Lemonas Geschichte

by Ken Saro-Wiwa

This is the life story of a downtrodden woman who ends up on Death Row for a crime for which she is not to blame. It is narrated by another, younger Nigerian woman, who herself is in search of answers about her past.

Genres: Africa, Fiction, Nigeria, African Literature, Novels

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Kenule "Ken" Beeson Saro Wiwa was a Nigerian writer, television producer, environmental activist, and winner of the Right Livelihood Award and the Goldman Environmental Prize.
Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland, Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta has been targeted for crude oil extraction since the 1950s and which has suffered extreme environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping. Initially as spokesperson, and then as President, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland by the operations of the multinational petroleum industry, especially the Royal Dutch Shell company.
He was also an outspoken critic of the Nigerian government, which he viewed as reluctant to enforce environmental regulations on the foreign petroleum companies operating in the area.
At the peak of his non-violent campaign, Saro-Wiwa was arrested, hastily tried by a special military tribunal, and hanged in 1995 by the military government of General Sani Abacha, all on charges widely viewed as entirely politically motivated and completely unfounded. His execution provoked international outrage and resulted in Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations for over three years.

Reviews

[Marina Curran · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a wonderful read. It potentially has so much metaphor and political commentary. Even the fact that her story is being told by the voice of someone who is born to more privilege than her. The way her decisions seem to be taken out of her hands and she is forced to be thrown around by circumstance rather than have an opportunity to pick her own path. The way she is cast aside by someone who she loves as if she has very little value and others see her as valuable only aesthetically.
An interesting and very well told feminine voice, he must of had many females that opened up to him in his life and the writer must have listened well to capture the female perspective so well on some of the points

[Gemma Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

It feels a bit mean to say it but this wasn't up to much. The story of a woman telling the tale of her life in jail the day before her execution for three murders manages to be oddly flat as well as melodramatic. Of the two narrators of the book, one is a girl from a small village who never finished school, the other is a wealthy privately educated university postgraduate student. The two narrative voices are indistinguishable, which has to count as a bit of a problem to the credibility of the story. And the main character's constantly harped-on physical beauty and almost total passivity is more than a little irritating. The ending is also a let down - it just kind of fizzles out. I wouldn't recommend it.

[Sarah Ensor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a small gem of a story about Lemona, a woman born into such poverty in Nigeria that her mother sends her to be a maid as soon as possible. She is too young, lonely and groomed by her employer, setting her on the road to death row in this spare story of a young person buffeted by sexism, colonialism and class brutality.

Some of the prose is a little clunky in places and beautiful in others but Saro-Wiwa’s characters’ lives are believable. He understands how the characters’ vulnerabilities are preyed upon by the rich and powerful and exactly what forces were tearing his country apart. This isn't surprising because Saro-Wiwa was part of the Movement for the Survival of the Ongoni People. They tried to stop Royal Dutch Shell destroying their land as it drilled for oil, flaring gas and trashing the environment.

General Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s dictator was paid handsomely by Shell and all the other corrupt companies as he murdered his way through the opposition. Saro-Wiwa and his eight fellow Ongoni activists were just some of those who paid with their lives.

[Sergio Garrido García · Rating 5 out of 5]

La historia de Lemona se lee muy rápido. Narrada de manera sencilla te hace reflexionar sobre lo difícil que es la vida para algunos y lo rápido que podemos pasar de estar arriba a abajo. Librazo.

[Zahida Zahoor · Rating 2 out of 5]

A frustrating book, written by someone who doesn’t really understand women. For example, Lemona gets rapped, but seems to be fine and carries on as normal. Lemona makes naive mistakes to the point she doesn’t seem like a real person. What’s more, the author uses Lemona as a kind of fetish as he puts her in a number of lesbian scenarios. The plot at times is also unrealistic and a bit of a caricature. The author tried to highlight the abuse women encounter in places like Nigeria, but it doesn’t quite work, leaving the reader to make head or tail of the pathetic caricature that is Lemona. That said, it is an easy and a quick read and if you just read Lemona's Tale for entertainment it is ok.

[Samuele Martinelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

“‘Life is like that,’ he resumed. ‘We do not know what will be the result of our actions. So, sometimes we make mistakes. But you know what our people used to say: every mistake in London is a style in Lagos.”

I really liked this book! The story was flowing quite neatly. I think there is some social commentary here and there too (e.g., the story is being told by an economically privileged person about a person that had to struggle much).

It is an unfortunate sad story. But reading it was good nonetheless.

[Kitty Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasantly surprised by this short book after seeing it recommended in a youtubers instagram story! I thought it was an insight into Nigeria I hadn't previously had, and although the narrative was sometimes lacking, I really did enjoy the tale and hadn't worked out he ending by the time I got there, which was fun!

[Marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even if i felt from the very start that the story was predictable, i loved the way every little scenes unfolded. Lemona had a sad but full destiny.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plain and matter of fact writing. Want to explore his non fiction probablt more full of life.

[Johanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

interessante und packende geschichte aus einer perspektive von einer frau welcher viel unrecht getan wurde. das ende war mir persönlich ein bisschen zu abrupt

[Maria Ripoll Cera · Rating 2 out of 5]

El encuentro con la literatura de otra cultura es siempre difícil. Cambian los ritmos, las claves de la intriga o la acción, los motivos... Hace falta tiempo o haber leído unos cuantos para empezar a disfrutar de su belleza, y que haya cierta seducción.

A mí me está costando con la literatura africana. Me he suscrito por un año a las propuestas de Ediciones Zanzibar para traer al castellano obras de esas tierras, pero no acabo de encontrar el punto. Aunque entiendo su necesidad de clamar por todo lo vivido en ellas, me resultan demasiado quejarosas (he leído 3 novelas sudafricanas en 2021).

En fin, que no creo que les dé más oportunidades en 2022.

[Dave]

Ken Saro-Wiwa seems like such an amazing figure that it was really disheartening that his novel was so bad. I mean really bad; force myself to finish bad; bad student movie bad.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please visit my blog www.maryokekereviews.blogspot.com to read my review on this book.

Thanks.

[Chantal Gennen]

Nice story ! It's a real page-turner ....