night.
One day, however, his palm-wine tapster dies and thus begins the journey to find the palm wine drinkard's tapster in Dead's Town. On his journey, the palm wine drinkard encounters all sorts of obstacles, each one more surprising than the last.
One of his many exhilarating tasks involves a trick to outsmart death. In addition, a gigantic evil baby, a community of skulls and a four-footed, five-horned elephant-sized farmer are some of the first curious creatures he encounters.
For those unfamiliar with Tutuola, this book is guaranteed to be unlike any other you have read in the past. A celebrated writer, Tutuola received no more than six years of schooling and is a member of the large Yoruba tribe in Nigeria
The book is written in the tradition of West African Yoruba oral folktale. Tutuola's writing is a unique collision of Western and Nigerian culture, and the result is something like the imaginative world of J.R.R. Tolkien dropped into a West Africa.
The Palm Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola. Grove Press, 1953.
-- Sam Engel
Students race to complete a novel
Ever wanted to break the bank at Las Vegas' Luxor or MGM casinos? In Ben Mezrich's novel, Bringing Down the House, six college students and a former mathematics professor do just that. It is particularly interesting because it is based on a true story.
In the early 1990's, Kevin Lewis, a junior at MIT, is looking for direction in his life. He finds it in the form of a barely-legal gambling ring run out of one of the country's most prestigious engineering schools. Lewis is recruited to the ring by a few members who think he has "the stuff," and he begins leading a double life filled with blackjack strategies, supermodels and millions in winnings. However, the casino owners and their Vegas-hired detectives aren't so amused.
Mezrich's writing is fast-paced and suspenseful, but the novel is checkered with a noticeable number of false cliffhangers. Some parts of the story almost reek of melodrama, as the main characters wrongly interpret hostile actions as death threats. There is still a good share of danger and violence thrown in the mix, and the action stays fresh as MIT's geeks-turned-gamblers dodge one hazard after another.
Mezrich's book has generated a fair amount of media and public exposure, as the mentioned MIT blackjack ring has grown more and more conspicuous and admired. The somewhat recent spike in ESPN's World Poker Tournament coverage is another piece of evidence pointing to the limelight that the gambling scene now enjoys.
Whether one is searching for an adventurous novel, a book on the intricacies of gaming and Las Vegas, or just browsing for something to read this book is a good choice and almost as thrilling as a $1,000 bet.
Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich. Free Press, 2003
-- Pasha Hadidi
Trinity, Angela's Ashes and The Big Wind are examples of Irish epics that deal with issues of heartbreak, political violence and alcoholism. Eureka Street, Robert McClaim Wilson's novel about two middle-aged best friends in Belfast in the early 90's is another such Irish narrative full of heartbreak, violence and enough alcohol to kill an entire fraternity. But despite its unavoidably expected elements, Eureka Street is utterly surprising.
The book manages to tell the tale of Jake, who is Catholic, and his Protestant best friend Chuckie, without being either a political call to arms or a simplistic "Why can't we all just get along?" sermon. Jake is constantly worried about seeming too Catholic at his horrendous job repossessing furniture from the poorest of neighborhoods with two protestant strongmen, and not Catholic enough during disastrous encounters with a woman whose Celtic name sounds to him like someone coughing.
Meanwhile, Chuckie, obsessed with celebrity in a way that only the unimpressive and banal can be, makes sure to proudly display a poorly doctored photograph of himself meeting the Pope as a child in the living room of his home on the very protestant Eureka Street.
The story follows Jake's hopeless quest to find love in the arms of every pretty girl he sees (even with the teenage checkout girl who flirts with him at the grocery store) months after his live-in girlfriend left him and Belfast behind for the less depressing land across the channel.
Chuckie on the other hand has surprising success that occurs after he vows to improve his pathetic life on his 30th birthday. The lifelong dole collector suddenly finds himself raking in the cash with one outlandish scheme after the next. Chuckie also attracts the unlikely attention of a beautiful American who's come to Belfast, ironically, to escape her own violent past
Eureka Street begins with the lovely, if somewhat expected declaration that "All stories are love stories." Wilson proves that true many times over. The novel is a love story between Chuckie and his American love interest, Jake and women in general, Jake and the typical Belfast street urchin he defends, and Chuckie and his mother, with whom he lives. But more than anything else, the book is a love poem to Belfast despite its graphic depictions of violence. It is hard to leave the novel without a sense of Belfast's beauty, and the relationship between the characters and the tragic city.
Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson. Balantine Books, 1999.
-- Abigail Padien-Havens
Ann Patchett's Bel Canto is a touching story with an unlikely setting, which plays host to an unusual group of characters. It is centered on beauty -- and there is something oddly beautiful about Patchett's prose.
The general setting is ambiguous -- "somewhere in South America" -- and yet it is all the reader needs to know. It is not a look at the political upheaval of a certain area of the continent or a social commentary on a particular country, despite the story's beginning.
The story unfolds in the home of the vice president of this unnamed country, at the birthday party of a prominent businessman visiting from Japan. The party is a sampling, in fact, of nearly a dozen different countries of origin, including the U.S., Italy, France, Russia and Denmark. This gives the novel an overwhelming continental air.
There also seems to be music playing throughout the book -- one of the principle characters is Roxanne Coss -- an internationally known soprano. Everyone is in love with her, and she brings opera to life, nearly making it a character itself.
The party begins with small talk until it is shockingly interrupted by a group of national rebels, who enter to kidnap the president. The president, however, is not among the guests, having decided not to attend on a last minute whim. The rebels' plan becomes to keep the entire dinner party as hostages in the beautiful house.
Again, where this seems like a novel that would take a sharp turn for the political, it avoids that completely and instead becomes an intense study of character. The novel focuses on characters from vastly different backgrounds and personal situations and their reactions to one another under such close quarters. Patchett shifts her focus continually, taking the point of view of nearly each of the guests, as well as those of the rebels. She does so quite beautifully, avoiding the inevitable technicalities that arise when so many of your characters speak so many different languages.
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. Harper Perennial, 2001.
