Oil On Water by Helon Habila Book Review — Gold Elijah
When an expatriate oil executive’s wife is abducted, the task of finding her captors falls in the hands of two unlike reporters, Rufus and Zaq. While Zaq is an autodidactic journalism who was once at the peak of his career, Rufus is young with slight experience and considers Zaq his icon.
What should have been a routine exchange with the Niger Delta Militants does not go as planned. The journalists encounter the militia and the militants and there is an interplay between the three parties. While Zaq and Rufus seek the militants for dialogue and negotiation, the militia seek to bring them to justice. Will Zaq and Rufus overcome the resultant difficulties of this mission into the Niger Delta interiors to achieve their aim and come back with a great story which could be Rufus’ first breakthrough in his career and perhaps the last for Zaq?
Oil on Water was a fantastic read for me because it is well written and has well-developed characters. I was captivated by Helon Habila’s vivid and straightforward description. I think he is a genius when it comes to using visual words that appeal to the senses to describe characters and scenes. For instance, he describes a character in the story thus: “He led the way, belching smoke, his fat arms horizontally suspended from his sides, his fat bottom almost popping out of his trousers, and I could hear his wheezing, phlegmy breathing…” (Page 68).
Another appeal for me was that this story gave me an insight into the travails of the Niger Delta Militants and I was able to understand the intricacies behind their struggle. A clue of this can be gotten from this excerpt in chapter nine: “These people endure the worst conditions of any oil-producing community on earth, the government knows it but doesn’t have the will to stop it, the oil companies know it, but because the government doesn’t care, they also don’t care. And you think the people are corrupt? No. They are just hungry, and tired” (Page 48).
I found Helon Habila’s ability to divert from the present to past scenes (flashback) effortlessly and seamlessly, appealing. His entire writing style is incredible.
The story is told in the first person narrative point of view, majorly in Rufus’ voice. There is the use of pidgin English but this is easy to understand through context.
I was concerned by an error in perspective which occurs in chapter three where the narrative shifts from the first person to the third person narrative point of view.
Another area of concern is the haphazard arrangement of the plot. Although Helon controlled this very well, I found it somewhat confusing.
I also feel the book is particularly weak in the area of evoking emotions which accompany tragic events like death. An example is the death of Salomon and a couple of others. However, these are minute and generally, they do not spoil the beautiful nature of the book.
I recommend Oil on Water to people of all ages. I think it will be especially helpful to those who seek a career in journalism.
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