PYTHON ISLAND

A BOOK ABOUT THE MENACE OF TERRORISM

Python Island explores the theme of terrorism as a global menace in the 20th and 21st centuries. It is the story of inordinate ambition, greed, treachery, betrayal and disrespect for human life. These vile attributes are not limited by class, age, nationality, ethnic group, religion and educational level. In the novel, the victims include students, teenage girls, technocrats, military officers, artisans, medical personnel, researchers, anthropologists and many more. The author's choice of a fictitious country (Freedom Nation) that is undergoing serious political and economic upheaval, could have been scripted in any African country or nation.

The kidnapped, a mix of different nationalities consigned to an inaccessible island; the various nefarious activities of the terrorists such as kidnapping, bunkering, smuggling and the like are not peculiar to any people or place, thus reinforcing the global dimension of the menace and the currency of the theme. The solution to such a complex and devastating phenomenon does not reside in one person, but in the collective will that emerges when differences are seen as sources of strength and not weaknesses; when challenges are confronted holistically as a group, such that you and them merge into we and us. Terrorism is confronted as a common threat and become a metaphor for all the ills that bedevil our world.
The journey motif takes somewhat ill-prepared and ill-defined persons to the island which becomes a retreat for self-discovery and growth. The two camps on the island must merge for salvation/survival and eventual victory. Ultimately, light dispels darkness, and that light resides in each of us, is fanned into brightness when we cooperate for good. There are some casualties, those who made the ultimate sacrifice. But the new order brings hope as seen in the character transformation, budding love, acceptance and growth of those ideals of integrity, trust, loyalty and above all, the willingness to sacrifice self for the good of all. It is patriotism beyond a nation for our common humanity. It is the discovery that "we are all flowers in the garden of life". And so as expressed in the slogans:
Soldiers of humanity; for freedom we fight
Apples of mankind; for liberty we stand

Anthony Abuo has given us a novel that has great potential as a primary text with critical appeal to intertextual analysis, feminism/gender criticism, eco-criticism, sociological criticism, new historicism, deconstructionist criticism and critical discourse analysis, among others. The language is English but not that studded with indigenous proverbs. It is a novel in which drones, supersonic aircraft, planes, classical mythology, Nobel-prize worthy discoveries relate with primitive style hunts, Tarzan -like and Robinson Crusoe-like escapades. It is a novel that gives flashes of anthropology, history and myth all woven together; it is the triumph of good over evil, superior scientific logic over superstition, stereotyping and baseless claims. It is a novel that pitches totalitarianism against inclusive democracy. It is a novel in which America, Britain, China, the European Union, the African Union, and United Nations are shadowing orchestrators of war and of aid; of injustice and justice. Above all, it is a novel that celebrates the human essence. Each must read it and I believe come away with something different. Many more, surely, must come from the creative urn of Anthony E. Abuo.

Professor Eno Grace Nta,
Department of English and Literary Studies,
University of Calabar,
Cross Rivers State,
Nigeria
c