Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away

Starred review from March 28, 2011
In Watson's impressive debut, 12-year-old Blessing is uprooted from her suburban Lagos, Nigeria, life when her mother Timi catches their father with another woman and moves Blessing and her brother, Ezikiel, to the outskirts of the dangerous, oil-rich Niger delta. The proximity to the oil fields, which erupt often in smoke, oil, and violence, exacerbates Ezikiel's poor health, and it's not long before a stray bullet sends him to the hospital. He survives, and takes up wandering the "evil forest" bush, home of the Sibeye boys, who kidnap oil workers and eat fireflies for strength. When Timi falls for a white oil worker, the Sibeyes become interested. Ezikiel takes up with them, discarding his dreams of becoming a doctor even as Blessing begins to help deliver babies, which gives her the confidence to take a stand against the genital mutilation that midwifes traditionally perform. Watson's nuanced portrayal of daily life in Nigeria is peopled with flawed but tenacious characters who fight not only for survival but for dignity. Blessing is a wonderful narrator whose vivid impressions enliven Watson's sensual prose.

April 15, 2011

Uprooted from the comforts of Lagos by her parents' divorce, a 12-year-old girl must cope with dire poverty and violence in the Niger delta.

Watson's absorbing first novel, told through the eyes of the bright and observant Blessing, opens with a snapshot of middle-class contentment. She and her 14-year-old brother Ezikiel attend the International School for Future Leaders, live in an air-conditioned apartment and bask in the affection of their parents. But after their mother, a hotel worker, catches their father, an accountant, with another woman, they are forced to move to their grandmother's stark rural home—the hotel employs only married women. Blessing is shocked by the lack of electricity and running water, not to mention separate beds and safe food for her peanut-allergic brother. But gradually, she adjusts to the conditions, her eccentric relatives and her family's shift from Christian to Muslim practices. Trained as a midwife by her wise, centered grandmother, she gains a stronger sense of self even as her angry, alienated brother falls under the sway of a roving teenage gang. When her secretive mother becomes romantically involved with a well-off white man, who however decent works for a violently oppressive oil company, things intensify. Left to their own devices, the women bond together to stand up to corruption. Unlike her mother, Blessing ultimately rejects the dream of a Prince Charming whisking her off to a happier place by committing herself to her home, her homeland and her own family. The ending is a bit pat, and the book could use a few more sparks. That said, there's much to admire in Watson's measured, flowing prose and her avoidance of melodrama. Blessing is an appealing pre-teen protagonist.

April 15, 2011

Only a strong writer can create a lyrical novel that has the gripping quality of nonfiction, yet Watson captures this in her debut. Here she assumes the identity of 12-year-old Blessing, whose young life is marked by newness and uncertainty. The novel opens in Nigeria with the seemingly perfect life that Blessing shares with her mother, father, and older brother, Ezekiel. When Father, as he is known, suddenly casts them away for another woman, they take refuge with Blessing's maternal grandparents in a culture entirely different from the one to which they are accustomed. As the broken family copes with living sparely, Blessing comes to terms with the reality of her once "perfect" life and learns, through crooked law enforcement agents, unsympathetic teachers, and the violent Sibeye Boys, that the world is larger than she once thought and not nearly as welcoming. VERDICT Confronting issues of race, class, and religion, this work ponders idealistic ignorance in a way that is reminiscent of Chinua Achebe's No Longer at Ease. Watson's story will appeal to readers of African and literary fiction.--Ashanti White, Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2011
Through the lens of a young girls coming-of-age, this breakthrough novel views the politics of contemporary Nigeria, portraying the clash between traditional and modern as it affects one extended family. When Blessing, 12, has to leave her prosperous modern home and school in Lagos for her mothers rural family compound in the delta, she is shocked by having no water and electricity and no school to attend, but she slowly settles in and bonds with her mentor grandmother, who trains Blessing to be a midwife. The adjustment is never presented in simplistic terms. The old ways can be vicious, including Grandmas practice of female circumcision. Most moving is the breakdown of Blessings beloved gifted older brother, Ezekiel. Unable to attend school, he hates all whites and joins the violent rebels. Married to a Nigerian, 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)