Walking With Shadows

by Jude Dibia

Ebele Njoko had survived a forlorn and poignant childhood, concealing a secret he could not explain and craving the love and approval of his parents. Years later he reinvents himself and is now known and respected as Adrian Njoko, father, husband, brother and mentor.

One phone call and his life as he knows it is changed forever.

In coming to terms with his dark secret Adrian is forced to choose between keeping his family or accepting a life of possible loneliness and rejection.

Genres: Nigeria, Queer, LGBT, Fiction, Africa, Post Colonial, Queer Lit

216 pages, Paperback

First published February 16, 2006

About the author

Jude Dibia (born 5 January 1975 in Lagos, Nigeria)is a Nigerian novelist.

Dibia studied at the University of Ibadan, and earned a B.A in Modern European Languages (German). He is the author of three well received novels: Walking with Shadows (BlackSands Books, 2005), Unbridled (2007), and Blackbird (2011). His novels have been described as daring and controversial by readers and critics in and out of Africa. Walking with Shadows is said to be the first Nigerian novel that has a gay man as its central character and that treats his experience with great insight, inviting a positive response to his situation. Unbridled, too, stirred some controversy on its publication; it is a story that tackles the emancipation of its female protagonist, who had suffered from incest and various abuse from men. Unbridled went on to win the 2007 Ken Saro-Wiwa Prize for Prose (sponsored by NDDC/ANA) and was a finalist in the 2007 Nigeria Prize for Literature (sponsored by NLNG).

Dibia’s short stories have appeared on various online literary sites, including AfricanWriter.com and Halftribe.com. One of his short stories is included in the anthology One World: A global anthology of short stories, alongside stories by such critically acclaimed writers as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Jhumpa Lahiri.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[duck reads · Rating 1 out of 5]

I first encountered Jude Dibia's writing in the One World anthology, when I was devouring the complete works of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie last year. I enjoyed his contribution to the anthology, and was intrigued by his about-the-author note, so I decided to look up his other work. I found he had two novels, but the one I wanted to read, Walking With Shadows, was not readily available through any source I could find until quite recently, when it appeared on a self-publishing site. I was perhaps overly excited due to my initial troubles finding the book...I suppose I set myself up for disappointment. Grammatical and typographical errors abound and moreover though the story is one that is very interesting to me, the characters and their thoughts, words, and actions are unsubtle and unlifelike, and everything is "told", rather than "shown".

[Obinna Tony-Francis · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.7/5

This was really a good read, given that it was published in 2005, and was probably written about a year or two earlier before publication. This was in an era when every Nigerian author and reader wrote and read straight fiction, and queer literature wasn’t palatable. Jude Dibia rather wrote a book that positively promoted queerness.

I started reading this novel because I’m working on a piece about class, society, and how other issues shape an individual's queer experience, and I chose this book without prior knowledge of what it was about, aside from a light summary: a gay man who married a woman and was outed. I was really surprised by how this was well explored. As a collective, how we as gay men live everyday to impress both at home, work, and everywhere to be accepted.

In terms of language, it’s not strong, and in the current decade's Nigerian queer literature standards, it might lag in terms of theme, but for a 2005 work, this is revolutionary. A good characterization though I felt should have been fleshed out more.

A fantastic read.

[Andrew H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Radical in African terms. Not groundbreaking in European terms.

[sasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was fun to read, although the style was a bit lumpy. it was super interesting tho because i felt this queer connection over everything, that was nice
the cover made it awkward to read at the airport tho lol

[Bomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't download the book, please help. How do I go about that on the Goodreads site

[Hanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a Swedish translation of this book, so I guess I missed the grammatical/typographical errors people mention here. I thought it was a good story, maybe a bit predictable towards the end, but certainly empowering especially in a setting where queerness is supposed to be a private matter. I’d recommend this book to people interested in reading more LGBTQ literature from outside of the US and Europe.

[Ibrahim Al · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was fun to read, although the style was a bit lumpy. it was super interesting tho because i felt this queer connection over everything, that was nice
the cover made it awkward to read at the airport tho lol

[Tobi Are · Rating 1 out of 5]

- Grammatical errors.
- The story felt forced—like it was being stated.
- What happened to Rotimi?

[Sodipe Ifeoluwa]

Walking with Shadows by Jude Dibia