Book Review: Tales From Different Tails By Nana Awere Damoah

Today is AU Day and perhaps, the only good thing about this day is that, it’s a holiday and it has afforded me the opportunity to read an African novel. And this one was certainly a fun read.

Tales From Different Tails is Nana Awere Damoah’s third book and is a collection of 8 short stories whose central theme could be said to be relationships. These stories hovered around motifs as bitter betrayals, cunning maneuvers, tenacious trust and loyalty among other such traits that are common to most relationships, all told in the quaint by-the-fire-side style of storytelling which always carries a moral lesson.

Any Ghanaian, especially those who have had the privilege of attending any of our ‘traditional’ universities and other tertiary institutions, will readily identify with the characters in these stories as a lot of the events Nana describe are still recurrent today. At least that was the case during my time at school. Brother Bazook (a character in October Rush) particularly touched a raw nerve as his depiction hit a little too close to home.

Nana employs a lot of local jargons like ogyacious, aponkye brake, tweah (which term has now attained international renown thanks to the infamous Gabriel Barima), toke, inte, among others. The one transliteration I found particularly humorous was attributed to Sulley Maame, the waakye seller, who sometimes sold her waakye on credit to loyal customers only to be “paid back at moon die,” to wit the end of the month. It is such jargons that gives Tales From Different Tails its quintessential Ghanaian feel.

There were points in the novel where I felt that the stories were “so real yet so fictitious” like Adadewa’s concocted lies against Kojo Nkrabeah. For instance, Akosua (a main character in Guardian Of The Rented Well) shared such striking similarities with the author that I couldn’t help but wonder if she was a replica of the author and that this tale was not a recounting of a real past incident in the author’s life…I guess I may never know!

The telltale title of this book coupled with its spellbinding stories offered me just the humor break I needed today and I betcha gonna enjoy it too…go grab your copy!

Book Review: The Magic by Rhonda Byrne

Not all that glitters is gold and not everything is actually what they appear to be. These trite sayings hit me with full force this week in the office when I picked up one of a set of books that was delivered to my boss to skim through. It may not be fair on my part to be reviewing this book since I didn’t read through to the end and in fact, I could not complete it because I decided not to do so and I’m mighty glad I didn’t. I found the content of this book too infuriating and couldn’t stomach all the regurgitation of New Age philosophy that’s been repacked and presented as novelty. This book I am berating is The Magic by Rhonda Byrne.

It was the title of this book, which I assumed to be a novel, that attracted me to pick it up to give it a read but how sorely I was mistaken. The Magic could properly be tagged the quintessential New Age book and like most books in this genre, it marshals an eclectic collection of quotes from all the major religions of the world to corroborate what the author considers “a great mystery revealed.” 

This “great mystery” we are informed is Gratitude and according to the author is the hidden secret behind the successes of all the major movers and shakers of the world both past and present and to buttress this point, Rhonda cites such noted religious leaders and authorities like Mohammed, Krishna and Jesus Christ who according to the author all practiced this secret of success.

Typical of most New Age books, this extensive collection of quotes is meant to achieve a certain kind of cross-over appeal that will gain the approval of all and sundry regardless of one’s (ir)religious background. However, it is this very sort of approach that I find most repulsive as it attempts to mimic some tenets of Christianity but actually ends up misappropriating them because it tries to please everybody, Christians and non-Christians alike, thus end up pleasing nobody especially conventional catholic Christians like me.

What was even more offensive yet unsurprising for me were claims by the author about some biblical characters she employed in her book often out of context. For instance, she says “King David spoke of giving thanks to the whole world, for everything between the heavens and the earth.” This quote is an example of the classic subtle subterfuge that is rampant in New Age philosophy and which many unsuspecting victims fall prey to.

Instead of saying David gave thanks for the world(in which case he’ll be giving thanks to another, presumably Yahweh), she says he gave thanks to the world(in which case the world is the deity to which David’s appreciation is directed. Little wonder New Agers often refer to the earth as ‘mother’). This simple change of proposition totally alters the meaning of the sentence and is likely to escape the uncritical reader and hence likely to be hoodwinked.

Another one of such quotes is this, that “Jesus said “thank you” before he performed each miracle.” This statement though superficially acceptable is very ambiguous as the “thank you” is addressed to no one in particular. This ambiguity syncs perfectly with New Ageism whose deity is an undefined amorphous force and is nothing like Yahweh of Christianity.

I suspect, however, that what gives The Magic its appeal is the fact that ‘gratitude’ is indeed virtuous and every religion teaches and encourages it among its adherents. Yet an even more appealing attribute of this book is its claim that gratitude is the panacea to every problem under the sun and the author assures it will achieve for the reader a healthy body, flourishing career, happy relationships and all other personal desires without breaking sweat! Who wouldn’t want that? And to achieve this, the book is divided into 28 daily readings with confessions and to-do activities that are designed to ensure readers “deliberately feel it [i.e. gratitude] as much as you can, because it’s the force of your feeling that accelerates the magic in your life.”

A lot more could be said about the book but suffice it to say this is not a book I will recommend to any of my Christian friends because it is bad in a not so obvious way which in my view makes it even more dangerous.

Christians, stay away from The Magic!

Another New Beginning...

Not long ago, I read a quote from a friend’s status on Facebook which said something to the effect that, life always gives us a second chance and it’s called tomorrow. This truism, like many of its kind, often carries some element of truth but not in its entirety. For one, no one knows tomorrow and to quote John Legend in the song Heard ‘em Say, “nothing’s ever promised tomorrow, today”  and so if there is any decision to be made or action to be taken, it must be done on time because no one is guaranteed life or health or what have you tomorrow. Today may very well be your last opportunity.

However, the purpose of this post is not to critique an anonymous quote. My aim is to celebrate another new beginning that has been afforded me today. A “second chance” of sorts, if you will. Exactly a year ago, I embarked on a new career endeavor with high hopes of excelling in it but unfortunately, that hope was short lived as I had to exit that path sooner than I had anticipated.

As daunting as that decision was, my real apprehension was how I was going to survive my self-imposed joblessness especially when my closest friends and confidants prudently advised against it, suggesting more reasonable ways of going about my intended action. Indeed, it was their many wise counsel and realistic prognosis that rendered the decision even more daunting because I knew they were right and that hardship was inevitable. Yet I persisted.

Living with the consequences of that decision hasn’t proved easy at all. These past few months have been fraught with mixed emotions often bordering on the extremes of intense anguish and wallowing in self-pity yet it has been somewhat bearable through the encouragement of my friends. The Teacher was spot on when he observed that, “Two are better than one, because…if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up” (Eccl.4:9-10ESV). I should know because I have experienced it and so I’m very grateful to the few people I call friends who have stuck by me in my trying times.

 I am also grateful for the new people I’ll be working with. These guys exude such positive confidence and have such high expectations that one cannot be around them and not aspire to be successful because their enthusiasm is so infectious, plus they are incredibly young! They are like the sort of young and talented high achievers you only see on TV at award ceremonies or in magazines but somehow never get to meet in real life and so it’s such a joy and a privilege to know I’m going to be in such fine company!

One thing is clear in my mind. It is that I’ll never be the same again. Yet I look enthusiastically to tomorrow through the lens of daring hope with the implicit conviction that the best is yet to come.

So help me God!!!