Author: Timi Spiff
Publisher: The New Gong
A Gripping Narrative on Growing Up
In the beginning the protagonist who is a high school student opts for the short cut – through the cemetery – to visit a friend at sunset during a holiday and falls into an unusually very deep newly dug grave. He is unable to come out of the grave till midnight and is in severe agony throughout. So much more happens this night with regard to this grave, depicting a wide range of emotions: fear, horror, loss, empathy, hope and love.
Published in June 2020 by The New Gong, Surviving the Storms which is the first published work of fiction by Timi Spiff is a gripping story of the passage to manhood of a teenager in Port Harcourt. Kuro, the protagonist, often finds himself in a storm of sorts and inevitably has to find a way out of the storm. His mother, Mrs Nicholas, happens to intervene on a good number of occasions such as when he is facing trial with a couple of friends for assaulting a prostitute.
This well written short novel would be appreciated by keen readers of good literature. The author who has a degree in Mass Communication from the University of Nigeria won an award as a journalist. The work lucidly recreates certain vital aspects of Nigeria in the 1970’s which still resonate today.
Emerging from the war zone after the civil war, Kuro is irrepressible. Sometimes disobedient at school as well as at home, he is repeatedly stretching the patience of his parents. He is notably receiving disciplinary reprimands at school and now and again pawning his mother’s valuables.
Like most mothers, Mrs Nicholas never gives up hope of redemption for her son and is often admonishing him. With self-will, and perhaps the reassurance of his good friend Abdul, incrementally Kuro begins to reform himself.
There is never a dull moment in this narrative with plenty of anecdotes such as how Mr Nicholas’ cat loses interest in chasing after rats and how all the cows in Brass island are wiped out. The novel is pleasant to read, witty and rich in irony.