Reality and trickery: A review of Heart Trick by Joan Oji
Soon after marrying Larry (after some warnings from her bosom friend) and securing a job, presumably in a hospital in Abuja, Tessy’s fortune begins a nosedive as Larry fails to live up to expectations as the young family’s bread winner. Larry had shown promise in studying law and somehow seemed to have this notion that […]
Soon after marrying Larry (after some warnings from her bosom friend) and securing a job, presumably in a hospital in Abuja, Tessy’s fortune begins a nosedive as Larry fails to live up to expectations as the young family’s bread winner. Larry had shown promise in studying law and somehow seemed to have this notion that he is bigger than breaking his back to eke out a living, preferring instead to sit and wait for a huge manna (sort of) to fall on his laps. But he is disappointed by politics and increasingly relies on his wife for upkeep.
It is not until after two kids later that Tessy realises that apart from being lazy, Larry is really mean. Her increasing unhappiness becomes a subject of discourse among friends and colleagues. The worse however comes when Larry develops a life threatening illness. After rallying round to fight for his life, she discovers truly what kind of ingrate she has married and comes to a point where she must make a decision that would alter her life forever.
To sum it up, the novel centres on marital disenchantment as experienced by the young doctor whose road to success seemed paved with opportunities, not unlike that of many Nigerian graduates today. The novel depicts the growing disenchantment that froths from the domestic and professional fronts that young Nigerians have to go through.
For a first novel, Joan Oji displays a potential for mature narrative. However, her start-stop narration and her persistence in overstating the obvious took away the finesse from her craft. Readers will be inundated with the importance of Tessy’s choice of career and how highly doctors are regarded in the society to the point that it becomes grating.
The writer’s approach of delayed suspense, where the conflict kicks in very late in the novel, also takes away from the thrill and when the conflict does eventually kick in, after the first hundred pages or there about, it turns out to be lame. This is further compounded by the author’s temerity. When it is quite obvious that the novel is set in Nigeria – in places like Enugu, Lagos and Abuja, the author never mentions Abuja by name, preferring instead, the clumsy nomenclature “the new capital city”, or “the nation’s new capital city” and Lagos, mentioned by name only once, was preferred as “the old capital city”. It was a rather bothersome approach.
Tessy’s character is typical of the hopeful Nigerian youth with all the illusions waiting to be disillusioned. But her husband Larry, lacks depth and seems to just walk through the novel. And Linus, a fellow doctor like Tessy, who could have been developed to give the story more bite, is left like a stunted growth in a wilting field.
In all, for a first novel, the author shows promise and a potential for mature narrative. As Achebe admonished, the writer keeps her story within context of the Nigerian situation, highlighting the socio-economic issues that are prevalent even at the risk of taking the words out of her characters mouths. The publishing is okay except for the several blank pages, (which one won’t really miss due to the slow pace of the story).
Joan Oji’s first effort is passable and no doubt, teaches some wisdom that only a writer with her kind of experience will share with readers. Her next effort should be better if she would develop her characters more and allow her narrative flow. She could blossom into an experienced voice in the thriving contemporary literary arena.