Tomorrow Died Yesterday Book Review — By Prospero Ifeanyi

Four boys born and raised in an oil producing town are affected by the attendant politics surrounding their place of birth, and their lives are shaped by the events thereof. The book tells an engrossing story of political struggle, activism, militancy, prison life, court proceedings and even romance!

It is a fine read even though the author’s story telling left more to be desired in certain areas as regards writing style, device and nuance. The language was too simple, not sophisticated and certain audience may have wished for the employment of a deeper figurative or even visceral writing.

There were shades of the author’s brilliance in portions of the book. He also displayed an impressive sense of humour and cheekiness, most especially with the comical Tubo and the lively Kaniye. Romance was obviously a subplot, so it is understandable that it so tuned down that I reasoned it was just thrown in to sweeten the mix and make for a complete course meal of some sorts.

The main themes of politics, activism, militancy were given the appropriate amount of attention, the characters were developed, the story was told in “time jumps a back and forth manner”. This suspends the reader and swings him into some kind of imaginary pendulum.

I found Tubo interesting and even developed a near admiration for his character. Coming from nothingness, he leveraged the guidance of Catechist Akassa and the financial assistance of Sir James to make out a comfortable life for himself. I think he should not be judged for refusing to give up these comforts for heroic causes such as advocacy for a cleaner, prosperous Amaisi or standing up for a friend falsely accused for murder. He managed to helped Amaibi in court in his own way, Tubo deserves to keep what he got.

Doye is testimony of how events are capable of making a man. The death of his brother scuttled his one chance of studying abroad and his father’s demise sealed his ill-fated destiny. His choice of method for the struggle is ill advised but nonetheless unsurprising, given he always had a penchant for violence. The manner in which he died was clichéd and Nollywood-esque, not every Samson should die on Delilah’s laps.

Kaniye is simply a humorous Mr. Goody two-shoes: my admiration for his character wore off with each turning of a page. Guess it is just the cross that protagonists bear, I just expected more humanness from him, more mistakes, some shortcomings. A bastard who took care of a sick mom, had impressive business acumen as a teen, became a lawyer, got lucky with money, a professional cook and a natural Casanova all rolled into one. Man’s got everything on lockdown, even became superman by saving Amaibi from rotting in jail and married the love of his life. His rosy, smooth life is entirely boring, I almost eye-rolled myself to death with everything Kaniye.

Amaibi is another boring character, more boring than Kaniye. He suffers messiah-martyr complex, a check on almost all activists’ boxes. We thank God for people like him, but we may not want to be close friends or share blood ties with him because of the extra baggage activism brings.

I must state that I love Chiemeka Garricks’ book but I do not like that Doye died or why there was a need for a Deola, apart from to give more highlight to Kaniye’s supremacy and outlandishly beautiful luck. Any doctor could have tended to Amaibi’s wounds in prison.

Lessons learnt? Hustle, make money, stay out of trouble; be a Tubo.

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