The Passport Of Mallam Illia

Vivid description, the setting takes your imagination back to what Life looked like over a hundred years ago .The  novel makes you perciev the aroma and smell of the markets and towns of the 19th century, dream of the action you missed seeing and wished you were part of the story.
The plot and the details were not rushed but the narration keeps you in suspense , page by page.
You just can’t wait to continue even when nature calls , all your interest is just to continue with your reading as any distraction is irritating and make you wish you are on an unihabited island with a bottle of chilled wine to accompany your reading.. That is how a good novel affects a reader , and that is the style of Cyprian Ekwensi.
All his novels have powerful punches and are difficult to drop on the settee once the reading starts and when he weaves his plot, the story line cannot be faulted.
The novel THE PASSPORT OF MALLAM ILLIA is a story of love, bravery,hate , death and revenge. It tells the story of Mallam Illia’s quest to avenge the death of his wife Zara.
“One of those evenings when Mallam Illia was discussing politics with his friends a company of Arab traders crowned in dusk masks came to them and challenged anyone of them to the game of Shanchi in exchange for a beautiful girl.It is not a game for the faint hearted but those ready to risk their lives for marriage.
Saw now that, I now have my chance. Drawing my knife I thrust it at his bare neck. But I merely disabled him, and therein lay my mistake; a mistake which I regretted my life.
Indeed, Mallam Illia’s  fallen contender was his nemesis and tomentor , Mallam Usuman.
The major theme of the novel is that when a person is tunnel visioned and the motive in life and the subject matter remains only blind hatred then the person is bound to lose the greater outlook in Life.
Mallam Illia wasted his youth and his most productive years as a man on a foolish venture which will make him lose touch with his family and will eventually kill him.

By: Tonye Ikiroma-Owiye