Yellow is a collection of short stories. The title is significant in itself. Yellow signifies brightness, hope, and sunshine on one hand, and cowardice, caution, deceit, and jealousy on the other hand. These significance are well represented in the book.
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This is a compilation of fourteen short stories, with engaging stories such as: Cherophobia, Like Water, and It Goes On. Apart from the title, another connector, between these stories is the struggles of man. The struggle to measure up, the struggle for attention, struggle for love, and the struggle with oneself. It paints a picture of man in a vulnerable state. It is simply exposing, through storytelling, the ups and downs of human lives.
Written by Kelechi Nathan Odoemelam, this collection shows man as being dissatisfied, discontent, displeased, and at the mercy of his expectation, his needs, and his character. Yellow dissects the many complexities of life in general; the grapple to find love, the efforts to sustain it, and the journey to self-discovery. The representations in this book are basic human experiences.
According to Haruki Murakami, in his book, Norwegian Wood, “What happens when people open their hearts?” “They get better.” Cherophobia means the fear of happiness. This story guides us through the journey towards love of William and Juliana. William finds himself in a state of too good to be true. This constantly makes him evaluate and ask himself certain questions. He wonders whether he is good enough. He finds himself on a roller coaster and feels that someone like him could not be coasting as fast and beautifully as he is. An abrupt end is in sight for him, I feel he thought to himself. It started on a high, then it deteriorates into paranoia. He fears his own success. An insecure lover, he is. Washed away by her Junliana’s beauty, he feels inadequate to sustain it. william says, I was like a man carrying a precious jewel, afraid that someone would steal it from him. He simply needed validation from Juliana.
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In the second story, Emeka struggles with how quickly his once blissful marriage had nosedived. He recalls those essential qualities that attracted him to his wife, Wunmi. He did not get the goodnight kisses from his wife, anymore. She has found another buddy, her phone. Actually, she has a distraction, and her phone was merely a means of getting through to that distraction. Dike and Wunmi lived in the same house, slept on the same bed, but were on different plains.
A fall from grace characterises the last story. A continued deep is witnessed in the life of a man. It certainly feels like a force majeure was upon him. Everything Dike touched found a way to go south. However, He embarks on journey to re-invent himself. He left the shadow with an intention to chase substance; visited his root, only to deep more. What happens next? Find out.
With diverse use of narrative styles, symbolism, and imagery, yellow practically portrays the many sides of human life. The good and bad are on one coin, it depends on the side that faces you, and how you react to it or maybe, you can’t really do anything to help yourself.
Nathan uses a simple and easy to comprehend diction to convey his message. In a very concise manner, he is able to engage the reader with a story that is dressed in love, life, and spirituality. Finally, it is worthy to note that the reader wouldn’t stop until he finishes reading.
The collection is available for free, and you can download here: bit.ly/yellowbynathan
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