Jude Idada’s award-winning Boom Boom is a story told in a linear structure, with setting in Lagos
The Storyline
2019 Nigerian Prize for Literature winning novel, Jude Idada’s Boom Boom, is the story of the ravages of sickle cell anaemia and ways to combat it set in a middle-class Nigerian family. It is seen through the eyes of an eight-year-old child prodigy, Osaik.
From birth, Osaik is a special child. Despite all that nurses and doctors did to make him cry at birth, he did not. However, his parents’ concern about this “abnormality” is quickly relieved by his unusual ability to smile and even laugh out loud as a baby, infecting others with his joy
Apart from smiling and laughing, as he grows, he exhibits a keen mind and curiosity beyond his age. It turns out that his curiosity goes beyond the usual childish curiosity as he shows an uncanny ability to grasp knowledge. From a very young age he can memorise, remember things and spell big words. And he begins to desire a sibling to play with.
Problem is, his mum is a sickler (she has SS genotype) and his dad is a carrier of sickle cell anaemia disease (he has AC genotype). His parents are just happy that Osaik escaped inheriting the disease, but Osaik doesn’t know this as a child. So, he asks for a sibling to play with. Unfortunately, Eghe is born, unplanned, but comes out carrying the sickle cell anaemia disease!
Her arrival adds pressure to an already pressurised family because Osaik’s mum often suffers terrible crises and is frail and doesn’t do much. But she is a warrior who fights the illness with all her might. Even in her condition, she raises her children, teaching them important things like love, caring for family and putting family first, making sacrifices, etc. Also, she inculcates good manners in them teaching them boundaries (what to do and what they are not allowed to do like not to tell lies, not to step out of the house without permission, to be cautious of what they tell people so they don’t use it against them, to work hard in school, to read and do homework, etc.).
For Osaik, Eghe is a disappointment as a playmate because of the sickle cell disease she suffers. She cannot play rough like jump and bounce on her bed, she cannot play long and she cannot play outside. So, Osaik desires another sibling. This time around, his parents bring him a dog, a little puppy named Kompa.
Kompa is an instant delight. So much so that Osaik regards him as a brother and gets offended when people refer to him as “it”! Osaik finds out that he has the rare ability of hearing Kompa and other animals and even birds speak. So, he and Kompa often converse together, and Kompa contributes to family discussions and conversations.
When Eghe is five years old, her father who is also Osaik’s father takes her to London in search of a cure for her because there are discoveries that young sicklers have a chance to be cured of the disease. Unfortunately, as they are away in London, leaving Osaik and his mum at home in Lagos, Nigeria, she suffers bouts of crises and one ends up killing her.
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The night “she fell into the forever sleep” as Osaik calls it, she teaches him lots of things and they pray together and Osaik falls asleep while praying with her and dreams that she divulges information to him regarding when she will fall into the forever sleep, that she would become a star in the sky, and if he should go outside and look up to the sky, he should watch out for the star that will wink at him, that star would be her! So, he can talk to her, she will hear because she would be watching over the whole family. This thrills Osaik who wakes up to find his mum dead, and Kompa making the kind of sound that he later discovers to be weeping. He calls his mum, drags her, shakes her to wake up, but she has gone.
It is Kompa who tells him to call his dad. Osaik uses his mum’s phone to call his dad who picks the phone and calls out cheerfully, “Baby Girl” for that’s what he calls her and she calls him “Baby Boy” which their daughter, Eghe Boom Boom, adopts as names for them both. At the sound of his dad’s voice, Osaik begins to cry and in between sobs, relays the terrible news that his mum “has gone to become a star in the sky.”
So, an eight-year-old boy sits with his mum’s corpse until his aunty and uncles arrive to take charge. An ambulance takes the corpse to the mortuary. Two days later, Osaik’s dad and sister return to Nigeria.
Despite all that is told Eghe Boom Boom, she runs to her mum’s room and starts knocking on her door and when she’s stopped, she cries that she wants to see Baby Girl.
The funeral ceremony is planned, Osaik’s and Eghe Boom Boom’s mum is buried. They are made to view her at the lying-in state, and pour sand into her grave. Then, the family return to live without an important member; their aunt (from mother’s side) stays with them for some time helping with house chores.
Unfortunately, this is just the beginning of the story as Eghe Boom Boom still has the disease and continues to fall sick from it. Mr Osagie, Osaik’s dad, takes his son to a medical facility that the sickle cell foundation built, to take samples from him to see if he can donate his bone marrow to cure his sister. But Osaik is no match for his sister.
They urgently need a match to donate bone marrow to cure Eghe Boom Boom, but all attempt seems futile until she suffers a terrifying crisis that takes the whole family to the hospital for days. When she’s discharged, Osaik decides to go outside, look up to the sky and ask his mum to help find a cure for his sister so she will stop suffering.
Kompa and Eghe Boom Boom join Osaik to ask their mum outside. When they find the star that winks at them, Eghe says she wants to do the asking. And something incredible happens. Kompa transfigures into something like a wolf. His eyes turn blue, his countenance becomes fearful and he howls like a wolf and seeks to run out of the gate.
Incidentally, it is five-year-old Eghe Boom Boom whom their mum begins to speak to telling her what Kompa wants to do – he wants to take them to a match – she has found a match for them!
The place where the match is, is in Ikoyi, a rich neighbourhood in Lagos metropolis. A little girl whose father cooks for a rich man is a perfect match for Boom Boom. Thankfully, Mr Osagie and his late wife accepted the gift their son, Osaik, has of hearing animals and trees and flowers… So, it doesn’t take any convincing for him to do as Boom Boom interprets. They take off after Kompa in their car as the dog runs from Ikeja to Ikoyi on fire in his wolfish possession and leads them to the house.
After the hitches they encounter, they are able to see the match, a little girl named Morenike or Atasuwesuwe for a nickname. That night, while the adults discuss the strange happenings of strangers badging into their house with a stranger story that their daughter is a match for bone marrow transplant, the children are told to go and play outside. There, in the rich man’s compound, the meanings of the two little girls’ nicknames are revealed. Eghe is called Boom Boom because when she was a baby, she used to fart loud boom sounds. Morenike, on the other hand, is called Atasuwesuwe because she does not like peppery foods. When she eats them, she blows air out from her mouth making noises that sound like suwe suwe.
Although Morenike’s parents agree to their daughter donating part of her bone marrow to cure Boom Boom, they ask for money to do so because they are poor. And this becomes a problem because Mr Osagie, Osaik’s and Boom Boom’s dad, doesn’t have much money left as the sickle cell anaemia disease has taken a toll on his finances as well; he travelled to London with Boom Boom to find a cure, spending money, had been spending money on his wife’s illness before Eghe was born, he returned from London to bury his wife, spending more money… In all these, he hasn’t even had time to work and make more money!
So, even as the family has found a possible match for a donor, money is an issue with the Osagies!
Again, it is the dog, Kompa who suggests how to make money – through fundraising! He would perform tricks and people will come to watch and then donate money that would be used for the expenses. Osagie doesn’t like it one bit, but what will he do? He allows his son to set up musical instrument in their neighbourhood park which he and Kompa will dance to while Boom Boom will sit under a canopy and sell cold lemonade drinks to spectators.
The plan works perfectly the first day. People gather and watch the duo of Osaik and Kompa and patronise Boom Boom and read their paper signposts bearing the inscriptions of “Please, donate and save my sister from sickle cell anaemia; she needs money to go for surgery,” and something like that.
In the middle of their performance the second day, Eghe Boom falls down with the worst crisis ever. She goes into a coma and is rushed to hospital leaving cash collected and all the fund-raising equipment.
It is at this point that the miracle happens. Morenike tells her parents that she dreamt that something was wrong with Boom Boom and she wants her to come. They go to Osaik’s home and finally are taken to the hospital by Osaik’s aunt who’s taking care of him at home while his dad and uncle watch over Boom Boom in the hospital.
Boom Boom is in a coma and cannot hear her friend who calls out to her, pleading with her to wake up that she has come as she asked her to. But she is out cold. Morenike’s mum overwhelmed with grief calls her husband, tells him the situation and they cancel their charges for their daughter’s donation of her bone marrow. She returns to the room where Boom Boom is still lying lifeless and begins to weep, at that moment, her phone begins to ring. It is her husband. She goes out to receive the call and runs back in screaming that her husband’s boss has offered to pay for Boom Boom’s transplant in London, plus all the expenses including flight tickets and visas and accommodations for Boom Boom and her father, Morenike and her mother!
At that instant, Boom Boom also wakes up and their joy is full.
Well, the story doesn’t end here. It continues to the two little girls travelling, each, with her parent. The operation is done in London. It is successful. Morenike and her mum return after two weeks. Boom Boom and her dad stay for three months until she’s completely alright. Osaik’s aunt takes care of him and Kompa at home while his dad and sister are gone.
Boom Boom returns to Nigeria with her dad as a star. She is a winner. She is totally cured of the disease, sickle cell anaemia, through a bone marrow transplant. Her story creates great awareness of the illness and attracts donations. Finally, her mum goes to heaven; the star disappears.
Setting
Boom Boom is set in Lagos. Jude Idada uses words to create different moods in the story. Such sentences like “The night my mother slept and didn’t wake up”; “I will miss you so much look”; “Mummy, please wake up. Mummy, don’t sleep, wake up. Mummy, don’t leave me alone. Mummy, wake up. Mummy, please don’t die. Mummy!” Plus, all the descriptions of having a crisis in the book and the attendant pandemonium.
Having been in a room where a mother was dying and one of her children was begging her not to go, Idada’s descriptions of what transpired in the sad scenes are very real. He uses words to create an atmosphere of sorrow.
The happy moods are also very happy. You can actually smile and laugh. I laughed at silly moods too like when Osaik puts out his head to search for her mum’s star in a moving vehicle as his dad races the car to hospital when Boom Boom is having a crisis. His dad first shouts at him to put his head back inside, and then inquires why he did that only for him to reply with the silliness of children that he wants to tell his mum to stop Eghe’s pain. There are other moments too, like when Osaik will insist in the middle of serious conversations that Kompa is his brother and not a dog, or when he gets offended that someone refers to Kompa as a dog.
Great real time moods are created skilfully with words in the story.
Structure
Idada puts in a lot of thoughts in the writing of this book. For someone who isn’t a parent yet, a lot of research and observation must have gone into it. The story is told in a linear structure. It starts with when the narrator was born which is good because he is still very much close to when he was born at age eight when he started the narration. He traces events from his birth to his uncanny appetite for acquiring knowledge, to desiring a sibling, getting one who cannot play with him because of her illness, to getting a dog who can speak – just perfect for a child prodigy who can hear flowers, trees and animals talk. Then the story moves into the subject-matter proper – his mum’s illness, her death, his sister’s illness, crises, search for a donor, trouble with money, and all prayers answered – miracles taking place!
The story flows in a natural way in a skilful structuring that makes one event dovetails into another. Idada’s story-telling skill is upscale and fast, linking event to event; leaving no dull moment. For example, on pages 157 to 159, Osaik cannot sleep. He walks out of his room, finds Eghe and Kompa sleeping soundly, moves a little further, finds his dad kneeling by his bed his hands clasped in silent prayer. He joins his dad. When he finds out what his dad is praying about, it leads to the next event in the story.
In another scene, Osaik, his sister, and his dog are going to speak to their mum outside about finding a match for Eghe, they overhear their dad’s phone conversation about financial worries and realise that it’s not only finding a match that is the problem. This moves the story forward to their mum possessing Kompa to race to Ikoyi to find the match in a rich man’s home. Match found, Kompa brings a bright idea about fundraising. Eghe suffers a crisis during the fundraising, she’s rushed to the hospital, the donor and mum come to visit, seeing Eghe’s condition and being told where it happened, Morenike’s mum speaks to her husband about cancelling their financial request, her husband’s boss (the rich man) overhears and offers to foot the whole bill! No extraneous part; every part fits in!
Meaning in Boom Boom
Incidentally, meaning in a story means what the story is all about. There is an idea the author sets out to sell to us, and this idea is that people who fall in love and indicate interest to marry, should check their genotype. This is because no matter how much you love someone; you are going to cause untold harm and hardship for your offspring. Except, perhaps, the couple is so much in love that they decide to forgo having children and choose to adopt. Adopted children are as much fun as biological children.
The message is properly conveyed.
Idada’s style is both expository and descriptive, using words to create different moods and meanings.
Characterisation
The major characters in Boom Boom all have defined personalities. Apart from Mrs Osagie, the other major characters experience major changes: Mr Osagie continually relaxes rules in the face of the needful as seen in allowing Boom Boom to go outside with Osaik and Kompa in the night to look for their mum’s star and ask her to find a match for Eghe; also when he agrees to the fundraising suggested by Kompa; agreeing to drive while Kompa leads them to Ikoyi to find the match… his fixated character of the head of the family with rules and regulations develops into an accommodating dad’s.
Osaik experiences character development as he explains on page 142. He makes more sacrifices and considers himself less. Also, Morenike is a round character. She grows from shyness and uncertainty to befriending Eghe. Eghe also changes from not caring for Kompa, befriends him. She also accepts stoically her mum’s departure.
The uncle and the aunty are flat characters – they have no character development, and have no drive or enthusiasm or passions. They are like wall paper in the story.
Morenike’s parents are stock characters. This means they have certain predictable way of behaviour, or specific stereotypes like the drunk, the miser, etc. Poverty can make good people desperate. They are good people, but poor. They ask for money to help save Boom Boom, not because they are greedy, but because they are needy. The moment they realise that the Osagies have financial problem, they let go their demand for money.
Point of View (POV)
Boom Boom is written in the first-person point of view. This means that the reader sees the events through the eyes of the narrator who is in the story. This, the author maintains, but slips in the beginning of chapter 9 where we see Boom Boom walks from her bedroom into her dad’s room while the narrator, Osaik, is sleeping and wakes up her daddy saying she has a headache, and he jumps up to get her a pain reliever. Kompa later goes to Osaik’s room to wake him up. He doesn’t want to wake up, until Kompa tells him that his sister isn’t feeling well. This is a major oversight in the narration.
To avoid this kind of error, the author should have used the dog to tell Osaik what happened while he was sleeping since he can talk and he sleeps with Boom Boom and had gone with her to her dad’s room.
What makes boom Boom so children’s book
Osaik and Eghe believing that their mother has become a star in the sky and believing she can help them and talking to their mum looking up the sky are so child-like. Osaik insisting that Kompa is his brother and getting offended when people call Kompa a dog is child-like too. Also, putting his head out of a moving car to look for his mum in the sky, to talk to her while his dad is speeding to get Eghe to hospital when she is in a crisis is typical of children.
On page 165, Morenike tells everyone that what delayed her and her mum from arriving earlier to see Eghe in the hospital is because her parents were arguing about Osaik’s dad sending them money first.
There are many instances of childish behaviours in the book that create fun and laughter.
Errors
Well, apart from the error in chapter 9, there are also some minor visible grammatical errors, although very few, such as on Page 168 – peak is used instead of peek. On page 31, we see, “You, my mum, has SS…” The sentence should read, “You, my mum, have SS..” Or, “You have SS.” – without “my mum.”
Also, I have always advised that to avoid confusion, especially to children and half-educated people, authors should stick to a particular form of English language: American or British. We see program, kids, and other mixtures of the two English forms.
Deus ex Machina
Kompa is a kind of Deus ex Machina. Although he presents a bridge between the known and the unknown, he has a hard time, bringing immediate and permanent solutions. He does not know if HLA has a smell, and if it does, what it smells like so he can sniff out a donor for Eghe. He sure brings an added excitement to the story and is able to lead the family to a donor, but I hope children will read and understand that this aspect of the story and others like a dead person becoming a star in the sky and helping the living solve problems are all fables.
I love the fact that the Osagies pray to God. He, only, should we pray to and worship.
