A Nigerian Catcher in the Rye, Uchenna Awoke’s masterful debut breaks the silence about a hidden and dangerous contemporary caste system
Fifteen-year-old Dimkpa dreams of the day his father will be made village head. He will return to school and maybe even go on to university; his mother will no longer have to break her back foraging wild food to sell at market; they will have the money to build a fine tomb for his aunt Okike; and his family’s status as ohu ma, the lowest Igbo caste, won’t matter anymore. But when his father is passed over for a younger man, breaking tradition, Dimkpa realizes that he must make his own fate.
Journeying from his small village in rural Nigeria, to Lagos, Awka, and home again, Dimkpa learns that no money is easy money, that superstition runs deep, that knowledge is power, and that sometimes it is better to live in the present than to always be chasing a future just out of reach.
The Liquid Eye of a Moon is by turns hilarious and poignant, capturing all the messiness of adolescence, and the difficulty of making your own way in a world that seeks to oppress you.
BIO
Uchenna Awoke is a fiction writer from Nsukka, Nigeria. His short stories have appeared in Transition, Elsewhere Lit, and other places. While at MacDowell, he completed his first novel, The Liquid Eye of a Moon, a story that follows the development of the central character, Dimkpa, to explore love, loss, and human tabooing. He also wrote a short story which he tentatively titled "Small Things."
REVIEWS
Debutiful, A Noteworthy Debut of June
Brittle Paper, A Most Anticipated Title
Literary Hub, A Most Anticipated Title
“A memorable coming-of-age . . . Awoke’s prose dances on the page. It’s a truly brilliant exploration of adolescence.” -- Adam Vitcavage, Debutiful
“Deeply committed to class and the clash of tradition with modernity, The Liquid Eye of a Moon is a […] stoic coming of age story without any of Holden Caulfield’s phony fussing.” -- Literary Hub
“Uchenna Awoke’s debut novel is compulsory reading for fans of Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi and Imbolo Mbue . . . Awoke’s style is reminiscent of Chinua Achebe’s, drawing on oral storytelling traditions and embodying the Nigerian proverbial style of speech. Yet it also has notes of Homer’s Odyssey, introducing a deity whose whims and offenses lead to tragic results for the mortals who interfere. Awoke explores a part of Nigerian culture and tradition not often examined in literature by questioning an ancient and harmful caste system, and the result is a novel that is gripping and unforgettable.” -- Booklist
“Awoke’s debut novel . . . has a sturdy spine in Dimkpa, who piles up psychic and physical scars throughout his travels as he realizes that to be loyal to any one tribe is to be complicit in factionalism and violence . . . [A]dmirably ambitious.” -- Kirkus Reviews
“[A] memorable debut . . . Keenly narrated by Dimkpa, the tale is shot through with Nigerian history and insights into the ways in which political and societal oppression stymie his attempts to get ahead. This artful story of resilience is tough to shake.” --Publishers Weekly
“A masterful debut that takes us into the ancient beliefs and present complexities of Nigeria, told through the ordinary human failings of a young man you can’t help but root for.” -- Santanu Bhattacharya, author of One Small Voice
[H] Catapult / June 25, 2024
1.3" H x 8.4" L x 5.6" W (1.15 lbs) 352 pages