Elnathan John

"In far northwestern Nigeria, Dantala lives among a gang of street boys who sleep under a kuka tree. During the election, the boys are paid by the Small Party to cause trouble. When their attempt to burn down the opposition's local headquarters ends in disaster, Dantala must run for his life, leaving his best friend behind. He makes his way to a mosque that provides him with food, shelter, and guidance. With his quick aptitude and modest nature, Dantala becomes a favored apprentice to the mosque's sheikh. Before long, he is faced with a terrible conflict of loyalties, as one of the sheikh's closest advisors begins to raise his own radical movement"--Amazon.com.

A Novel

Born on a Tuesday

Dorian Avers

** spoiler alert **
            3.5 
 This is a hard book to rate because it's not one you particularly enjoy. It's bleak. The emotions are dulled, without embellishments so that it seems pretty realistic. I was surprised when I found out Bayan Layi was a city created by the author. We follow Dantala-whose name means "born on a Tuesday"-through around a decade of his life. Elnathan is never completely clear on how old Dantala is because Dantala doesn't know himself. But it seems like tweens or early teens to 21-ish.
 The book did a bit of a full circle, which I thought was neat. In the beginning we meet Dantala who has a best friend/mentor named Banda and they are part of a group that makes money doing some pretty sketchy things. They're like a gang and that chapter of Dantala's life ends violently. He moves on and finds another group, a religious group. They're Islam and he is welcomed because of his intelligence. I don't mean to compare a gang sort of grouping with a religious group, but I think this book shows that religion and it's ideas, along with politics, can be manipulated and weaponized. They can also do the opposite like nurture hope and freedom. He is mentored by Sheikh, who maintains both his wisdom and piety all the way to the end. However, we must have a villain and we get an alarmingly horrible one in Abdul-Nur, a recent convert to Islam. Later we meet his brother Jibril, who obviously has no desire to be there, but has been sent to live with them on the mosque grounds. He becomes Dantala's best friend and confidante. Abdul-Nur is cruel and controlling to everyone around him, and eventually breaks off to form a radical group.
 I thought the way family was portrayed in this novel was interesting. It's about respect, obedience, and tradition, only sometimes love. When Dantala traveled home to visit his mother he found out that he had twin sisters who had died in the recent floods. Umma grieved them so extremely that she stopped living. Also, when there are no jobs or teaching available, it seems common that parents send their children away for opportunities. It's not like most have cellphones either, and they don't write letters, so they go years without communication.
 I liked that Elnathan didn't shy away from writing in Arabic/Hausa (I'm sorry, I don't know enough) and didn't always give a translation. I liked that Islamic greetings were so seamlessly written in. 
 I could've done with a bit more emotion in the dialogue. Especially between Dantala and Jibril because they were best friends. This book was both raw and detached.

Quotes:
*"Just a little while and the hereafter will receive a guest...
 We place no reliance on amulets
 We place no reliance on charms" (67)

Told through the irresistible voice of a young boy, Dantala, Born on a Tuesday is a masterful and haunting coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of extremist politics and religion in Northern Nigeria. Dantala is a naive but bright Quranic student, who falls in with a gang of street boys, surviving on a regime of petty crime and violence. After being paid to set fire to the local headquarters of an opposition party, Dantala is forced to run for his life. Still reeling from the trauma of events, he stumbles into a Salafi mosque where he quickly becomes the favoured apprentice of the Sheikh and finds stability and friendship. From his place of refuge, Dantala confronts the hurdles of adolescence, first love and the splintering of family life - as his mother becomes increasingly unstable in the wake of a family tragedy and his brothers join a rival religious sect. But as political and religious tensions mount, he is torn between loyalty to his benefactor, Sheikh Jamal, and adherence to the Sheikh's charismatic advisor, Malam Abdul-Nur.When bloodshed erupts around him, Dantala is tested to his limits. In this raw, authentic and deceptively simple novel, Elnathan John explores boyhood in the wake of extremism and fundamentalism. Born on a Tuesday delves behind the scenes of the media's portrayal of Boko Haram bringing us a powerful and intensely personal picture of life in Northern Nigeria today.

Born on a Tuesday A Novel

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