Obi

This is a good story set in Igboland during the 1940s, in a society that was divided between traditional customs and newer Christian beliefs and practice. Joe and Anna who’d been married without children return to the village from the city so Joe could uphold his father’s obi as he was the only son. They are both well-off and hard-working however they were given a hard time in the village for not having a child. Joe was advised to marry another wife but he refused as this was against his Catholic religion.

They went to see a native doctor but in the end Anna refused to take the medication part of which was a charm that was against their religion. The story had a mixed ending. Anna was finally pregnant, having received an operation in a hospital set up by the Anglican church. However they both had to leave the village because Joe’s cousin’s wife died as a result of a beating she received from Joe in anger after she called him a castrated bull.

At this time the church was about two generations old in the land and World War II was in progress. The author’s accurate portrayal of the rivalry between the Catholic Church (referred locally as Fada), and the Anglican Church (referred to as Siemensi) both among children and adults, as well as the behavior of old women and the umuada, will make some people recall their early childhood lives in eastern villages. The people are basically the same now in the villages except that the church is no longer a stranger.

March 26, 2015. Review initially written in 1993. Novel first published in 1969. Picture source: AbeBooks.com.