Author: Victor Bruce
Publisher: Oracle Books Limited, Lagos, Nigeria
Reviewer: Adjekpagbon Blessed Mudiaga
A Vase of Shrubs, Victor Bruce's first collection of short stories is
woven around the themes of prostitution, illiteracy,
frustration, greed, poverty, fear, corruption and environmental
uncleanliness in the Nigerian and African society at large. It
is an attempt at exploring the gloomy sides of human
nature that calls forth upsetting glimpses into a violent world no
further than a twist of the imagination.
It is written in a unique narrative style defying the
logicality of analogies, defying systems of thought that
tend to force men into intellectual conventionality. The author hopes
however, that it could bring a positive change if men could
microscopically examine and turn our past and present failures into
tomorrow's gains. The first story in the collection titled When
Pearls Are Gone, is a reflection of the
sufferings many orphans and widows go through after the
demise of their bread winners. Killing fellow human beings for money
rituals and its consequences are the central concern of the
story. A consanguine who is supposed to take care of his
late brother's child, ironically used the child to perform rituals for money
making. But at last, nemesis caught up with him as indicated in the
following statement by a character in the story; "Chief has been
put in jail." Lady Maggi muttered. "And likely to spend the
rest of his life there," she concluded as Iya Ibeji rolled
over into a lengthy six hour sleep.
Birth Certificate for Visa, is a very interesting story that could
make any lover of humour laugh to the
extent of cracking his or her ribs. The craze for certificate
possession by every Tom, Dick and Harry in the society nowadays is the
focal point of the story. A stack illiterate who cannot
read and write, let alone express herself in standard simple English,
had wanted to travel outside the country for greener pastures, was duped of her
hard earned money by a con man who gave her a birth
certificate as visa to travel with. Hear Bruce in one of the
following paragraphs in the story; "Although having no previous
knowledge of it, she had asked about Bolaji's mission. When
Mariam said that he had only just stopped by to say hello, she knew she was not
telling the truth... With this revelation, Mariam rushed for her box, reached
for the envelope and gave it to Mrs. Rebecca to confirm
if actually it is a visa... Mrs. Rebecca unfolded the
paper and the first underlined statement that made contact with her eyes
was, "Birth Certificate."
Another funny but very good lesson-teaching piece for those
who are always in the habit of hoarding fuel, is the story
titled Nemesis of A fuel Hoarder. It is very
saddening that after the multiple petroleum pipes explosion fire outbreaks
that has made many people lose their lives in our society, some people are
still engaging in the act of hoarding fuel and breaking
petroleum pipelines to scoop fuel. The most annoying part of it
is that when there is a fire outbreak caused by
the activities of the notorious fuel hoarders, many innocent
people are made victims of the
condemnable act. And in most cases, those involved in
the act of pipelines vandalism are drunkards and
irresponsible people who use their frustration to hurt other hard
working and law-abiding citizens living in the society, as depicted
by Kendo, the central character in the story. The incessant electric power
outage is not helping matters too, as people tend to keep fuel in their
houses to run their generator sets.
Death and The Drama of a Night is a metaphorical
representation of the hardship facing many Nigerian graduates these
days, striving without getting employed to
earn a living after all the stressful and frustrating
learning conditions and years spent in the Nigerian University system, to
earn a degree. It is also a portrayal of the
short life span of modern days people compared to the good old days
when our predecessors live up to a very ripe age before joining
their ancestors.
Other stories in the book that are thought provoking include Just A Nightmare; A Grandless
Gift; Sammy; Station View Hotel; A forgiving Woman; Heaven is not
Deceived; and Pots of Atonement. The
stories each, has one societal ill or the other they condemn, such as
robbery, prostitution, infidelity, and environmental
uncleanliness among other numerous ills in Africa. The
beauty of the stories lies in the fact that, for every evil or corrupt act
committed by any character in the stories, there
is always a punishment for it at the end of the
day. The stories are very engaging and could make any reasonable
person involved in any of the condemnable acts, to
have a change of attitude, bearing in mind that if he or
she does not desist or repent, the nemesis that befell the
perpetrators of such acts in the stories, could also one
day happen to him or her. With A Vase of Shrubs,
Victor Bruce has proven himself as not only a good poet and
musician, but also an entertaining story teller for positive change
in the society.
END
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