When We Were Fireflies: Lessons and Reflections
Do you know that fireflies are actually not flies?
They are in fact, beatles, lol.
They also produce something called a cold light. Meaning that the light they produce is purely light, with no heat at all… eh, kind of like those energy saving bulbs, I guess. Or not.
The first time I interacted with AAI’s writing was when his first novel, Season of Crimson Blossoms, was published. I fell in love with the rascal, Reza, and since then, AAI quickly became a favourite of mine. I then went back to read The Whispering Trees, there was also Dreams and Assorted Nightmares… all beautiful and heart tugging.
Something about his writing pulls me in — the audacity of it perhaps, to question reality, to redefine what is known and what can be.
It is why when I heard about the new book, I knew I had to get it. What were we in for? I wasn’t sure. But I was going to find out.
And oh, I found out alright!
I have always been fascinated by the concept of reincarnation. Growing up, I heard stories of akudayas… of the dead who would move to another land to live another life. I even had a distant uncle (or was it a cousin or one of those relatives whose relationship to us we can never really explain) who was rumoured to have been seen in Lagos long after he died in Kogi. It is also why I love the bollywood hit, Om Shanti Om so much. A reincarnation story is always a good story.
What AAI did was to take us through the three lives of Yarima Lalo in language so easy and melodic that it was impossible to turn away from witnessing each page as it unraveled.
The things that stuck out for me in the story were quite simple and perhaps this art of simplicity and subtlety is what sets AAI apart.
Let’s get into it, shall we?
1- The Dialogue
The conversations in WWWF did not feel- unlikely. They flowed, felt like what real people would say to each other. And the wealth of language and thought put into them… the way hausa touched English in some places, so beautiful!
2- The subtle, Not So Subtle Themes
While the book was about reincarnation, one can argue that it was also largely about war. About the devastation of war, the stories that do not get told, the numbers who once were people with hopes and dreams and a life left behind. It was also a lot about children and the snatching of futures that happens when war visits, when man wakes on his wicked side and carries on with impunity.
3- How the world will always go on
A chapter that resonated with me a lot was The Forest of Fireflies. In it, a most important lesson is portrayed; the world will not stop because someone dies.
Maybe initially, it may stop for the relatives and loved ones. It most probably will change too but it will not pause, it will not stop because another human is dead. It will not stop because a part of it is ravaged by war, or by a natural disaster… we see this in how the world simply goes on even though parts if it is in crisis. There’s the long standing beef between Palestine and Israel, Ukraine and Russia are at each others’ throat, chaos in Sudan, news of an acquaintances death, or the death of a loved one. Yet in the middle if it all, as long as we draw breath, we must eat, we must drink, we must sleep and forge on with our lives.
In the end, we live or we die or we suffer or enjoy. Whatever we do, life goes on.
Book: When We Were Fireflies
Author: Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
Verdict: Highly Recommend
