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Born on a Tuesday
264 pages
A tense and observant coming-of-age journey through the volatile intersection of friendship, faith, and radicalization in Nigeria.
What it feels like
This steady, character-driven novel immerses readers in the gritty and volatile atmosphere of northwestern Nigeria, balancing the quiet intimacy of male friendship with the looming dread of political and religious extremism. The narrative feels both observant and tense, capturing a young man's search for identity and belonging amidst shifting loyalties and sudden bloodshed. The prose is direct, grounding the reader in the stark realities of street gangs and radical movements while maintaining an earnest focus on the protagonist's internal moral conflicts. It is a compelling read for those who devour coming-of-age stories that grapple with heavy themes of faith, survival, and the difficult choices required to define one's own manhood in a fractured world.
- Mood
- gritty
- volatile
- contemplative
- tense
- Tone
- observant
- earnest
- tense
- reflective
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- coming of age · male friendship · religious fundamentalism · shifting loyalties · search for identity
- The writing
- Direct and observant, capturing the stark realities of political unrest and the quiet intimacy of newfound friendship.
- The arc
- Moves from the chaotic survival of street life to a contemplative search for belonging, culminating in a tense crisis of faith and loyalty.
- Who it's for
- Readers who appreciate gritty, character-driven coming-of-age stories set against a backdrop of religious and political upheaval.
Content notes
- gang violence
- religious extremism
- political violence
- bloodshed
About the book
In the far reaches of northwestern Nigeria, Dantala lives among a gang of street boys that are paid by the Small Party to cause trouble during the election. When their attempt to burn down the opposition's headquarters ends in disaster, Dantala must run for his life, leaving his best friend behind. He ends up at a mosque in a motor park where he soon becomes a favored apprentice to the mosque's Sheikh. He is assigned a roommate name Jibril, and a friendship develops as the boys trade language skills -- Dantala's Arabic for Jibril's English. But when one of the Sheikh's closest advisors begins to raise his own radical movement, Dantala finds himself faced with a terrible conflict of loyalties. As bloodshed erupts in the city around him, he must decide what kind of Muslim -- and what kind of man -- he wants to be.
Description from Open Library.
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