Black Applause Reviews ‘Born On A Tuesday’

….. Let it be known that Elnathan John is not a newcomer to the literary scene. Mostly based in Nigeria, he is the current weekly satirical columnist for the Sunday Trust newspaper, novelist and writer with a number of published short stories (‘Bayan Layi’ the opening chapter of Born on Tuesday was first published 2012 and was subsequently shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing 2013. He was shortlisted again in 2015) He has firm standing and recognition in his analysis of Nigeria which is evident in Born On Tuesday throughout. Not afraid to probe the bear of the corruption and failings in Nigeria, this novel is an example of a plausible defence that can be generated off of the incompetencies of its leadership. Where the poor and uneducated are largely forgotten, or pawns to political parades and elections. In Dantala’s travels from Bayan Layi to Dogon Icce at the beginning of the novel, we are presented with fragile infrastructure and a lack of aide in the wake of a disastrous flood, and again later in the novel when the community is hit with a pandemic of Cholera;