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Through the Gates of Thought
By Nana Awere Damoah
Athena Press UK, 2010. Pg134
Review by Sylva Nze Ifedigbo
Non fiction books, especially those intended to
motivate are often over rated, sometimes drab
and filled with too good to be true tales and
experiences an ordinary reader might not relate
with. But when such a book comes garnished with
true stories, live experiences, memoirs,
history, poems and dozens of quotations, it
becomes an entirely different experience. It is
this special experience that Nana Awere Damoah
offers readers in Through the Gate of Thought,
the second in the authors ‘Empower’ series which
he began writing in 2004 as an effort to record
his life experiences and lessons learnt for the
unborn generation.
Presented in chapters which are aptly titled
‘Gates’, the author brings the reader into his
thought on various issues and by implication
strikes up a thought process in the reader
culminating in an Action Exercise which seeks to
task the reader to reexamine his or her current
disposition to the particular issue the ‘Gate’
opened up.
Like a plate of balanced diet, the reflections
cover a wide range of issues ranging from proper
parenting to treatment of strangers, issues of
nationality and of Africa’s integration. The
topics are randomly selected, each bearing
imprints of the authors life experiences, that
of those he knows and others from existing
literature. Two of the ‘Gates’ are however
entries by friends of the author which much like
those written by the author bear on a principal
human condition or life experience which should
provoke some thought in the mind of the reader.
The language is simple. Its simplicity makes the
heavy message in every chapter easy to swallow
and understand. The story telling prowess of the
author comes to bear beautifully on each page,
but it is the way he effortlessly combines many
otherwise opposing genres in one bit that is
even more admirable. The author weaves his
thoughts exceptionally well, employing an array
of images and illustrations to provide the
reader with seamless understanding. For every
issues trashed, there are a set of carefully
selected and well researched quotations which
like a glass of water after a meal, aids the
digestion of the message.
On many occasions, the author drew analogies
from his life as a post graduate student in the
UK and of his early life in Ghana. He shares
with us memoirs of both his successes and his
goofs. One very interesting story stood out from
the pack. The author had led the protest against
the new school policy which provided that six
formers who hitherto wore trousers (an
experience the author had looked forward to)
were now to wear shorts. Enraged, he had written
a letter to the Head Master, a letter that
nearly got him expelled but which ironically
gave him a story to tell, one which he
excellently chronicled to win the first prize in
the Step Magazine National story writing
competition years after.
The many bible quotations and overt references
to the author strong Christian upbringing take
more than it gives to the book. Perhaps the
author should have paid a little more attention
on his non Christian readers who might find it a
bit uncomfortable. These references make the
book seem like something that should be found
only in Christian Bookshops when in truth it is
a beautiful all encompassing work of literature.
And perhaps to show how generous he is with
knowledge, the author shares with reader’s,
reviews of Excursion in my mind, the first in
the ‘Empower’ series. The reviews provides a
snippets into what he had earlier served and
convinces the readers to go in search of it, for
both books in the series provides a full dose
that is sure to empower the open mind.
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| Sylva Nze Ifedigbo an
award winning fiction writer and
essayist is features and Review Editor
for Sentinel Nigeria Magazine. |
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