AKADi Book Club with Nii Ayikwei Parkes
What do you know about the ‘Tail of the Blue Bird’? Read a summary from one of our book club members
On Saturday 7 June from 5pm UK time our book club met to review of ‘Tail of the Blue Bird’ and a conversation with author Nii Ayikwei Parkes.
We’ve updated this page to share a summary and some thoughts that one of our book club members - Kwame Ofosu - wrote ahead of this meeting.
Book overview
Some ministers' girlfriend visits Sonokrom, a village not far from Accra, while in Sonokrom she sees something that is strangely a human remain, she also sees the feather of a blue bird, due to this girl's relationship or ‘connections’ with the minister, the Ghana police get involved in the case.
Inspector Candor, a police officer who desires to rise to the upper ranks of the Police service, sees this case as a chance and does what he can to bring Kayo, a young man who returned from England to lead the Sonokrom investigation.
Kwame’s verdict
The Tail of the Blue Bird brilliantly illustrates Ghana's duality, between Sonokrom, a village, and Accra, the capital.
Accra is a modern city, with modern infrastructure, and offers the sights and sounds of a modern African city in 2004, contrast the capital with Sonokrom, a village with characters like Opanyin Poku, a septuagenarian palm wine enthusiast, professional hunter who speaks in parables. Reading it, therefore, felt like experiencing both sides of the narrative at the same time.
I loved the richly described food scenes, it made my mouth water while I read it.
The author beautifully blends Twi, Pidgin, and English, and weaves Akan tales and proverbs into the story. References to birds like abuburo the dove makes the reading experience uniquely Ghanaian. I also think a familiarity with Ghana would make this book more enjoyable for readers.
Unlike many other African mystery novels I've read, Nii Ayikwei Parkes did not provide a glossary or explain the many Ghanaian jargons used, which gives the impression that the book was written for Ghanaians.
Opanyin Poku was a remarkable character and a quote from him that stuck with me was: ‘It was my grandfather, Opoku, the one whose hands were never empty, who told me that the tale the English man calls history is mostly lies written in fine dye.’
Beautiful. It’s a fun read, I loved the richly described food scenes, it made my mouth water while I read it.
Also, the lovely musical mentions such as Stevie Wonder and Agya Koo Nimo, whom I found out is a biochemist in this book.
I have enjoyed this book very much, and I recommend it to all book lovers.
Nii Ayikwei Parkes gave me the hope that, the next generation of Ghanaian writers can get their stories across without necessarily using standard English.
Want more?
We will be sharing another review by one of our book club members - Delali - to coincide with the publication of our podcast interview with Nii Ayikwei Parkes. The review will be published on 12 July. If you follow us, you’ll get an alert on this Substack.
Check out a short MisBeee Writes interview with Nii from 2015
ORGANISER: AKADi Magazine Book Club was established in September 2024. Since then, we’ve met almost every month to primarily review books by Ghanaian authors. Our reads to date have been:
Rootless by Krystle Zara Appiah
Every Smile You Fake by Dorothy Koomson
Anansi’s Gold: The Man who Swindled the World by Yepoka Yeebo
The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born by Ayikwei Armah
In conversation with ‘Rootless’ author Krystle Zara Appiah check below:
Accra Noir edited by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe at E-Ananse Library
Our host Rhoda Korley-Owu also spoke to James Lemaire (Poetivist) of e-Ananse about the library, its vision and how it promotes the culture of reading for pleasure to the next generation.If you love reading, check out other books here.