Book Review: THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EPIC MYTHS AND LEGENDS

Title: The Encyclopedia of Epic Myths and Legends

Author: Arie Kaplan

Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group—Wellfleet Press

Pages: 256

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

Myths and legends are everywhere, in our language, vocabulary and science. Our language is rife with examples. Thursday from Thor, the Norse god of thunder; January from Janus, the Roman god of time who was two-faced, with one face looking forward, the other backward. There are examples like narcissistic mirroring Narcissus who was obsessed with himself.

Unlike other books of its kind, this one doesn’t limit itself to myths of European origin, but covers those of Egypt, Nigeria, Benin, South America, Persia, Angola, Japan and India, among others.

India is represented by the Buddha, as mentioned in the Jataka Tales, and our very own Ajanta Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage site, among other references.

The pages are beautifully designed with coloured illustrations strewn throughout. Painters like Francis Bacon who painted myths are mentioned alongside Salvador Dali and Indian artist Sakti Burman who creates paintings and sculptures about classical art from Hindu mythology.

After a long introduction, we read about different Creation myths, why they exist and their significance. The author points out similarities and differences between various creation myths. The Creation myths covered here include the four versions of the Egyptian Creation myths, besides those of Benin, Greece, Nigeria and Japan. The Creation myth of the Nordic region explains the presence of the snow and frost. The section also includes the DC Comics Creation Myth and that of the Marvel universe.

The chapter on gods and deities includes gods of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Inca and Norse mythology. The chapter on heroic mythical characters include characters like Mwindo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, King Arthur and Merlin of England, Scheherazade of Persia, Heracles of Greece, Robin Hood of England, Rama and Sita of India, Ahura Mazda from ancient Persia, Mulan of China, Perseus of Greece, Kintaro of Japan and Li Chi of China.

The chapter on Tricksters, Villains and Misunderstood Miscreants includes Loki from Norse mythology, Legba from ancient Dahomey, Eshu from Yoruba mythology, Papa Legba from the Haitian/Voudou mythology, Anansi the spider from West Africa, Set, the Egyptian god of chaos, Thanatos from Greek mythology, the Minotaur from Greek mythology, Medusa from Greek mythology and Morgan le Fay from Arthurian legend.

The chapter on Monsters includes Dragons from Chinese, Norse and Scandinavian mythology, vampires and bloodsuckers, and demons such as Ravana from Hindu mythology.

Blurbs on Mythic Masters cover those who have worked to preserve stories and folklore through art, film, music and literature. Filmmaker Taika Waititi, Terry Gilliam and George Lucas, authors Zora Neale Hurston and Neil Gaiman, singer Beyonce Knowles and comic book artist Jack Kirby.

Blurbs on Legendary Lore include the Tooth Fairy, Leprechaun, Santa Claus, Stonehenge, Unicorns, the Sphinx and Mermaids.

The author provides a list of references to books and articles for those interested in reading more on this subject. The book was not Eurocentric in nature, and I appreciated that. So many cannot see beyond European mythology. The style is engaging with a touch of humour.

 

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.) 

Book Review: BELIEVERS AND HUSTLERS

Title: Believers and Hustlers
Author: Sylva Nze Ifedigbo
Publisher: Iskanchi Press
Pages: 380
My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

Ifenna Obumselu, a young journalist, is sent to cover the inauguration of ‘the biggest church in the world,’ with a seating capacity of 1,20,000 worshippers. This is Heaven’s Gate cathedral, the new global headquarters of Rivers of Joy Church in Lagos, Nigeria. The church is headed by Pastor Nicholas Adejuwon, the Daddy Founder, and his wife, Pastor Nkechi, also known as Mummy General.

When he steers away from the scripted question and asks about the death of a pastor while the church was under construction, Ifenna is fired from his job and becomes suspicious about Pastor Nick’s actions and motivations.

He decides to start an anonymous blog to expose some of the corruption he has encountered.

Will he succeed in exposing the corruption? And will his reporting make a difference? 

 

The chapters alternate between the 3^rd person past tense PoVs of Ifenna, Nick and Nkechi.

 

The narrative included a lot of words and expressions from Igbo and Yoruba. These added a lot of colour without taking away from our understanding of the story or our enjoyment of the writing. The only word I knew was wahala, which means trouble.

The similes were rooted in the culture.

Like ants to sugar. 

The television shrieked, like freshly cut onions poured into hot groundnut oil.

Eyes like the red of hibiscus.

Like puffs of pepper spray.

The forlorn look on a character’s face is described as: like the chaff of an orange after all the juice had been squeezed out of it.

 

There were a lot of minor characters who are unrelated to the main plot, but help us understand the main characters better.

 

The Believers and Hustlers of the title refers to the prey and the predator. The book highlights the quirks that dot religious circles, the rampant corruption with people fooled by pastors into buying into a gospel of prosperity, with ordinary people being asked to pay for luxuries for the pastors and church leaders, who sell high-priced tickets to heaven. The racket that the healing sessions are, how they make money off the desperation of the gullible, the hypocrisy of trading in religious symbols while lacking true faith.

But religious corruption isn’t the only problem. Traffic police run their own racket, extorting money. The journalists get paid by the businesses they cover, the editors want their cut.

 

One interesting thing I learned was that Nigerian Christians cut cakes after counting down to the spelling of the name of Jesus and that Nigeria has a tradition of renaming cars they do not manufacture.

 

I particularly liked Ifenna’s writing, visible in his pieces for the newspaper and in his blog. The stories he writes are about the degradation of the human condition. There are versions of this in every country. His blog too is well written, the words chosen carefully for the impact they could achieve, the posts charged with passion and overflowing with sarcasm.

This was my first novel by a NIgerian author and I enjoyed it. The author adopts a teasing yet indulgent tone towards his characters, and towards the culture as a whole, their foibles and eccentricities, describing the easy manner in which people pick up foreign accents. The links between present day events and the flashbacks, very tricky to get right, were handled smoothly.

The ending was believable, rooted in reality, yet I found it disturbing and disappointing. I had hoped for a resolution that would resolve the problem the book began with, but I guess it can never be resolved. As long as there are believers in this world, there will be hustlers too.

I highly recommend this one.

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)