Ibarajo Road by Harry Allen
Feb. 28th, 2015 10:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Following a disastrous rich kids’ bender, Charlie and his friends are given one last chance to redeem themselves. In desperation, Charlie opts to work in a refuge for orphans, the sick and the homeless. But this is Africa – poverty and corruption run deep and the trafficking is human – and Charlie is in it right up to his neck.
It’s 1984. 17-year-old Charlie lives in Sengharia, West Africa with his parents and younger sister. At home he’s waited on by servants and his driver, Samson, takes him to and from his American school, where he hangs out with best friends Max and Wael and they all tolerate and tease Guppy, a 16-year-old Indian boy who has one leg longer than the other.
When Charlie’s parents go away for the weekend he tricks Samson into taking him and his friends to a notorious local bar where they fall prey to a brothel sting that leaves one of them seriously injured. Charlie and Guppy’s only hope to avoid expulsion is to find something worthy to volunteer their spare time to so that it reflects well on the school. They choose Ilakaye, a facility run by Joseph for the sick and the homeless where they dig out storm drains and help to build a new orphanage.
But when a new church opens across the street, the boys discover the dark side of African life where poverty and despair walks hand in hand with corruption, greed and people trafficking …
Harry Allen’s debut YA coming-of-age novel features some strong writing with Allen’s own experiences of being a teenager in Nigeria clearly informing his description of city life with vivid descriptions giving life to his fictional nation and everyday deprivation. However, the fact that the story’s set 30 years ago adds little, especially as the themes remain applicable to contemporary Africa. Equally, I didn’t see why this needed to be set in a fictional country when a ‘real’ company would have again given it more relevance and urgency. Mostly though, I was uneasy at the way that at times it seems that the African and Indian characters are there to reassure Charlie that he’s a good person with one character death in particular serving little purpose other than to help Charlie to realise what he wants to do with his life. This is a shame because there are some great scenes here and I particularly enjoyed the depiction of the corrupt Danlami and his rivalry with the idealistic Joseph, especially as Allen shows the compromises that have to be made in order to get on. Overall this is a strong debut despite the flaws and I look forward to reading what Allen produces next.
The Verdict:
Harry Allen’s debut YA coming-of-age novel features some strong writing with Allen’s own experiences of being a teenager in Nigeria clearly informing his description of city life with vivid descriptions giving life to his fictional nation and everyday deprivation. However, the fact that the story’s set 30 years ago adds little, especially as the themes remain applicable to contemporary Africa. Equally, I didn’t see why this needed to be set in a fictional country when a ‘real’ company would have again given it more relevance and urgency. Mostly though, I was uneasy at the way that at times it seems that the African and Indian characters are there to reassure Charlie that he’s a good person with one character death in particular serving little purpose other than to help Charlie to realise what he wants to do with his life. This is a shame because there are some great scenes here and I particularly enjoyed the depiction of the corrupt Danlami and his rivalry with the idealistic Joseph, especially as Allen shows the compromises that have to be made in order to get on. Overall this is a strong debut despite the flaws and I look forward to reading what Allen produces next.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.
Following a disastrous rich kids’ bender, Charlie and his friends are given one last chance to redeem themselves. In desperation, Charlie opts to work in a refuge for orphans, the sick and the homeless. But this is Africa – poverty and corruption run deep and the trafficking is human – and Charlie is in it right up to his neck.
It’s 1984. 17-year-old Charlie lives in Sengharia, West Africa with his parents and younger sister. At home he’s waited on by servants and his driver, Samson, takes him to and from his American school, where he hangs out with best friends Max and Wael and they all tolerate and tease Guppy, a 16-year-old Indian boy who has one leg longer than the other.
When Charlie’s parents go away for the weekend he tricks Samson into taking him and his friends to a notorious local bar where they fall prey to a brothel sting that leaves one of them seriously injured. Charlie and Guppy’s only hope to avoid expulsion is to find something worthy to volunteer their spare time to so that it reflects well on the school. They choose Ilakaye, a facility run by Joseph for the sick and the homeless where they dig out storm drains and help to build a new orphanage.
But when a new church opens across the street, the boys discover the dark side of African life where poverty and despair walks hand in hand with corruption, greed and people trafficking …
Harry Allen’s debut YA coming-of-age novel features some strong writing with Allen’s own experiences of being a teenager in Nigeria clearly informing his description of city life with vivid descriptions giving life to his fictional nation and everyday deprivation. However, the fact that the story’s set 30 years ago adds little, especially as the themes remain applicable to contemporary Africa. Equally, I didn’t see why this needed to be set in a fictional country when a ‘real’ company would have again given it more relevance and urgency. Mostly though, I was uneasy at the way that at times it seems that the African and Indian characters are there to reassure Charlie that he’s a good person with one character death in particular serving little purpose other than to help Charlie to realise what he wants to do with his life. This is a shame because there are some great scenes here and I particularly enjoyed the depiction of the corrupt Danlami and his rivalry with the idealistic Joseph, especially as Allen shows the compromises that have to be made in order to get on. Overall this is a strong debut despite the flaws and I look forward to reading what Allen produces next.
The Verdict:
Harry Allen’s debut YA coming-of-age novel features some strong writing with Allen’s own experiences of being a teenager in Nigeria clearly informing his description of city life with vivid descriptions giving life to his fictional nation and everyday deprivation. However, the fact that the story’s set 30 years ago adds little, especially as the themes remain applicable to contemporary Africa. Equally, I didn’t see why this needed to be set in a fictional country when a ‘real’ company would have again given it more relevance and urgency. Mostly though, I was uneasy at the way that at times it seems that the African and Indian characters are there to reassure Charlie that he’s a good person with one character death in particular serving little purpose other than to help Charlie to realise what he wants to do with his life. This is a shame because there are some great scenes here and I particularly enjoyed the depiction of the corrupt Danlami and his rivalry with the idealistic Joseph, especially as Allen shows the compromises that have to be made in order to get on. Overall this is a strong debut despite the flaws and I look forward to reading what Allen produces next.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.
