A READER'S FARAD

Book Title: Farad

Author: Emmanuel Iduma

Publisher: Parresia books

Pages: 207

There are eight distinct stories in Farad and each story introduces the major players in a church drama that climaxed in the penultimate story. "Farad” is a child of many disciples and it is obvious that its writer is a connoisseur of books. Through his characters, Iduma reels out book titles, quotes, and flaunts his healthy reading appetite. He takes us through Literature, philosophy, psychology. There is a fusion of these disciplines as he relates them to the thoughts of his characters, sometimes random, sometimes crucial.

As a debut novel, "Farad" makes a statement for its author. Iduma portrays himself as an assertive writer. He coins words and writes vernacular yet he refuses to apologize with italics or imprison his words with quotation marks. His authorial voice is as loud as the voice of his characters and it resonates all through "Farad". The characters in "Farad" are stingy with words. Their dialogues are often rife with meaning sending the reader into a well of thoughts and ruminations. There is a perceived similarity between Iduma, a lawyer who is known for his forays with the pen than at the bar, and characters like Chike who abandons the sombre books of law for the bright lights of photography, and Ugo who abandons law for music.

A sober tone runs throughout perhaps because many people die in "Farad". The thrills of action expected from events like the SUG protest in Ife and the riot in Jos were dampened by an imminent tone of inevitable death. The protest of the death of Christain Ike’s brother in Jos would have been exciting but it is also dampened by the small number of people that showed up. Also, most of the major characters in "Farad" had lives laced with sadness. The individual sad stories helped to permeate the book with a feeling of gloom but make no mistake, "Farad" is not a sad book.

Iduma familiarizes his readers with the concept of death and the ephemerality of life. He seems to be screaming at us that while death is often saddening, it should be embraced as a norm because there is a purpose to every life, an essence that is itself the evidence of life. Nothing more captures this perception of life and death than Ugo’s words which her brother remembers at her burial that “Some of us are born for others. We might be born to do one act of kindness”.

"Farad" tells of the thin line between sanity and insanity, life and death. It is a book that borders on abstracts yet it dishes out life through the strength of its major characters' words and actions. Iduma seams his distinct stories together effortlessly to arrive at the novel called “Farad”. He helps his readers to examine bits of psychology, to weigh philosophical teachings against life's realities, to think about botched dreams and hopes.

Above all, he helps us arrive at the junction where we realize that “There’s always something immeasurable that moves a man to go ashore”.

The story of "Farad" is incomplete if one doesn’t mention the twin evils of ethnicity and religion. Iduma broaches the topics of ethnicity and religion through the Muslim Yoruba girl Taibat and the happenings in Jos. The chaplain, a man in the academia, disapproves of his son marrying Aanu but supports the relationship with Chinwe because “she is Ibo”. Iduma uses the clash of religion/tribe in Jos to remind us about the current problems that Nigeria faces.

Iduma also does not forget that it is the 21st century and social media plays an important role in the lives of most youths. He delves into the tweeting world and examines how social media becomes an escape, a means to purge the heart as is inherent in Mosun’s Twitter diary.

The biggest thing I think Farad captures is the importance of co-existence of human beings. The chapel successfully reflects human society. Different people have to cross ways while walking their different paths in life. Each one of these people have a story. Sometimes co-existing is annoying, irritating, other times it lessons burdens and happiness. Like Edwin wrote to Mo, it is only a blind person that will not see the “impossibility of singularity in this world, the irrefutable fact of co-existence”. He went on to say “Togetherness is more than people, or living with people”.

One thing with the novel “Farad” is that a lot of questions were asked. Some were answered, others were left to the reader, to plow through and make sense of the seemingly senseless.”Farad” asks questions about theology, about hierarchy in the church, about church politics. Iduma uses people like Muna, Debbie, the Seeds editor, Ugo as the voices of revolt, the voices that question status quo.

If there is a problem with “Farad”, it is that Iduma fails to give us a concrete sense of the interdenominational chapel at Ife. Reverend Muna’s church in Jos steals more of the details mileage compared to the Ife church which in fact is the cornerstone of the story. He tells us bits: about its large compound, the tiny youth office, and that it is situated near the mosque. Beyond that, he leaves his readers juggling details in the mind, grasping at insufficient tidbits to create an image of what the interior of the chapel looks like.

 

Farad comes full circle, ending where it began albeit with a little difference. The novel started with Goody urging Frank to help Ella who has a problem of the psyche and ends with her urging him to help Mr Lekan too. The relationship between Goody and Frank is good as against when the novel started. Farad ends on a happy note.

- Tola Okunlola is @tlatifah on Twitter.