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A review by balancinghistorybooks
Night Dancer by Chika Unigwe
3.0
Night Dancer has rather an impressive scope, spanning fifty years of Nigerian history. The novel opens in Enugu in 2001 and follows a young woman named Mma. Unigwe’s prose makes her situation apparent from the outset. Her parents separated when she was just a baby and, despite the presence of serious boyfriend Obi, she is left quite alone after her mother Ezi’s untimely death.
Mma is resentful of her mother and the upbringing she has had. A fractured relationship between mother and daughter has existed since she was a child, and the disparities between the characters is one of the pivotal overriding themes in the novel.
Following her death, Mma uncovers a collection of Ezi’s memoirs which her mother had urged her to read on several occasions. She was reluctant to do so, as “she was afraid that the letters might reveal something that would call into question all her righteous indignation at the dead woman”. The truths which Unigwe weaves through her narrative often have a moving quality about them. By transcribing some of the memoirs in the narrative, a multi-layered story is created. The use of two differing perspectives and the second section of the novel which takes place during the late 1960s, works well, making the story stronger both in terms of its characters and its telling.
Stylistically, Unigwe’s prose is powerful. Cultural presence is strong throughout, and the Nigerian landscape becomes almost a character in itself. Words in Igbo, the national language of Nigeria, have been used, reinforcing the social importance of the world in which Mma lives. Even in the twenty-first century, the disparities between males and females are made apparent: “We women are little people” and “men will sleep with anything”. With her inclusion of the unrest which spans Nigerian history, Unigwe ensures that her novel is also historically grounded.
Night Dancer is essentially a novel of self-discovery; of evaluating and embracing life, and learning to understand those around you. The story is well executed, but the only qualm is that Mma is not always a likeable character. Despite reading Ezi’s memoirs, she is dismissive of her mother. Traces of selfishness and self-pity continually resonate from her and seem intrinsic with her character. In some ways she is complex, but conflicting traits in her personality do not make her realistic enough. Although the reader sympathises with her plight, her lack of empathy – even of humanity, at times – is hard to believe.
Mma is resentful of her mother and the upbringing she has had. A fractured relationship between mother and daughter has existed since she was a child, and the disparities between the characters is one of the pivotal overriding themes in the novel.
Following her death, Mma uncovers a collection of Ezi’s memoirs which her mother had urged her to read on several occasions. She was reluctant to do so, as “she was afraid that the letters might reveal something that would call into question all her righteous indignation at the dead woman”. The truths which Unigwe weaves through her narrative often have a moving quality about them. By transcribing some of the memoirs in the narrative, a multi-layered story is created. The use of two differing perspectives and the second section of the novel which takes place during the late 1960s, works well, making the story stronger both in terms of its characters and its telling.
Stylistically, Unigwe’s prose is powerful. Cultural presence is strong throughout, and the Nigerian landscape becomes almost a character in itself. Words in Igbo, the national language of Nigeria, have been used, reinforcing the social importance of the world in which Mma lives. Even in the twenty-first century, the disparities between males and females are made apparent: “We women are little people” and “men will sleep with anything”. With her inclusion of the unrest which spans Nigerian history, Unigwe ensures that her novel is also historically grounded.
Night Dancer is essentially a novel of self-discovery; of evaluating and embracing life, and learning to understand those around you. The story is well executed, but the only qualm is that Mma is not always a likeable character. Despite reading Ezi’s memoirs, she is dismissive of her mother. Traces of selfishness and self-pity continually resonate from her and seem intrinsic with her character. In some ways she is complex, but conflicting traits in her personality do not make her realistic enough. Although the reader sympathises with her plight, her lack of empathy – even of humanity, at times – is hard to believe.