• BOOK REVIEW- WILD IXORA
BOOK REVIEW
Title: Wild Ixora
Author: Philip Ngozi Ifechukwude
Publisher/Year: Carophem/2013
Review by: Emeka Esogbue
Date Reviewed: 2015
It is a 136-page novel set in a small community of Isubogu. It beautifully opens with a 6-line poetic prologue, delightfully subdivided into 14 chapters, numbered but untitled. This particular edition has been revised to create clever plot and enhance readability. Chapter one begins with the scintillating description of the atmosphere which in turn foreshadows the surrounding influence of events. The writer discerningly considers this environment naturally suiting to the backdrop therefore, readers are let into the author’s admiration for nature but sadly, nature hardly gives anyone what he desires but what nature itself wishes. Reader’s emotion is again drawn
to the
physically-challenged state of Agoziem, the protagonist.
This state of deformity is in reality, a literary allusion to the author’s present condition as he recalled: “One fact remained that I had not actually passed a minute without thinking about my future physically. Would I remain like this forever? I thought. I have one of my legs deformed-without folding. I felt totally deprived of such activities that require absolute physical fitness like sports and driving”. The question again is: Does nature really give one what he desires? Ola Rotimi’s ‘The gods are not blame’ depicts a particular ominous event revealing that ‘we are helpless in the face of fate’. Odewale, the protagonist was predestined to kill his father and marry his own mother and it came to pass. Tried as she could, Flora Nwakpa’s Efuru submitted to the will of divine providence. George Eliot’s ‘Silas Marner: Weaver of Ravaloe’ also characterizes sophisticated treatment of religious issues. There are more examples rendered in different works of literature. Indeed, man is like a pencil in the hand of nature.
Back to the book, ‘Wild Ixora’ as authored by Philip Ngozi Ifechukwude, Jindu becomes the victim of a fall from a tree which other accomplices agreed to keep secret. Oboshi stream is heard of for the first time as children go to have a fresh swim in it. Chapter one closes and chapter two begins with emphasis on the relevance of the stream to the people of Isubogu community. Oboshi, a beautiful and kind-hearted goddess, with large breasts, mythical occupier of the Oboshi stream serves the spiritual needs of this community as we are told. Oboshi may be benevolent but her sacred character must not be disregarded or else her violators are visited with retribution. It was in Oboshi that Nigerian Civil War soldiers who despoiled her taboo by consuming her sacred fish got struck dead. From spiritual to domestic use, this river was everything to Isubogu. Oboshi was to the community what the River Nile was to ancient Egypt. There was the story of legendry Ohene who carried large lumps of stones from Ejeme. Ohene, the Chief Priest served the spiritual needs of Oboshi and the town, announcing approaching disasters, and declaring means by which such tragedies were to be avoided, if they were considered evitable.
Chapter two closes with the mention of ‘Ogwu’, the mini shrine. It was close to this spot that the author experienced the apparition of frightening specter he narrated to us the readers. The ghostlike figure appeared to them intermittently from afar when they set out very early in the morning for the usual trip to fetch water from Oboshi. As a result of this, he regretted and vowed never to follow any group to the stream that early. Ironically not even the sight of the apparition would discourage the unfortunate incident of deformity that awaited him. In Chapter three, St Thomas’ Demonstrative College was the school Agoziem attended and the head teacher, Mrs. M. N. Nwabuwa, struggled hard to inspire discipline in her pupils. St Thomas’ College is also an evocation to the mind of the unsafe play common to pupils like climbing of trees. Sadly, Agoziem now introduced as primary six pupil falls into the category of carefree pupils.
Chapter four continues with Agoziem’s defiance letting us into the incident that would redefine the life of the protagonist who with Biose went climbing a mango tree. The author buttresses this line of action with the phrasal quotation, ‘at last opportunity to show the expert that I am’. This opportunity lay in reprehensible tree climbing that
Agoziem had perfected. This time, he landed very badly on the ground and Biose the
accomplice disappeared into thin air never to be heard of again.
Chapter five paints the graphic picture of the fall of Agoziem from mango tree, his badly hurt leg and initial earnest and conscientious activities intended to heal him. Anyway, the people with him took to their heels, leaving Agoziem to his fate. Here in chapter six, the story continues with the attention of readers drawn to efforts aimed at restoring him to good health through the help of his grandmother simply identified as Nnee. Nnee is the native name by which Aniomas are known to refer to their grandmother.
Chapter seven lets us into the intellectual capacity of Agoziem. As the news of his fall reaches school, the school authority regretted that he was though academically brilliant but obstinacy was his major challenge. Chapter eight sees Agoziem blame his fate on a little mistake which caused his deformity in the leg.
In chapter nine, Agoziem develops severe pain and distension in the leg without any
foreseen solution at hand. Chapter ten reveals that, by some means, Agoziem now in
desperate need of healing was taken to Ochi the great medicine man but sadly, he
could not be cured. Chapter eleven describes the tedious journey to Ihiala, a town
situated in South-East of the country. This was perhaps the first of the long distance
trips Agoziem had made all his life so he marveled at the site of the majestic River
Niger. Chapter twelve introduces readers to Gilbert Ononenyi, the Doctor of Bones who the author praised as gifted in the combination of traditional herbs with orthopedics to perform the art of bone healing. The author further depicts him as one who frequently consulted the oracle before attending to his patients and one who as advised by the gods, could reject patients rejected by the gods. Furthermore, he was portrayed as a man of proverbs and parables. Mastery of proverbs and parables as we believe in this part of the world is a sign of wisdom.
Chapter thirteen tells the story of how after innumerable degrees of treatments,
Ononenyi finally healed Agoziem. Chapter fourteen, the final chapter of the book
emphasizes Agoziem as gradually regaining his health, so he began to take cognizance of the cultural environment of his host community. At this point, they had struck acquaintance with Ononenyi’s family to the extent that they attended a masquerade dance. In this spiritual dance, Mmanwu Nwanyi, Oke Mmanwu and Akakpo Nmanwu
particularly stole the show much to the delight of Agoziem. Finally, they returned to
Isubogu, only to be faced with the sad news of the demise of Ononenyi and this
disillusioned Agoziem and Nnee. To this, Herodotus will have said “death is a delightful hiding place for weary men”.
In the postscript, Nnee later died as Agoziem was gradually picking up with life in Lagos, bringing the novel to a close.
Now, my personal annotation: The writing of the novel is superb with the language
flowing compellingly as the author effortlessly created a representation of his personal experiences, and in any case, it is a true-life account. The mention of Oboshi, incident of Agoziem’s fall, visits to healing homes, appreciation of Ihiala culture and other natural occurrences help us to ascertain the realistic view of the personal involvements of the author. The strength of the novel is the employment of messages that tell the particulars of course of events. Added to these are the languages used in literary and non-literal sense. The style of writing is characteristic of the ever literary man, Philip Ngozi Ifechukwude, aesthetically excellent in execution.
• Ifechukwude eruditely demonstrated that the art of writing is nowhere reducible to words on pages but a craft. He causes the novel to speak to readers while readers respond with rapt interest thus there’s a communication between the reader and novel. Judicious applications of simile, alliteration, oxymoron, paradox and pun sauce this book to the fullest. Metaphoric use of words and iconic mental representations also pleasantly give the reader lasting visual representations. Every of the sentences rendered are expressive, sublimely encouraging the reader to read on. Languages are used to create effects and words are meaningfully formed to make sense, all of which create sound effects that reverberate in the mind. The use of names typical to the setting also makes sense. For instance, names like Uwaonye, Biose, Nwabuwa, Chibututu and Mgborie all typical to the setting are mentioned. Most communities have streams, so Isubogu has Oboshi. Most revered streams have Chief Priests so Isubogu has Ohene. We are moved across communities and cultures. In this same book, we went on a journey to Asaba, Ihiala, Onitsha, Benin, Atani, Ozubulu, Okija, Nnewi, Uli and many more and returned safely with true sense of indulgent.
The plot recognizably tells the story of Agoziem who grew up in midst of intransigencies that characterize children living in rural communities. These children grow beyond control like untamed flowers. The lessons learnt by us are plenteous. First, children must be adequately guided and guarded though it is paradoxical that what is destined to happen will happen. Remember too, that to some extent, man is the architect of his own destiny. Second, the life of a man is the hands of God. Third, no matter the advancement of medical profession, orthodox practice especially as it concerns bone-healing remains very relevant to us and must be preserved at all cost. This is what Gilbert Ononenyi represented in the novel. Agoziem’s once deformed leg may not have regained perfection but he could walk and do things and accordingly, attain natural glories as destined for him by his ‘Chi’. All of these I will compress into the understanding that the physically-challenged can make progress and contribution to societal growth and development.
What ‘Wild Ixora’ teaches us is that we must guide and protect our children responsibly from care-free lifestyle and danger that they may be lurking and when misfortune befalls them. We must not relent in pursuing solutions to the problem when we have one at hand. Finally, this book is purely an exertion of enormous importance to literary minds and I strongly recommend this thought-provoking, interesting and readable book to every literary mind.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, you have no choice but to purchase this book. On this note, I personally end the review of this book. I thank you and I thank you all.
Title: Wild Ixora
Author: Philip Ngozi Ifechukwude
Publisher/Year: Carophem/2013
Review by: Emeka Esogbue
Date Reviewed: 2015
It is a 136-page novel set in a small community of Isubogu. It beautifully opens with a 6-line poetic prologue, delightfully subdivided into 14 chapters, numbered but untitled. This particular edition has been revised to create clever plot and enhance readability. Chapter one begins with the scintillating description of the atmosphere which in turn foreshadows the surrounding influence of events. The writer discerningly considers this environment naturally suiting to the backdrop therefore, readers are let into the author’s admiration for nature but sadly, nature hardly gives anyone what he desires but what nature itself wishes. Reader’s emotion is again drawn
This state of deformity is in reality, a literary allusion to the author’s present condition as he recalled: “One fact remained that I had not actually passed a minute without thinking about my future physically. Would I remain like this forever? I thought. I have one of my legs deformed-without folding. I felt totally deprived of such activities that require absolute physical fitness like sports and driving”. The question again is: Does nature really give one what he desires? Ola Rotimi’s ‘The gods are not blame’ depicts a particular ominous event revealing that ‘we are helpless in the face of fate’. Odewale, the protagonist was predestined to kill his father and marry his own mother and it came to pass. Tried as she could, Flora Nwakpa’s Efuru submitted to the will of divine providence. George Eliot’s ‘Silas Marner: Weaver of Ravaloe’ also characterizes sophisticated treatment of religious issues. There are more examples rendered in different works of literature. Indeed, man is like a pencil in the hand of nature.
Back to the book, ‘Wild Ixora’ as authored by Philip Ngozi Ifechukwude, Jindu becomes the victim of a fall from a tree which other accomplices agreed to keep secret. Oboshi stream is heard of for the first time as children go to have a fresh swim in it. Chapter one closes and chapter two begins with emphasis on the relevance of the stream to the people of Isubogu community. Oboshi, a beautiful and kind-hearted goddess, with large breasts, mythical occupier of the Oboshi stream serves the spiritual needs of this community as we are told. Oboshi may be benevolent but her sacred character must not be disregarded or else her violators are visited with retribution. It was in Oboshi that Nigerian Civil War soldiers who despoiled her taboo by consuming her sacred fish got struck dead. From spiritual to domestic use, this river was everything to Isubogu. Oboshi was to the community what the River Nile was to ancient Egypt. There was the story of legendry Ohene who carried large lumps of stones from Ejeme. Ohene, the Chief Priest served the spiritual needs of Oboshi and the town, announcing approaching disasters, and declaring means by which such tragedies were to be avoided, if they were considered evitable.
Chapter two closes with the mention of ‘Ogwu’, the mini shrine. It was close to this spot that the author experienced the apparition of frightening specter he narrated to us the readers. The ghostlike figure appeared to them intermittently from afar when they set out very early in the morning for the usual trip to fetch water from Oboshi. As a result of this, he regretted and vowed never to follow any group to the stream that early. Ironically not even the sight of the apparition would discourage the unfortunate incident of deformity that awaited him. In Chapter three, St Thomas’ Demonstrative College was the school Agoziem attended and the head teacher, Mrs. M. N. Nwabuwa, struggled hard to inspire discipline in her pupils. St Thomas’ College is also an evocation to the mind of the unsafe play common to pupils like climbing of trees. Sadly, Agoziem now introduced as primary six pupil falls into the category of carefree pupils.
Chapter four continues with Agoziem’s defiance letting us into the incident that would redefine the life of the protagonist who with Biose went climbing a mango tree. The author buttresses this line of action with the phrasal quotation, ‘at last opportunity to show the expert that I am’. This opportunity lay in reprehensible tree climbing that
Agoziem had perfected. This time, he landed very badly on the ground and Biose the
accomplice disappeared into thin air never to be heard of again.
Chapter five paints the graphic picture of the fall of Agoziem from mango tree, his badly hurt leg and initial earnest and conscientious activities intended to heal him. Anyway, the people with him took to their heels, leaving Agoziem to his fate. Here in chapter six, the story continues with the attention of readers drawn to efforts aimed at restoring him to good health through the help of his grandmother simply identified as Nnee. Nnee is the native name by which Aniomas are known to refer to their grandmother.
Chapter seven lets us into the intellectual capacity of Agoziem. As the news of his fall reaches school, the school authority regretted that he was though academically brilliant but obstinacy was his major challenge. Chapter eight sees Agoziem blame his fate on a little mistake which caused his deformity in the leg.
In chapter nine, Agoziem develops severe pain and distension in the leg without any
foreseen solution at hand. Chapter ten reveals that, by some means, Agoziem now in
desperate need of healing was taken to Ochi the great medicine man but sadly, he
could not be cured. Chapter eleven describes the tedious journey to Ihiala, a town
situated in South-East of the country. This was perhaps the first of the long distance
trips Agoziem had made all his life so he marveled at the site of the majestic River
Niger. Chapter twelve introduces readers to Gilbert Ononenyi, the Doctor of Bones who the author praised as gifted in the combination of traditional herbs with orthopedics to perform the art of bone healing. The author further depicts him as one who frequently consulted the oracle before attending to his patients and one who as advised by the gods, could reject patients rejected by the gods. Furthermore, he was portrayed as a man of proverbs and parables. Mastery of proverbs and parables as we believe in this part of the world is a sign of wisdom.
Chapter thirteen tells the story of how after innumerable degrees of treatments,
Ononenyi finally healed Agoziem. Chapter fourteen, the final chapter of the book
emphasizes Agoziem as gradually regaining his health, so he began to take cognizance of the cultural environment of his host community. At this point, they had struck acquaintance with Ononenyi’s family to the extent that they attended a masquerade dance. In this spiritual dance, Mmanwu Nwanyi, Oke Mmanwu and Akakpo Nmanwu
particularly stole the show much to the delight of Agoziem. Finally, they returned to
Isubogu, only to be faced with the sad news of the demise of Ononenyi and this
disillusioned Agoziem and Nnee. To this, Herodotus will have said “death is a delightful hiding place for weary men”.
In the postscript, Nnee later died as Agoziem was gradually picking up with life in Lagos, bringing the novel to a close.
Now, my personal annotation: The writing of the novel is superb with the language
flowing compellingly as the author effortlessly created a representation of his personal experiences, and in any case, it is a true-life account. The mention of Oboshi, incident of Agoziem’s fall, visits to healing homes, appreciation of Ihiala culture and other natural occurrences help us to ascertain the realistic view of the personal involvements of the author. The strength of the novel is the employment of messages that tell the particulars of course of events. Added to these are the languages used in literary and non-literal sense. The style of writing is characteristic of the ever literary man, Philip Ngozi Ifechukwude, aesthetically excellent in execution.
• Ifechukwude eruditely demonstrated that the art of writing is nowhere reducible to words on pages but a craft. He causes the novel to speak to readers while readers respond with rapt interest thus there’s a communication between the reader and novel. Judicious applications of simile, alliteration, oxymoron, paradox and pun sauce this book to the fullest. Metaphoric use of words and iconic mental representations also pleasantly give the reader lasting visual representations. Every of the sentences rendered are expressive, sublimely encouraging the reader to read on. Languages are used to create effects and words are meaningfully formed to make sense, all of which create sound effects that reverberate in the mind. The use of names typical to the setting also makes sense. For instance, names like Uwaonye, Biose, Nwabuwa, Chibututu and Mgborie all typical to the setting are mentioned. Most communities have streams, so Isubogu has Oboshi. Most revered streams have Chief Priests so Isubogu has Ohene. We are moved across communities and cultures. In this same book, we went on a journey to Asaba, Ihiala, Onitsha, Benin, Atani, Ozubulu, Okija, Nnewi, Uli and many more and returned safely with true sense of indulgent.
The plot recognizably tells the story of Agoziem who grew up in midst of intransigencies that characterize children living in rural communities. These children grow beyond control like untamed flowers. The lessons learnt by us are plenteous. First, children must be adequately guided and guarded though it is paradoxical that what is destined to happen will happen. Remember too, that to some extent, man is the architect of his own destiny. Second, the life of a man is the hands of God. Third, no matter the advancement of medical profession, orthodox practice especially as it concerns bone-healing remains very relevant to us and must be preserved at all cost. This is what Gilbert Ononenyi represented in the novel. Agoziem’s once deformed leg may not have regained perfection but he could walk and do things and accordingly, attain natural glories as destined for him by his ‘Chi’. All of these I will compress into the understanding that the physically-challenged can make progress and contribution to societal growth and development.
What ‘Wild Ixora’ teaches us is that we must guide and protect our children responsibly from care-free lifestyle and danger that they may be lurking and when misfortune befalls them. We must not relent in pursuing solutions to the problem when we have one at hand. Finally, this book is purely an exertion of enormous importance to literary minds and I strongly recommend this thought-provoking, interesting and readable book to every literary mind.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, you have no choice but to purchase this book. On this note, I personally end the review of this book. I thank you and I thank you all.
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