Christie Watson - Tiny Sunbirds Far Away

review by Ro Bennett on show 26th May
I found this book a real page turner and an easy read despite its often grim content.
From the back of the book: Blessing is a twelve year old Nigerian girl and she is the narrator of the story. Blessing and her fourteen year old brother Ezikiel love their larger than life father, their glamorous mother and their comfortable life in Lagos, Nigeria. But all that changes when their father leaves them for another woman. Blessing’s mother is fired from her job and soon the family quit their air-conditioned apartment to go to live with their grandparents in a compound in the Niger Delta. Adapting to life with a poor countryside family is a shock beyond measure.

One reviewer wrote:
...this breakthrough novel views the politics of contemporary Nigeria, portraying the clash between traditional and modern as it affects one extended family... Watson tells her story of culture clash without heavy messages, but the issues are sure to spark intense discussion, especially about the damage done to the environment and to the people by the powerful international oil industry in league with the corrupt government.

I agree with this. I was previously unaware of the devastating extent of the damage caused by the oil companies and the anger, hostility and frustration which inevitably leads to unrest. The book was very emotive in many ways - Ezikiel has a severe allergy to nuts and is also very asthmatic. Medicine is expensive to acquire, so the reader is drawn into the anxiety of his failing health as he can’t eat meat which has to be fried in nut oil to make it safe - and they can no longer afford afford vegetable oil.

I felt exasperated with the grandfather who refused to accept that a Nigerian boy could possibly be allergic to nuts and insists that Marmite is a cure all for everything. But then the picture of this old man smearing Marmite on his face and parts of his body made me laugh. I was caught up in Blessing’s fear and anxiety when her beloved Ezekiel’s inhaler runs out and the panic when he succumbs to his longing for meat and nibbles a tiny piece, immediately going into anaphylactic shock.

Throughout the book we feel with Blessing, Ezikiel’s frustration and deep anxiety as he sees his dream of becoming a doctor fading because often there is no money for school fees. Then when there is some cash, grandfather’s new young second wife blows it all on brightly coloured skimpy lycra clothes which she squeezes her ample body into. So the pathos is broken up with humorous episodes.

Meanwhile twelve year old Blessing is taken by her grandmother to be trained as a birth assistant and witnesses the dreadful side effects of pollution as she helps deliver some deformed or still born babies. The reader is also given some pretty graphic details about the different degrees of female circumcision and the harrowing results of this wide spread practice, as grandmother teaches Blessing about what to expect and the implications of the most severe type of mutilation where one in ten girls die as a direct result and many more as well as their babies suffer horrendous experiences and irreparable damage during the birth process.

Underlying this and building up throughout the book is the growing sense of unease and menace as the children and the reader become more and more aware of the conflict and violence surrounding them and the simmering danger drawing closer to eruption in their own vicinity. There are many tense moments in the book.
It’s a very gripping read, yet despite the difficult subjects it addresses it is not heavy or morose but it is thought provoking and memorable. An excellent book.

I’ll read you a bit where the ancient Grandma, who is the first wife, is helping Celestine the new wife to freshen up on arrival at the compound.
Celestine’s undergarments were in camouflage print material, but did not camouflage Celestine’s enormous body. Grandma laughed when she saw them, quite loudly, and Celestine folded her arms on top of her massive breasts as if they were cushions.
‘You see I am very fat.’ As Celestine spoke she sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. ‘It is very desirable to be this fat.’
‘Eh!’ Grandma chuckled.
‘I did not need plenty of egusi soup. I went to the maiden-ready-for-marriage room’.
‘A fattening room? I thought it was only Efik women who practise that... Ijaw people do not use fattening rooms.’
‘Yes. My family looks after me well. All men love a round woman, not only Efik men.’
‘I am not laughing about your fat.’ Grandma scooped up bucket water in a cup. ‘It is your undergarments that I find amusing.’
She suddenly slapped Celestine’s bottom. It took many seconds to stop moving. My skin burned.
“Mosquito,’ said Grandma, smiling.
Christie Watson is a graduate of the MA Creative Writing Programme at UAE. She lives in South London with her large dual heritage multi-faith family.
Ro Bennett