Review of Leaving Dahomey

[Blessing Okorie]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Leaving Dahomey" by Jude Shaw.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The book Leaving Dahomey by Jude Shaw tells the story of a sixteen years old hammock-borne girl and her quest to make a big name for herself as a trader. Being born into a family where her father's wealth measured only second to that of the king of the kingdom, she is more than equipped to forge ahead.

Through her friend Sewextu, she inexplicable joins the cult of the language of the drum, her quest to find out more about her acceptance into the cult makes her to find out about her father's historical story which he never told anyone. She stays only two months in the cult through the initiation process but exhibited character that even people began to think that she had been chosen by the goods of their land for a specific purpose.

After her initiation, she experiences great financial breakthrough in her business. These she discarded as mere coincidence that happened in perfect timing. Were these mere coincidence as a result of her hard work and determination or were they connected to her membership to the language of the drum? Are they really connected?

Leaving Dahomey by Jude Shaw tells Adeoha's story, her journey to her dreamland of fame in trade. It was fun to read how she danced her way into her dreams.

This book was very interesting as I learnt about the culture of the people of Dahomey, their rituals and believe. The themes that came to play in the book were themes of friendship, love, ambitiousness, determination and courage.One thing I really liked about the book was the way that the author told the story in its pure state, without adding post colonial additives. The storyline really indicated the crude lifestyle of the Dahomeans. I will say that the author really did a good work there.

I also liked the part of the explanation of the painting on the calabash. When the girl who was filling her calabash with water was asked what she was doing, she said she was going to empty the whole content of the ocean into her calabash no matter how many calabashes it would take. I loved the idea behind the painting, no one can know everything and no one can know more than God. It was really inspiring.

The only thing I would say I didn't like about the book was the indiscriminate use of quotation mark in the conversations. I would give this book 3 stars out of 4 and I would recommend it to lovers of history and culture.

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Leaving Dahomey
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