The novel, Don’t Join is the first short story book published and written
by Azubike A. Ahubelem. It is about a young intelligent man named Uche and his
experience as a University student living in Nigeria, and how peer pressure can
stands out as a choice rather than a forceful influence. The novel starts off as
intriguing and therefor luring the reader into the story. While reading the book, I found myself on the
edge of my seat, eager to know what would be revealed in the next chapter. The
style of the book is narrative and not only does it educate us into the life of
Uche, but also it causes the reader to take a step back and reflect about the
world today on how some students live their lives in Universities be it in
Africa or Overseas. If you are into romance and action thriller, THIS IS THE
BOOK FOR YOU.
My favourite character from the book is Uju, a young beautiful girl with
beautiful eyes and in every way perfectly capable to seducing any man she
wanted. I love her because even though she is beautiful, she is humble, caring
and loving. Throughout the story, I got to see how falling in love can change
ones perspective forcing them to compromise, break boundaries and go against
their natural instincts and in this case Uju was a perfect example. In between
chapters we not only get to see her changing, but also we get to see her grow,
becoming tough and showing characteristics of a lady capable of taking chances
for her man in spite of difficult circumstances.
Uju and Uche’s relationship was just inspiring regardless of what had
happened with Joe and the gang. It was just beautiful in every way and revealed
the different margins of how males and females act when in a relationship, and
plus they seemed perfect for each other, but then again what is perfection?
However, there was another female that I found difficult to resist and
she is named Suzy. She is described as more beautiful, tougher, and more
courageous than Uju. In my own words I would personally say she comes across as
a trained snake that is loyal to its master and can strike at anytime when
threatened. Suzy created tension in the story line and challenged Uche in the
commitment in his relationships. The end result from these indirect challenges
I must add, was pretty much surprising and hence made me wonder how many guys
would actually go ahead with Uche’s decision. Such scenes were written very
well in relation to tension, mystery and sadness. As the reader I felt
captivated by such scenes, keeping in mind that the book is also funny, when
looking at how naïve some of Uche’s friends were in certain situations. A good
example is a character named “12 Seconds”. He seemed to be bit too brutish and comical. The
stories he enjoyed telling sounded like something straight out of a SIN CITY
comic book. Although he was fun to read about I couldn’t help thinking he was
just a mere display of testosterone and machismo.
The writer also made it very difficult for the reader not to care about
the main character. I found myself understanding his feelings and experiences.
Such situations kept me tossing and turning on each chapter. In addition, the
setting of the story in terms of chapter arrangement follows itself pretty
well. Each chapter has a subtitle and a quote either from a famous writer or
well-known artist hence causing the reader to pounder on some thoughts about it
and what the content of the chapter may entail. A good example would be chapter
six, “Show
me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.” This chapter itself shows us
the calamity, mishap and distress that a gang member may undergo. Additionally,
we get learn that as a gang member, one has to be strategic in all situations
and at all times to avoid getting either killed or injured. Also for some
reason, as the reader I found myself siding up with the Uche’s gang (who called
themselves The Warriors) despite their stubbornness.
Like most of us, The Warriors believed in
something, a place called Vahalla which gave them hope to overcome the struggles
and challenges that they found themselves faced within different battles. We
also learn that in order for one to become a hero, in their case did not only
require bravery it also required knowing your clan and how to identify yourself
from another gang. A secret handshake is another example of such and lack of
knowledge of these resulted in serious consequences.
In conclusion, I would rate the book a 5/5. I love the cover page, it is simple and
clean. The title “Don’t Join” relates very well with the story line and as
previously mentioned, the chapters are well aligned in order of the events. The
book is not difficult to understand when read by a foreigner in comparison to
other Nigerian books where one would find it difficult to relate and comprehend
to the pidgin English, however in this story the writer gives a brief
explanation of the meanings when spotted. The characters and story line did
seem all real to me as I found it very easy to relate to each character thus
making it difficult for me to spot the bad spots in the book.
- Ksesinyi
