BOOK REVIEW ESSAY: (Apr 3, 20%, about 1,500 words or 5-6 double-spaced pages).
Question Context: Buchi Emecheta presents the reader with a fascinating account of Igbo/Nigerian culture in transition under colonial rule. Nnu Ego, a hardworking and optimistic woman, was determined to save her children from the erosion of village life, and the breakdown of conventional norms and traditions, the infiltration of urban life, and the devastations of the Second World War under colonial rule. Evaluate this story in the context of culture and social change that characterized Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
1). Vincent B. Khapoya, The African Experience: An Introduction 4th edition (Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall, 2010).
2). Chima Korieh and Raphael C. Njoku, African History Reader (San Diego: University Readers,
2011/13).
3). Buchi Emecheta, The Joys of Motherhood (New York: George Braziller, 1980).

REVIEW TIPS: A balanced essay will be one that locates the realities of village life as it engages in a struggle with the cultural baggage brought by colonialism (including Western education and gender relations). Your essay should engage the struggles of individuals and families as their daily lives are reordered by the newly evolving forces of sociocultural and political order. Endeavor to bring in some comparative analysis of this single woman’s experience with other individual characters or groups we shall be discussing in class or from our readings. More importantly, your essay should try to establish how this history has continued to impact the postcolonial African societies.
A book review essay involves both a literal but short review of the book as well as a discursive analysis of a given topic.
1. Read the entire book thoroughly and try to understand the gist of the author
2. As you read through, make short notes on each chapter, focusing on the high points and major ideas.
3. As you write your essay try to relate what you have learnt from the novel/book to the broader focus of the course curriculum. The question to answer is: how does this particular novel/book help me understand the broader topic on African/world history?
4. What other books or readings have dwelled on a similar topic of discussion.
5. First paragraph: use first two opening sentences to tell your reader what the book under review is all about.
6. Second paragraph: Why is this book particularly important? Why should it attract our attention? Is it because of the topic of debate or the author’s style of presentation? Is the subject provocative?
7. Second/third paragraphs: In a book review essay, it is important that you give your reader a brief feel of the chapters. For instance, chapters 1 focused on ….; chapters 2, 3 and 4 discussed about…. You can use 2-4 sentences to summarize more than one chapter that focused on a similar theme.
8. Other paragraphs and discussion: Link your overall essay within the major topic of debate. Here, you demonstrate your expertise on the topic of discussion. Do you share the author’s opinions or not? It is important that you critique the author also. You cannot accept everything h/she said. What did h/she do right and wrong? Express your opinions/ideas. Bring in supporting evidences to justify your position.
9. Technical issue: Throughout your essay, make sure you cite ideas and quotations from the book under review. Also employ outside sources where and when necessary to buttress your points. The citation style for all references to the book under review is APA. When you cite outside sources, use footnotes.
10. Bibliography: At the end of your review, provide an alphabetical list of outside materials you consulted.
• Warning: PLEASE DO NOT BRING IN WEB SOURCES!!!!