'The Spider's Web' by Dumebi Ezar Ehigiator

15:41 - 04 January 2016

Dumebi Ezar Ehigiator

If you have been lucky enough never to have been hit or pimped by a man, Librarian Dumebi Ezar Ehiagator debut novel ‘The Spider’s Web’ is written so that you can walk in a beaten/molested woman’s shoes.

If you have been lucky enough never to have been hit or pimped by a man, Librarian Dumebi Ezar Ehiagator debut novel ‘The Spider’s Web’ is written so that you can walk in a beaten/molested woman’s shoes. No intelligent woman would ever stay with a man who hits her, right? But this book shows that love does many things to a person and intelligence is usually the first thing that goes.

This 371 paged book follows the lives of 4 strong women Nnena, Ejiro, Ochuko, Rahama, their childhood beginnings and how they grew up facing the problems, difficulties and challenges of life.

Nnenna, a girl from a very poor background endures abuse inflicted on her by her husband, a clergy man, in order to provide for her parents and to protect her children from his cruelty.

Ochuko like an average Lagos/Abuja big girl lies and pretends to be a rich girl to catch her dream man.

Rahama is 40 and single. She understands the emotional struggle of being single, an existence characterized by endless desperation, constant loneliness and deep, dark despair.

We also read about Ejiro, a teenage girl molested by her drunk father and pimped by her boyfriend to a whore house.

With these strong characters, the author did a fantastic job of incorporating the topics of domestic violence, love, marriage, and prejudice in a very circumspect and interesting manner.

Although this book is an intimate story of Nnenna and those around her, the novel is also more than that. Dumebi adds just enough of the political, societal trends and tensions into the narrative, to make us appreciate the challenges faced by young people, especially women, in modern-day Nigeria.

The Spider’s Web also has a Nollywood feel to it and that was refreshing to see in literature form.

However, the book is long-winded and the description on the first page was totally unnecessary. There are many run on sentences with no punctuation. The addition/inclusion of Doris and her mother’s story was unnecessary and it added nothing to the story.

On the other hand, the plot was sometimes predictable and wasn't always well organized, but it kept me engaged and wanting to read more, which is all I really ask of a book: ENTERTAIN ME. If they do more, that's fantastic. This one wasn't fantastic, but I still enjoyed it and wanted to find out what would happen next.

Don’t get me wrong. The book was good. Not life altering. Not wonderful. But a good read. At moments quite stereotypical, other times very absorbing.

I do highly recommend this book to anyone who has suffered from domestic violence, because maybe from a different perspective, you can see exactly how important it is to go seek help.

Or if you even know someone who is suffering from abuse, I advise you to tell them to go get help and suggest reading this book. Because maybe they, and you, can learn from this book that you can get out of the situation you're in and you can start a new and better life.

Rating: 3/5

Many thanks to the author for providing a copy of The Spider's Web in exchange for an honest review.