Book Review for August. The Palmwine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola

After reading this book I discovered it was the first book to be written in English by a Nigerian author. From the very first page, I was enjoying the book, when I read folklore related books I think about how wise our ancestors were and how far (not far) we have come as a nation.

This book tells us the story of a young man whose interest in palm wine is baffling. This young man, whose name is not mentioned throughout the whole book, is a professional Drinkard. He is regarded as a drinkard because he drinks a lot and never gets drunk. His palm wine tapper dies while tapping his daily dose and he sets out on a quest to bring his tapster back from the land of the dead.

Through his journey, the Palmwine Drinkard encounters different hurdles and challenges that are life-threatening but somehow brings him a step closer to his goal. He gets to encounter death, a bodiless skull, the red people, the cannibals, a man who tried to frame him for murder, and this man still got a supportive wife out of it. Lol. This book was just pure vibes.

To be honest, I can understand how. this book would be a tough read for most people. The language and writing style is one that makes you think it was written for a child. However, as the fist Nigerian Book was written in English, I would give it a pass.

I believe the inspiration for this book is probably stories the author heard as a child. This is mainly because the story about the curious creature is one that I know so well. A lesson I would say I derived from this book would be; there are years a person just lives on routine, nothing interesting or captivating happens for the said individual until there comes a year or years when tremendous things begin to happen.

Lastly, if you enjoy folklores this would be a great read for you, in terms of writing style I felt the author wrote this book like a 5-year-old who has knowledge of very few words hence the constant repetition of some words.

Written by Zikora Nwana