Born on a Tuesday

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Told through the irresistible voice of a young boy, Dantala, Born on a Tuesday is a masterful and haunting coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of extremist politics and religion in Northern Nigeria. Dantala is a naive but bright Quranic student, who falls in with a gang of street boys, surviving on a regime of petty crime and violence. After being paid to set fire to the local headquarters of an opposition party, Dantala is forced to run for his life. Still reeling from the trauma of events, he stumbles into a Salafi mosque where he quickly becomes the favoured apprentice of the Sheikh and finds stability and friendship. From his place of refuge, Dantala confronts the hurdles of adolescence, first love and the splintering of family life - as his mother becomes increasingly unstable in the wake of a family tragedy and his brothers join a rival religious sect. But as political and religious tensions mount, he is torn between loyalty to his benefactor, Sheikh Jamal, and adherence to the Sheikh's charismatic advisor, Malam Abdul-Nur.When bloodshed erupts around him, Dantala is tested to his limits. In this raw, authentic and deceptively simple novel, Elnathan John explores boyhood in the wake of extremism and fundamentalism. Born on a Tuesday delves behind the scenes of the media's portrayal of Boko Haram bringing us a powerful and intensely personal picture of life in Northern Nigeria today.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

As the novel opens, Dantala (whose name means "born on a Tuesday," the book's title, though he is also known as Ahmad) is living on the streets with a group of boys in the Nigerian village where he has been sent by his parents to study the Quran. After a night of violent unrest, Dantala returns home to find his mother mentally ill and the rest of his family either dead or scattered. He finds refuge at a mosque headed by a benevolent sheikh, but a rift grows between Sheikh Jamal's teaching and the more radicalized viewpoint of Malam Abdul-Nur, the mosque's other leader. As he grows up, Dantala must navigate the conflicting moral guidance of his mentors amid a dangerous and violent political and religious climate. This is a coming-of-age story in the tradition of -Huckleberry Finn, as Dantala's moral development is often at odds with what the authorities are telling him is "right." It also is a chilling illustration of how religion is all too often used to control those with little education or financial stability. VERDICT For those who can stomach the passages describing horrifying brutality, this is a moving first novel that invites compassion. The ending, while bleak, offers a glimmer of hope. [See Prepub Alert, 12/14/15.]-Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

This sweeping debut novel by Caine Prize-finalist John is poignant and compelling. In a rural Nigerian community called Bayan Layi, an inquisitive teen named Dantala has joined a group of homeless youths. He must flee, however, when a political election sparks a riot resulting in the death of one of his friends. Dantala goes on a harrowing journey to find his mother, Umma, in Dogon Icce. He inevitably settles in the northwestern city-state of Sokoto, at a mosque headed by Sheikh Jamal and Malam Abdul-Nur Mohammed. Over seven years, Dantala befriends Abdul-Nur's younger brother, Jibril, and falls in love with the sheikh's daughter, Aisha. External conflicts surround the protagonist as he grows into a thoughtful and conscientious man. Told through a blend of first-person narration and diary pages, John skillfully employs Dantala's probing voice to pose crucial questions and explore collisions between modernity and tradition, Arabic and English, rhetoric and action. The narrative depicts political and spiritual division: the nation's political parties are in heated opposition, and Abdul-Nur's brutal jihadist movement opposes the sheikh's peaceful view of Islam. This turmoil echoes the internal conflicts raging inside Dantala. He wrestles with his identity, sexuality, morality, and faith, while struggling to navigate violent clashes that threaten to destroy all he knows and loves. John has written a stunning, important coming-of-age story. Agent: Toby Mundy, Toby Mundy Associates. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Review

Nigerian teen Dantala's world erupts in violence, and an imam offers him shelter as well as education and the emotional and physical support needed to become a man. The terrors of contemporary warfare are real, and strong teen readers will appreciate this literary coming-of-age debut. (http://ow.ly/PN4C305MyAa)-Sarah Hill, Lake Land College, Mattoon, IL © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

In the far reaches of northwestern Nigeria, Dantala, whose name means born on Tuesday, is one of the homeless teenage boys who sleep under the kula tree, but then an altercation with the police sends him fleeing until he finds sanctuary in a nearby mosque. Dantala, who is Muslim, begins working there under the direction of the kind Sheikh, who is the imam. As he grows up, Dantala becomes Sheikh's deputy. In the meantime, his brothers have become Shiite, enemies of Sheikh's movement. To further complicate things, Sheikh and his chief assistant have gone separate ways, the assistant founding a mujahideen movement. Violence ensues and escalates until Sheikh is murdered, and Dantala's world begins to unravel. Dantala's story is a complex one that almost demands an understanding of Nigerian politics to fully understand. Yet it is surely true that if, as he muses, all Muslim people are not fighting each other then maybe other kafir people will not have the power over us. Nigerian author John's story is an absorbing and sometimes disquieting look inside the contemporary Muslim world.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2016 Booklist