A PARTICULAR KIND OF BLACK MAN
by Tope Folarin is a distinctive reading experience. Although it is possible to read this debut
work in a few hours, Folarin raises life issues and creates characters who will
haunt his readers for much longer. The story is told by Tunde Akinola, born in
1981 to parents who had immigrated from Nigeria due to a college scholarship
for his father. The family (including a two years younger brother, Tayo) live in Utah for several years, but, despite
optimism and effort, his father never capitalizes on the opportunity. The
reader must ponder to what extent that is due to some basic character flaw and/or
the challenging circumstance of being one of the few black men in the area. It is
all too much for Tunde’s mother who returns to Nigeria, leaving Tunde with
deep-seated feelings of abandonment. The
many vignettes presented here range from 1987 to 2004, paralleling Tunde’s time
at middle school, high school, and college; they are interspersed with
transatlantic telephones calls to his grandmother in Nigeria. The writing feels so immediate and intimate
that the reader cannot help but appreciate and relate to Tunde’s struggle for a
sense of identity and belonging. Tope Folarin, a Rhodes Scholar and winner of
the Caine Prize for African Writing, is most definitely a writer to watch.
A
PARTICULAR KIND OF BLACK MAN received a starred review from Booklist and is on Time magazine’s list of “32 Books You Need to Read this Summer.”
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