To close out the year, why not do so with a review of a book that is about all of the many wondrous ways that love can exist.
Our last review of the year is the first story in Bolu Babalola’s book, Love In Colour.
Enjoy the review of the story Osun
Praise for the book
Our book for the month of December is this beauty.
Love in Colour is a compilation of thirteen beautiful tales told from around the world.
When I first heard about the book in a reading community on a social media platform, I was like ‘oh wow’ this book sounds good.
How Bolu Babalola was able to write about these characters in a way that is so filling, so romantic and intricate - it is so beautiful, and it makes you want to believe that surely, love conquers all.
Bolu Babalola is a British-Nigerian writer, and although born within this age, she writes as if she were present in the happenings of the stories in this book, every story tells of love in an artful and refreshing way. Although there’s the ups and downs of love; sacrificing and not getting what you have always desired, but there’s the assurance that if all is lost there will always be love. As love is what holds us together and keeps us strong.
Osun – love in water
The first story is about Osun and her controlling lover, Sango – who are both well-known Yoruba deities.
I decided to write a review on ‘Osun’ not because it was the first piece but because I simply loved it and because it was a very short piece. Much shorter than the previous My Sister The Serial Killer.
When I looked up Osun on the net, I found out that Osun is the river Orisha or goddess (no wonder water was her ‘sanctuary’ in the book). She is typically associated with water, purity, fertility, love and sensuality. She also possesses human attributes such as vanity, jealousy and spite (no wonder she holds spite for her ex-lover, Sango and loathing for the woman he cheated on her with).
Elements in this story are vanity, jealousy and narcissism (well Sango is portrayed as a narcissist...).
Sango her lover, is also an Orisha, god of thunder and lightning. He is known for his signature double axe (Ose). He is egoistic and self-absorbed, he revels in Osun’s charm and elegance and Osun in turn wields that power to her advantage and basks in the attention it grants her.
The dynamic of their relationship is illustrated in this paragraph from the story – where Sango has narcissistic tendencies, and a temper, while Osun is the one who is able to use the charm she has, and his affection for her to somewhat keep him in check.
‘It was a well-known fact … that Osun was the only one who could calm him when he thundered over some perceived disrespect or someone dared to question his innate authority..’
Despite this, they shared a rocky relationship because Sango was fond of having other women besides Osun, something Osun was able to gloss over with her belief that;
‘All of Sango’s girls didn’t matter, because Osun knew she was all of them put together, and more. They were just iterations of her, splintered into lesser forms..’
If Osun was the one to temper Sango, then her elder sister – Yemoja, was the confidant who Osun was able to look towards and find a form of guidance.
Yemoja is a Yoruba deity known as the giver of life and metaphysical mother of all Orishas in the Yoruba pantheon. In this story, she is Osun’s sister, the braver and more valiant of the two sisters. Even as Osun finds Yemoja to be a confidant, she also considers her elder sister to be intimidating – Osun is awed by how Yemoja is able to be a calm yet powerful force, compared to Osun’s more exuberant self.
The water deepens
The book is set in a time of celebration, specifically, the Ifa academy’s (Where Osun and Sango are students) celebration of the Ojude Oba festival where
‘They celebrated the gods and goddesses who comprised their alumni, those who ascended to the highest of heights...’
Meanwhile in the midst of all the hullaballoo, Osun sensed that someone was stalking around the festivities with his eyes on her, and it was not the all-revered Sango.
Sango, who had his arm draped around Osun’s neck at the party, was boasting of his wins and endeavours…
‘Sango loved an audience, adored holding court, regaling them all with stories from sports tournaments, from the places he visited and sought to conquer when he ascended the academy. His people laughed on cue a chorus in a call and response tale, unable to display anything but sycophantic joy…’
By as the party continues ‘the feeling of being watched grew intense’.
Eventually, Osun finds out that her admirer was Erinle. An earth-born who was also an award winning Bow-man and farmer who now had a seat as a student in the Ifa academy...
‘His left ear glinted with a silver crescent cuffed into his lobe and it matched the flash in his eyes. It was different to the light she saw in Sango’s eyes, which was entirely indicative of himself, his whims.’
She was captivated and so was He. Apparently she asked her sister Yemoja about the admirer. She got all she needed to know about Erinle. He was nothing like Sango.
Not to spoil the story but…,
Eventually Erinle got to speak to Osun and soon, Erinle had already won her heart with his words. So soothing, so intriguing and wisdom filled.
He says to her
‘You called me here. I am earth-born – my gifts were blessed to me. But I read that sometimes this can happen when two energies find something in another that can compel them to each other.’
Erinle soon began to sing and it caught the attention of the all-powerful Sango - he was not happy. Thunderous and angry, Sango fumed but he could not do anything.
Osun had made her choice.
‘Osun got up, legs unfolding easily beneath her as the clouds above rolled.’
And to cap it all
‘Osun was used to being looked at, but, from this moment, she would become used to being seen.’
Thoughts on this piece
Well, this story is trying to tell us that being in a relationship with a narcissist, a self-absorbed person might not be too good, because you never get to love truly and wholeheartedly.
I’m honestly happy Osun got to open her heart up to love again and be loved.
This is a cue, my dear readers to read the whole book Love In Color by Bolu Babalola, and tell me your thoughts!
The end!
And of course, Happy Holidays!!
