The novel is a bildungsroman that explores the mental, social and intellectual development of the protagonist from childhood to young adulthood. It evokes nostalgic memories of childhood and growing, and it is foregrounded in the philosophical perception that the feelings of nostalgia stem from the "long ago and faraway" that are no longer present or are lost.It is a novel that I hope will cut across cultures and age in relevance and significance. Significant signposts in the reading is the relationship between Edore the protagonist and his single mother who, in spite of economic inhibitions, labour to give him and make him the best, and the joys and pain of school life. Further insight into the novel can be found in the blurbs reproduced here:
The Schooldays of Edore is a story about boyhood and growing up; one sees in it the usual pranks, dreams of a bright future and first love. However, it is not certain if the child protagonist will eventually become the bank manager his talent and dream suggest, given the landscape of disadvantage and corruption. Set in the city - today's jungle - the narrative evokes nostalgic memories of childhood at the same time that the images of juvenile pilferers, extortionists and bullies are hauntingly true to life. Emmanuel Esemedafe has in this first effort captured the joys of childhood and the foreboding which comes with the onset of adolescence.
Remi Oriaku, PhD
Department of English and Literature,
University of Ibadan
Emmanuel Esemedafe's narrative is an enchanting attempt at depicting the experience of growing up in an urban squalor. The story is a bildungsroman which vividly recreates the coming of age of its child protagonist Edore and his mother's unrelenting effort at singlehandedly raising him. The lucidity of the narrative, its simple yet delicate craft, the linguistic mannerism of some of its characters as well as the novelist's portrayal of setting, points in the direction of another debut novel of great promise, In the Castle of My Skin, by the Barbadian George Lamming. Esemedafe most commendably locates Edore's story in the charming rhythm of how life is lived in Niger Delta's Warri where the imperative of survival brings out the best in the inhabitants despite the many odds militating against them. This novel does credit to the blossoming genre of urban narratives in the corpus of Nigerian writing.
Sunny Awhefeada, PhD,
Department of English and Literary Studies,
Delta State University, Abraka.
The author successfully portrays the life of his protagonist, Edore, from infancy to adolescence. Edore's schooldays are both interesting and informative, and expose the reader to the gradual maturing process of the child's mind, and also to the ups and downs of schooling in Nigeria. The description of the school riot towards the close of the novel is particularly intriguing...
Sophia Akhuemokhan, PhD,
Department of English and Literature
University of Benin, Benin-City
