Book Review: Tales From Different Tails

Book: Tales from Different Tails

Author: Nana Awere Damoah

Pages: 145

Publishers: Multipixel

Reviewer: Caroline Boateng

A BALANCED diet of witticism, proverbs and narrations, all interwoven into a tight

delightful story.

This is what Tales from Different Tails by Nana Awere Damoah affords the reader.

This fresh addition to Ghanaian literary works is classic in that Nana Damoah

manages to hold his readers’ attention by engagingly re-telling the story of our

daily experiences.

The experiences of being cheated by a bosom ‘Kweku Ananse’ (a crafty man), the

experiences of the first taste of independence and love in second cycle

institutions, the first real state of confusion at heart that comes with the

experience of love, relieved by Akua, one of the characters.

Tales from Different Tails also satisfies the human urge for revenge. The reader

will experience the satisfaction with the downfall of Kweku Ananse, who won the

heart of his friend’s beautiful fiancée by craft, but then had to lose her when his

machinations were exposed.

However, the subtle theme of restoration, when all seems lost and an individual has

even given up, is interwoven in a story of pain of Randy, a.k.a. Zagidibogidi,

hardened by circumstances of life and subsequently softened the restoration of the

Saviour, Jesus.

The different tails tell the stories of the teeming youth in the streets of cities,

lives like in difficulty, destitution and despair of the future, with Kojo Nkrabeah

representing all those who, due to circumstances, find themselves living on the

streets of Accra and in slums.

Nana Awere Damoah’s style as a writer is easy. He envelopes the reader with his

proverbs and finishes up his art with memorable witticism that leaves the reader

deep in thought of the wisdom of it all.

For instance, most readers, particularly women, would agree and smile when they read

his words, “A man thinks he chases a woman, to win her; but a careful observer of

the oldest game in life knows that a man chases a woman until she catches him.”

Nana Awere Damoah treats social ills in a fast-paced, dramatic, almost hilarious,

but poignant manner.

Flirtatious married women and betrayed wounded husbands who become enraged beasts,

excursions through the city on local commercial vehicles (“trotros”) and the

attendant “wahala” (troubles) such as breakdowns and discomfort from “big Markola

mummies” and mates who are experts in what the author terms “Kweku Ananse

mathematics,” or “substitution by shifting around,” that is, ripping off passengers

by charging exorbitant fares, or confusing them with change on their fares, are some

of the different tales that will engage readers.

In all the different tails, the tales of life’s principles are told.

Tales that assure readers that life has a way of working out its own complexities in

the end, that evil does not pay, that love conquers all and that even when one has

compromised his or her life with evil, there is restoration.

Nana Awere Damoah’s book is a good read and recommended for all readers.

It is a handy pocket book to be pulled out easily and enjoyed everywhere as one

waits for an appointment. It is for the youth, grown-ups, the light-hearted and

those wanting some relaxation from an intense day.

It is available in all leading bookshops in the country or can be obtained by

contacting the author at ndamoah@yahoo.co.uk

Source: The Mirror (http://www.graphic.com.gh/mirror/index.php), Saturday June 16 2012