Taduno's Song

Odafe Atogun

Book cover for Taduno's Song
Book cover for Taduno's Song

Taduno's Song

Taduno's Song

Odafe Atogun

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Description

HERE IS THE STUNNING DEBUT from a fresh Nigerian literary voice: a mesmerizing, deceptively simple, Kafkaesque narrative, resonant of the myth of Orpheus andEurydice and lightly informed by the life of Nigerian musical superstar Fela Kuti--powerful story of love, sacrifice and courage.

The day a stained brown envelope is delivered from Taduno's homeland, he knows that the time has come to return from exile. Arriving full of hope, the musician discovers that his people no longer recognize him, and no one recalls his voice. His girlfriend, Lela, has disappeared, abducted by government agents. Taduno wanders through his house in search of clues, but all traces of his old life have been erased. As he becomes aware that all that is left of himself is an emptiness, Taduno finds new purpose: to unravel the mystery of his lost life and to find his lost love. But soon he must face a difficult decision: to fight the power or save his woman, to sing for love or for his people.

About the Author

Odafe Atogun was born in Nigeria, in the town of Lokoja, where the Niger and Benue rivers meet. He studied journalism at the Times Journalism Institute in Lagos and is now a fulltime writer. He is married and lives in Abuja.

Critical Reviews

"Burning with magic and loss, exile and return, beauty and heartache . . . A colossal epic disguised as a small novel." --Marlon James, author of the Man Booker Prize-winning A Brief History of Seven Killings

"A powerful, lingering fable. . . . Atogun presents us with a dreamlike vision of Nigeria chained to its past." --Financial Times

"Entrancingly and exquisitely composed. . . . A poetic and delightful narrative about one musician and his struggle to be true to his people, his love and ultimately himself. . . . One of those stories that can only truthfully be classified as pure magic." --Counterpunch

"The power of music to stir memory and move the hardest heart permeates Taduno's Song. . . . I urge people to read this unforgettable new voice, writing in polished, gleaming prose about how it feels to be silenced." --Anita Sethi, The Observer

"Uniting a retelling of the Orpheus myth, an indictment of totalitarian inhumanity, and a Kafkaesque meditation on identity within the spare language of fable, Atogun's memorable debut novel testifies to the power of both oppression and art. . . . Atogan's allegory, at once bleak and hopeful . . . speak[s] clearly and powerfully." --Publishers Weekly (starred)

"A rich, multilayered work, exploring lessons of freedom, self-worth, forgiveness and faithfulness." --The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, IA)

"Thoughtful readers will be enthralled. . . . Atogun's simple, direct prose is the perfect vehicle for the complex questions he poses." --Library Journal

"This quiet novel is an original. It is as if the writer, Mr. Atogun, has plunged into the depth [of] the sea of Nigeria's history and returned with a leviathan, and has invited us to see--and be amused, troubled, scared, and even angry. And we can not help but look" --Chigozie Obioma, author of The Fishermen

"Atogun is not without Kafka's often humane and comic touches. Like Orwell, Atogun excels in plain language, in reducing situations to their bare essentials. Yet the author resists reducing his characters to mere political symbols. They are compelling as people in their own right. . . . [Taduno's Song] is likely to become a small classic of protest literature." --BookPage

"A must-read. . . . [Atogun's] writing is reminiscent of Coetzee's South African dystopian novels like Waiting for the Barbarians, with more than a touch of magical realism." --LitHub

"The story has universal appeal as it broadens from Kafkaesque allegory to broader satire, the writing assured and controlled." --Kirkus Reviews

Publishing Information

Publisher: Vintage
Pub date: 2018-02-20
Length: 240 pages

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