Behold These Beautiful Things — A Review of Umar Turaki’s ‘Such a Beautiful Thing to Behold’
By: Isah Aliyu Chiroma
“After the massacre, the people had become even more determined. They tried back roads and mountain passes; they tried the expanse of wilderness that stretched on and on to the setting sun”. — Umar Turaki
Umar Turaki’s debut book, Such a Beautiful Thing to Behold, is set in the small Nigerian village of Pilam and follows a group of young people as they navigate a world plagued by a malady known only as "the Grey." Scene after scene, the environment is presented in such a rhythm that we are awestruck. The world has cruelly abandoned the tiny community of Pilam because it is being overrun by a terrible disease known as the Grey.
The disease decimates Pilam’s inhabitants, robbing them of all their vigor and denting their eye color. Only children are protected. However, there are whispers of a cure beyond the military barricades and walls, which are the manifestation of a country’s terror. To save his siblings before it’s too late, Dunka, the eldest son of a family suffering from the Grey, undertakes the difficult job of leaving Pilam.
But his sisters and brother have their own ideas. Each of them struggles to make sense of the bleak conditions while navigating the chaos of violence, hunger, and death. They also form new friendships with other young survivors who were left on their own. They decide on their dangerous paths as a now unusual family of six, first apart and then together, coming to terms with the choices they make and the ghosts they are unable to leave behind.
“Such a Beautiful Thing to Behold by Umar Turaki is a touching, captivating book that travels familiar ground while also feeling new because it pays attention to little things.”
Many of the villagers attempt to flee when they learn that their village is the only location where the pandemic is occurring, but they are met by a wall of government soldiers. Those who defy the commanding officer’s orders to turn around are killed. To keep them contained, borders are strengthened. However, Dunka, Panmun, and Panshak, three siblings, manage to escape death’s prison. Rit, the youngest sister, refuses to leave, though. The virus slew their parents, and now their futures are in jeopardy. They think that by running, they can be saved.
It would be simple to think that people don’t want to read literature about pandemics and the end of the world. Even at the height of the pandemic, stories about terrible things happening to many people were common. Such a Beautiful Thing to Behold by Umar Turaki is a touching, captivating book that travels familiar ground while also feeling new because it pays attention to little things.
In many ways, Such a Beautiful Thing to Behold is a post-pandemic novel that prepares the younger generation with a picture of what the world went through, during the moment of uneasiness. But it’s also a story about learning to live alone, persevering when everyone else has given up, and surviving in the chaos of unrelenting death, extreme violence, unending hunger, and being surrounded by people who, as a result of all of those situations, start acting more like vicious animals than like normal people.
The novel explores both the best and worst aspects of human nature, examining topics such as what it means to love when everything is lost, the fortitude needed to make decisions and carry them out when it would be easier to stay put and die, and the way memories can both haunt and sustain us.
“The novel explores both the best and worst aspects of human nature…”
It strikes a balance between obscenely depressing circumstances and the peculiar beauty that lurks in particular places and special occasions. In nearly every chapter, Turaki addresses issues such as hunger, suffering, loss, grief, abuse, and suicide, but he shifts the emphasis by revealing beautiful, fleeting moments of joy that mean more—at least temporarily—than the chaos that surrounds individuals who are imprisoned in Pilam and waiting to die. But it was also filled with small joys and intriguing discoveries that proved life was always worth living.
This is a pandemic book that demonstrates the battle the world faced and how we may turn against those who most need our assistance, but it also demonstrates the strength of love and the value of forming ties when all hope is lost. This book is a must-read because Turaki took the world pandemic story and addressed it in his own way.
To behold those beautiful things, you need to read these beautiful things and behold them. With this book of Turaki, he has left us some beautiful things to remember. Those things can only be remembered when we reflect on our life during the pandemic, where it seems scary at the beginning, and appears to become victory to those who fought and survived.
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Isah Aliyu Chiroma is a writer and freelance journalist from Bauchi State. His works have been published on Daily Trust Newspaper, The Guardian, The Nation, This Day Newspaper, Blueprint Newspaper, Konya Shams Rumi, The Artmuse Fair, Opinion Nigeria, People’s Daily, and elsewhere.
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