‘The things you worry about the most are things you can’t control’ – Samora
2024 is looking up on the reading front so far, lemme not jinx it by speaking on it too much but I’m proud of myself. Hi, hope all of you are well on this fine sunny day in mid April.
Today’s review is on Jackson Biko’s newest book ‘Let Me Call You Back’. It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from him novel-wise, though I’m sure most of you if not all of you are subscribed to the weekly blogs he sends out. If you have read his last book ‘Thursdays’ then I can plug my review here. If you haven’t, maybe don’t click on that link to avoid any spoilers.
This new book is just as succinct as his last two, pocket size, about 200 or so pages, a book one can get through pretty quickly. Let Me Call You Back focuses on Samora, a middle-aged man living the middle-class life in Nairobi with his wife and son, working as an engineer and earning pretty handsomely too. The wave of layoffs catches up with him and fast forward to today – he is sitting in his therapist’s telling the tale of how his life went upside down thanks to his cowardice but also bravery in some aspects.
The story is told through Samora’s therapy sessions. He bares his soul to his therapist and shows us how quickly his fall from grace happened. I enjoyed this book mostly because I related to it quite a bit. If you’re fortunate enough to have never lost a job, spend months, even years looking for a job, and still maintain some sense of dignity amongst your peers by pretending everything is okay… count your blessings. It’s a terrible position to be in and I can imagine it’s even worse for a man with a family to provide for. It’s a situation that humbles you but also humiliates you.
I took the hermit route, completely disappeared from public life and basically hibernated for a good year and some change. Went through the depression phase just like Samora did, went through the trying new things phase that just didn’t work out, and went through an eating disorder phase as well… it was a really bleak time in my life and I really thought I would never get out of it. So I could see myself in Samora to some extent and really sympathized with the fact that he dealt with his situation for the majority on his own, he could not confide in his wife for fear of looking like a failure, and he could not show his son weakness, it even took him quite some time to finally tell one or two friends.
Many people will say this character annoyed them for how often he lied and dug himself in an even deeper hole and amassed so much debt… But I actually felt sorry for him rather than frustrated. A lie that grows roots and becomes a massive tree of lies is exactly like a seedling that grows into a massive tree… you have to keep maintaining it, you have to nurture it, you have to support it and that is A LOT of work. Samora was doing the most by feeding his lies more and more, losing himself in the process and this in turn affected all his relationships (we thank God for Gypsy though, she’s a real one).
Being honest and transparent is incredibly hard sometimes but it also saves you from a lot of wahala as well so he could have saved himself all this drama if he had just been honest from the get when the layoffs happened. We’d probably have a happier ending for once!
In terms of writing style, choosing to write the book as therapy sessions was genius. I could envision the room, the therapist peering at Samora’s witty jokes over his thick glasses. The therapist’s sense of humour was dark, which if you know Biko’s writing style is right on the nose. Having not enjoyed his very first book Drunk for reasons you can read here, Thursdays was a good second chance and this one… well they do say the third time’s a charm so I can honestly say this is his best book yet. Not only because I can relate to it but because it kept me engaged, it was well developed, a page-turner so to speak and it didn’t leave us hanging too badly.
Ratings: 8/10
Writers Haven 