Tail of the Blue Bird (pages 1-35)

Prompts:

• The mystery
• Character examination
• What Parkes (author--full name: Nii Ayikwei Parkes) as a writer seems to care about.

For starters, I have always been a big fan of the mystery genre. Whether mystery is manifested in the form of literature, cinema or even as a board game, I have always found it very interesting and most of the time suspenseful. The feeling brought upon by suspense is one of the body's most cunning senses.

This opening passage commences with our narrator, Yaw Poku. It is evident to me that Parkes has a background in more creative writing/poetry, just by reading the distorted syntax and language in the opening section of the book. A clash between tradition African and Western/Anglicized thought is definitely a reoccurring theme in both of the books we have read thus far.

The book begins by offering two different viewpoints starting with Yaw Poku's and Kayo's, soon after.

Kayo, a young forensic pathologist brings for good contrast to the old and traditional Yaw Poku.
Together, these two narrators should provide interesting viewpoints for the mystery that is about to unfold. Thus far, there has been an interesting use of the English language and the native language of Yaw Poku. I am excited to know if there is any significance in doing so.

In terms of the class, I think this book has sped the pace us up a bit. Nervous Conditions, given the various complexities and issues, hampered us from flying through the book, but this book is a bit more plot-oriented and straight forward somewhat like Things Fall Apart.