Tiny Sunbirds Far Away - Christie Watson

Tiny Sunbirds Far Away by Christie Watson

Back to fiction for me then. I was drawn to this book mostly because it's set entirely in Nigeria, and is (nearly) entirely about Nigerians, but is written by an English woman. Though Christie Watson is married to a Nigerian, she has never lived there full time. As someone who spent 5 years there, I was curious to see how she managed - would her voice be as authentic as say Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie or Helon Habila? Should it matter either way? As it happens, in terms of authenticity, I thought she did stunningly well - but I would love to know the opinion of some Nigerians, to see what they think.

The story itself is of a family - living in relative comfort and security in Lagos, until a paternal indiscretion sees the mother and 2 children: Ezikiel and Blessing moving back to the mothers home town near Warri - in the oil-plagued & trouble wracked Nigerian Delta.

The story itself is narrated through the eyes of 12 year old blessing - the baby of the family. This is a clever device, as like most 12 year olds, Blessing doesn't fully observe or comprehend everything that is around her - meaning that we, the reader are left to figure things out and are kept guessing. We share Blessing's indignation at her family's drop in status, and her horror at their loss of plush living conditions, in return for basic village life and all that it brings.

Blessings new family are a peculiar bunch to her: a headstrong grandfather who has delusions of grandeur about his status and abilities - who has alienated the village around him by his conversion to Islam; a grouchy plain-speaking grandmother, a driver who has so many children, they are impossible to count, and a second wife for his Grandfather - a loud bushgirl called Celestine.

Her surroundings are peculiar too - a village blighted by oil, both metaphorically and physically. A combination of old superstitions and modern guerilla warfare. This is the thing the book handles best - it would be easy to marvel at the magic and mysticism of traditional life and beliefs - Watson clearly has a lot of time for the traditional Nigerian way of life - but she is also aware of the harsh realities her protagnosts face and isn't afraid to talk about Environmental polution, female genital mutilation, and the huge gender inequalities that still exist in modern day Nigeria.

As the book goes on, and Blessing gets more comfortable in her environment, we get to see the other characters fleshed out more - and have sympathy or at least empathy for everyone involved. The one issue I would have with the book is the ending - something that always seems to be an issue for me with books. This one has mulptiple endings - as if Watson either didn't want to let go of the book, or didn't know how to. I could kind of see the ending coming a fair bit in advance (or one of the endings), which took a little tension away for me - but a particular scene towards the end, involving all the women of the village made up for the otherwise scrappy aspect to the last 50 pages.

I may have made the book sound like a tough, or a bleak read, but it isn't. It's full of humour, well written characters. I would say there is nothing particularly original in here, but if you enjoyed Half of a Yellow Sun or Purple Hibiscus, then this would be right up your street.