Wake Me When I'm Gone

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Pub Date 13 Aug 2017 | Archive Date 31 May 2018

Description

Everyone says that Ese is the most beautiful woman in the region, but a fool. A young widow, she lives in a village, where the crops grow tall and the people are ruled over by a Chief on a white horse. She married for love, but now her husband is dead, leaving her with nothing but a market stall and a young son to feed.

When the Chief knocks on Ese's door demanding that she marry again, as the laws of the land dictate she must, Ese is a fool once more. There is a high price for breaking the law, and an even greater cost for breaking the heart of a Chief. Ese will face the wrath of gods and men in the fight to preserve her heart, to keep her son and to right centuries of wrongs. She will change the lives of many on the road to freedom, and she will face the greatest pain a mother ever can.

Wake Me When I'm Goneis a story of curses broken and lives remade, of great tragedy and incredible rebirth. In this, his second novel, Nigerian writer Odafe Atogun unfolds a world rich with tradition and folklore, a world filled with incredible people of remarkable strength, a world that is changing fast.

Everyone says that Ese is the most beautiful woman in the region, but a fool. A young widow, she lives in a village, where the crops grow tall and the people are ruled over by a Chief on a white...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781782118428
PRICE CA$36.50 (CAD)
PAGES 208

Average rating from 5 members


Featured Reviews

Wake Me When I'm Gone tells the story of Ese, widowed and bringing up her young son, Noah, alone. The language is simple and straightforward, almost in the manner of a fable, and the sense that the reader is listening to a story is enhanced by the first-person narrative. There is a timeless quality to the tale being told, although from the mention of items like radios, it is clear that it is set not that far off the present. I felt the picture of the small village and the faraway big city also contributed to the feeling of a fairytale.

Through Ese’s eyes, the reader witnesses the inferior position of women in the social order of the village. In this patriarchal society, a woman’s role is circumscribed and tradition is used as a reason for preventing any change. Hence, the attempt by the Head Priest and Chief of the village to force Ese to remarry or face the prospect of losing custody of her son to a male relative.

This is also a community influenced by superstition, fearful of the wrath of their gods in case they send bad weather or other natural disaster and who believe that defiance of the gods will bring madness and death. The people cling to cruel beliefs such as children made orphans by the death of their parents are responsible for those deaths because they are cursed. The orphans must be shunned, left homeless and without means of support.

Ese is unwilling to accept unquestioningly the customs of the village, particularly where they threaten her son or where they seem morally wrong. Her resistance brings unwelcome consequences and she is forced to begin a lonely search for safety and shelter.

Throughout the novel, stories play a key part. There are the fearsome stories the priests tell to prevent resistance to the laws of the village. And there are the stories Ese tells to help her son cope with the loss of his father and the difficulties they face; hopeful messages that ‘one day things will change’ and that she has given him ‘the secret of happiness’ so he will never be sad’. Her simple wisdom is rooted in principles of truth, kindness and generosity.

I found Ese’s story, although sad at times, ultimately uplifting with its message that good can come out of tragedy and a person’s legacy can persist long after they are gone. I really enjoyed this book: for the story, the insight it provides into Nigerian customs and traditions, and its simple, graceful prose. I will definitely seek out the author’s first book, Taduno’s Song.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of NetGalley and publishers, Canongate Books, in return for an honest review.

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