THE PRINCE AND THE WITCH

A powerful king captures Prince Ebuka while on his way to bring home the Ikenga, the village symbol of power. 

After working as a slave on the king’s farm for a while, the king decides to set Prince Ebuka free on one condition.

The prince must tell him within a year what he will do to make his wife happy or forfeit his head.  

In his search for the answer, he visits an ugly witch who tells him he has to marry her to get the answer. 

And so, Prince Ebuka finds himself between a rock and a hard place, and time is ticking away. 

Book Review-Broken

A REVIEW OF NGOZI EBUBEDIKE’S ‘BROKEN’- By ABDULWAHEED OLANIYI

Life is full of challenges. Life is full of happiness. It is like the ocean where everyone swims. It takes much courage to avail the ordeal of the waves of the ocean of life, such wave is like the predicament that one faces in the world. The knot in one’s life requires patience. Perhaps when one is not fortunate to get assistance, patience is the only key to success in life, especially during a difficult time. In such a situation, children and women are always vulnerable, people take advantage of them while looking for a swift solution to their quandary in life. If patience is not applied, another problem may come in and one will not have a choice than to accept the fate, either good or bad. This is why Ngozi Ebubedike, in her novel, encourages youths, especially the vulnerable ones, to remain patient and stay with God during a hard time.

Sometime predicament showers like morning dew in one life, when one is desperate to embark on a life journey without a plan, it will lead to one’s chagrin. ‘Broken,’ a factual novel centres on the life of a character called Calista, who is unfortunate to be borne into a poverty-stricken family. She grows up with her parents in the village whose main occupation is farming, an occupation Calista detest with a passion. Her hatred for farming often results in a misunderstanding between her and her parents. One day, after engaging in a war of words with her mother and hurling insults at her father, the mother throws her belongings out. unrepented she picks her things and leaves her parents’ home in the village and heads to Owerri to begin a new ‘independent’ life. Arriving at the motor park in Owerri, She hangs around doing odd jobs to survive until a seemingly good Samaritan, Sunday rescues her and takes her home to his one-room apartment with a promise to help her.
Sunday’s words shower hope in her life. After living together for a month, Sunday begins to take advantage of her and she perseveres the ordeal because she believes there is no other home for her in Owerri. Besides, Sunday is the one feeding her and people believe she is Sunday’s sister. After a few months, she becomes pregnant but Sunday refuses to be the father of the fetus. Although Calista does not agree initially, she aborts the fetus as advised by Sunday. While in the hospital for the abortion, Sunday has packed all her belongings outside his home and flees. Calista is shocked to see this when she gets home. While blood is still coming from her, as a result of the abortion, she sleeps outside for some days to confirm whether Sunday has fled or truly travelled to see his ailing mother in the village. Although she eventually sees him, after threats and counter threats, he gives her some money to take her to Lagos as she requests.

Getting to Lagos, Calista goes straight to her sister’s house, who does not welcome her because of her past wrong against her and her disobedience to their parents. Eventually, she ends up living on the street doing petty trading as a source of income. This goes on for a while until she is robbed and raped while sleeping under the bridge in the night. While she was being raped, there was no one to rescue her or sympathise with her. She was neglected at the time of ugly incidence because everyone fears the hoodlums. After the incident, the only person that shows her sympathy is Kate, a lady who also lives on the street. Kate then introduces her to prostitution.

Calista takes to prostitution with the intent to raise money and go back to her petty trade. But she becomes hooked and settles into the business of harlotry until she coincidentally meets her primary schoolmate, Chioma. Chioma who does not remember her face or name accepts her claim and listens to the story of her life and takes it upon herself to help her live a better life. After serious efforts by Chioma with the support of her husband, Calista becomes a changed person.

The author performs excellently in term of the use of language in the novel. The novel, ‘Broken,’ is written in a simple language, accessible to a common man on the street. The author uses the language to differentiate the characters, the one who is educated and illiterate. While the educated ones speak English fluently, the uneducated ones speak ‘pidgin' English.

However, the author does not maintain gender balance as she creates pity for one sex, female, while the other, male, is seen as the one that creates problems for the former. For instance, Calista's father is seen as a man who is not responsible for the family. Then Sunday who is supposed to be her saviour ends up compounding her problem. Consequently, Chioma is given a good role to be a saviour while her husband is only supportive. Is this the true reflection of reality?

‘Broken' is a didactic novel that everyone has to read especially the youth. It shows that life is full of challenge and patience is the tool to encounter any challenge in life. For instance, if Calista had remained patient with her parents, in the village, she might not have encountered the predicaments she suffered in life.