BOOK REVIEW: Surviving the Storms

Title: Surviving the Storms (Fiction)
Author: Timi Spiff
Publisher: The New Gong
A tale that adds to the understanding of our country today
Surviving the Storms by Timi Spiff, recently published by The New Gong, is able to bring up key issues confronting our country without interrupting a fascinating story. The writer’s craftsmanship is palpable all through the novel.
It is the story of the coming of age of an adolescent in Port Harcourt in the years following the end of the civil war. The adventures of Kuro and a few of those interacting with him over a period of about a decade blend seamlessly with signposts of the problems bedevilling Nigeria: tribalism, stifled federalism, corruption, miscarriage of justice and impunity of the security forces among others.
The spell-binding novel which gives the reader fresh insight into Nigeria portrays the exuberance of Kuro and the challenges of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas, as they strive to bequeath to their children good character and good education. Similar disturbances to those coursed by Kuro no doubt still resonate in many boarding schools and households today.
There are a good number of funny snippets in the narrative to entertain the reader: As a boy Sele often asks his mother where his father is and she usually replies that he lives in Lagos. When he finishes from the grammar school he makes some money from fishing and leaves their hometown without telling anyone. He goes to Lagos in search of his father with no address whatsoever, with the illusion that Lagos is like their town where you would likely trace who you are looking for by the time you inquire from two or three persons…
The author is well travelled around Nigeria. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication from the University of Nigeria in 1984 he worked as a journalist for several years, during which he won the Financial Reporter of the Year (1991) Award in the maiden edition of the Diamond Award for Media Excellence. He subsequently joined the leading brewery in Lagos for some years and thereafter he took a job in a federal government agency in Abuja where he spent many years before opting for early retirement.
Issued by Iniye Communications Company