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Read of the week (#2)

Yay, we're on our second 'Read of the week'!! I hope everyone's had/having a nice day :))

This week's short story that I would really like to recommend is called 'The Plantation' by Ovo Adagha. Very surprisingly, the story was written in 2010, so the story is rather recent.


A handy description of the author and story came underneath the title, which I will quote here: 
‘Adagha is a Nigerian writer and editor of international short story anthologies. In this story set in a small village in Nigeria, a leak in an oil-pipe is discovered in the forest - what effect will it have on the villagers? This is a richly descriptive story.’


I loved reading through this one. For some reason, the situation and the author’s imaginative descriptions reminded me of a rightfully famous book called ‘Lord of the Flies’. I also found the story to be highly quotable, so I will now list out some of my favorite sentences from it:

- ‘In the stroking brightness of the sun, an owl in full glide flapped its brown-streaked wings, turned its head and then sounded a doleful note as it flew past the trudging party below.’

- ‘He said not a word but she knew that darkness was brewing within him - the way he flicked his head with irritation, and slashed his cutlass at the swaying creepers.’

- ‘To the children, the fortune-hunters presented hearty entertainment. They giggled with glee at the sound of high-pitched voices drawn tight with tension; as grown men charged and shoved riotously at each other; a second here and there a woman lost her footing, and rolled in a heap in the slimy soil.’

- ‘The boy started at the growing roost of figured that broke out frenziedly from the smoky interior, running and swaying in scattered directions. He watched it all with a childish fascination.’

- ‘At the corner of the cooking sill, a small hurricane lamp - which his mother always kept alive - waned and flickered gallantly for long periods.’

- ‘And even in the treacherous silence that followed, the boy waited and listened; but all he heard was the faraway bird-call of the coming dawn.’

The whole story has a powerfully foreboding atmosphere about it; the kind that makes you involuntarily shiver once you’ve read the closing sentence.

I cannot emphasise how huge of a fan I am of Adagha's writing style. It lures you in from the first paragraph, and the next thing you know is you aren't willing to stop reading until you've reached the very end. Not only are there sudden shifts between a variety of moods, but the is also quite an unexpected change of main characters. In other words, I love everything about this story, and have clung on to every line while reading and rereading it. I highly recommend it to everyone.

Here's a link to where you can read the breathtaking story online:

https://books.google.co.th/books?id=hs7TDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=the+plantation+ovo+adagha&source=bl&ots=iN7rzBhgmR&sig=ACfU3U0FSBZPEbPwsPh0l-fAwDzEUOCp8w&hl=ru&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjjjZCX_d3oAhWJb30KHaECBe4Q6AEwBHoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=the%20plantation%20ovo%20adagha&f=false

If you do end up having a peek at it, let me know what you thought in the comments :)

Comments

  1. Thank you so much for linking the online version!! I will have a read!

    ReplyDelete

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