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cheers y'all.

Fiction
Title: A Rose in Bloom
Author: Dr. Ejine Okoroafor-Ezediaro
Rating: Very Good!
Publisher: Trafford
Web Page: www.trafford.com/06-1468
Reviewed by: John Lehman | View Bio
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This book takes flight about two-thirds of the way through when its contemporary African heroine, Nkiru, discovers the man she is engaged to is from a family of outcasts (and, from the perspective of her parents, their union would not only condemn them but also any subsequent children they might have). For readers in America or England to understand this culture's values we probably need to read about her less traumatic, earlier challenges: leaving school, going to work camp, the death of one friend and the marriage of another. These seem almost mundane at times but do give us the context so important to the final story.
The front cover, featuring an exuberant painting by Prince I. Nsofor, is gorgeous and the biography of the first time novelist Doctor Ejine Okoroafor-Ezediaro on the back plus the description of the book's contents are very appealing to a reader. The work does deliver on its promise to be a showcase, "a dichotomy of ideas, political as it is personal, as modern as it is traditional and as exotic as it is familiar." What I didn't like was some carelessness on the part of the publisher with regard to paragraphing and the occasional extra spacing between words. A good editor should have caught these as well as the overuse of clichéd phrases and occasionally awkward sentence structure, for example, "It was the first time that she had properly flown away from her parent's nest which was in contrast to her boarding whilst in secondary school when she still was under the tutelage of the teachers and seniors on daily basis."

The author is facile with dialogue, but she tends to zip through earlier episodes of the story without the descriptive detail that might allow readers to experience rather than understand them. The plot is too linear and the kidnapping episode should be more exciting than it is. However, with the last part—the forbidden marriage—there seems to really be something at stake (and some of the earlier information, such as Nkiru's father being badgered by his family to take on an additional wife because his doesn't bare a male heir, provides interesting foreshowing for that same father's interference with Nkiru's choice of husband). The traditions are complex and exploring the nuances of the old and the new is a strong point of "A Rose in Bloom." When background information is presented to us as straight exposition, the writer's story-telling inexperience is apparent, but when it is done to build drama (as happens in those last 150 pages) the story is stirring and memorable. Dr. Okoroafor-Ezediaro is working on a sequel. It will be interesting to follow her growth as a novelist. This is a very promising start.