Reviewer: Oluwaseun Ekundayo
Title: Vaults of Secrets
Author: Olukorede Yishau
Publisher: Parriesia
Year: 2020
Genre: Short stories
The joy I felt had no bound when I finally got to lay my hands on Olukorede Yishau’s ‘Vaults of Secrets’. I remember it was raining heavily that night when I did a short video on my IG story with the caption “Nothing beats the smell of a book.”
So you can imagine all the feelings I had, especially if you have read his debut novel ‘In The Name Of Our Father’.
Before I continue, I would like to take a break (sips water).
The above statement is a technique Mr. Yishua used while writing ‘Lydia’s World’, which by the way is my favourite. The story has a special place in my heart which you will get to know before you are done reading.
Now, to the review of the book.
Truthfully speaking when I saw the extract about Oluwakemi in the first story ‘Till We Meet To Part No More’ on his IG, I thought it would be a love story, little did I know Mr.Yishau had something else in store for me.
I started the first story with so much hopes until Mr.Yishau decided to shatter my hope, letting me know he is unpredictable. I finished it with shattered hope as Oluwakemi’s life has been all shades of ugly from her childhood when she was sold into slavery by her parents to her adulthood, ending up with a man who maltreated her.
The second story, ‘This Special Gift’, was a bit humorous probably because of the style of writing the story was being told until the twist at the end of the story. I was thinking he was going to end it in a comical way. To my surprise, the secret Emmanuel was keeping from his friend about his cheating wife was later found out and so the marriage ended.
The third story, ‘My Mother’s Father is My Father’, is one I always get myself too worrisome on when it comes up as a discussion or I read about. With the rate at which paedophile is eating up our society and then there is rape and incest. In this story, the main character got to know that his supposed grandfather was not really his grandfather as he thought, but his biological father.
As for ‘Letters from the Basement’, I can’t wait for it to come into manifestation, where our politicians will be held truly accountable and given the rightful judgment for their criminal activities.
If one thing I’m happy how the story of ‘This Thing Called Love’ ended. It gave me some sense of hope and happy ending I wanted. Amidst the injustice in our society, a woman who was wrongly accused by the system got her freedom but not before finding out that a long time guilt she carried was not her fault.
Better than the Devil gave an insight into the world of politics and the atrocities human commits to attain some level of power.
‘Otapiapia’ is one story I really don’t want to say much about, the character was intentional about the ordeal that befell her. (Don’t mean to sound judgmental, but she had the opportunity to stop her promiscuousness before nemesis caught up with her).
‘When Truth Dies’ is one story I’m still in a state of confusion after finishing both the story and the book. I’m not sure if it is the story of Akudaya (reincarnation) or not. I want to believe it is a matter of mere coincidence. Mr. Yishau left me in a state of so many unanswered questions. (I don’t want the usual answer authors give their readers, telling them to visualise what really happened in the story).
When I realised I’ve had enough of the secrets in the vaults was when I was reading ‘Lydia’s world’. The world came crashing down. Like I said earlier, ‘Lydia’s World’ is my favourite because of the subject matter.
I must say Mr. Yishau’s suspense in the story was a killer. I couldn’t imagine a situation where a woman finds out her child wasn’t hers due to the negligence of the hospital where she had the child. She went as far as to know where the child was residing only to find out he was bit by a snake; dead and buried.
I was perplexed; I felt her pain and knew at that moment some secrets are to be left untold. The last straw of the story was when I found out she ended up in a psychiatric hospital.
This is a story I finished reading and I was so pained in my spirit at how Lydia’s world came crashing down without her doing. I kept asking myself why? Why? Why would he write such a story, full of pain, anguish?
But the truth of the matter is that there are so many Lydia out there whose world had been crashed due to silly mistakes made by professionals.
I will start ‘Open Wound’ with a saying; “whatever you don’t want to eat, don’t smell” and “you can’t make the same mistake twice, the second time you make is not a mistake but a choice.” Dazini didn’t only smell Moses once but twice (That’s all I will say here, you will have to read the book to understand).
In the book, Mr. Yishau exploited some vital themes such as love, marriage and family. In these themes he exploited some more themes that are embodied in them. Such as the theme of domestic violence and child slavery: Like the case of Oluwakemi in the first story, ‘Till We Meet to Part No More’.
Infidelity in marriage: Elizabeth got into the prison for killing her husband who was unfaithful in their marriage. In ‘Otapiapia’, we see a married woman who was involved in several marital affairs. There is the last story, ‘Open Wound’ which centres on Dazini who had two children that belonged to another man. A man slept with the house help. A married woman committed adultery.
Lack of love: This is what will make a man plan his own disappearance and leave his family to be with another woman. It is ironic; Mr. Yishau titled the story, ‘This Thing Called Love’.
The book also deals with child abuse, sexual assault and molestation, such was the case of Oluwakemi.
Rape and incest: This is a crucial theme; it is one that kept making news every now and then in our society. In the story ‘My Mother’s Father is My Father’, we see a father who raped his daughter. Another event was when Jacinta saw Precious Okonkwo and her father in a similar position but this time there was consent from both parties.
Injustice: In the story ‘This Thing Called Love’, we could see Linda writing a letter to her sister who is imprisoned wrongly.
‘Better Than The Devil’ exploited the theme of cultism in Nigeria tertiary institutions.
The cases of Oluwakemi and Elizabeth in ‘Till We Meet To Part No More’ and ‘Better Than The Devil’ examined murder. In the case of ‘Otapipia’, an unfaithful woman used a rodent killer to end her life.
Death: This is a subject matter that kept showing forth in all the stories in the book.
If I’m to talk about the language, the language is simple and his words usages are easy to understand. You don’t need a dictionary to necessarily understand the words used in the stories.
Talking about the style of writing, Mr. Yishau’s style of writing each stories is different from one another. In the book we see there are options of different points of views used in telling the stories.
There is the first person in ‘Till We Meet To Part No More’ , ‘This Special Gift’, ‘My Mother’s Father is My Father’, ‘Letters From The Basement’, ‘Better Than The Devil’, and ‘When Truth Dies’.
The second person POV was used in ‘This Thing Called Love’ and the third person technique was used in ‘Otapiapia’, ‘Lydia’s World’, and ‘Open Wound’.
The settings in the stories range from prison life to family to the world of politics, schools and hospitals. Mr. Yishau looked into the heart of discussions that are needed to talk about in our society.
(Sighs. Pick up my phone to check my whatsapp messages.)
After I was finally done with the book, I chatted up my friend to let him know how I felt (I realised I couldn’t contain all the emotions I felt and needed to talk to someone). I wasn’t unhappy at the fact the short stories comprise of sad endings, in fact I’m glad he wrote the stories because at the end we don’t get to have the happy ending in all the books we read at all time, especially when it comes to the storylines in the book.
I was drained emotionally reading each story because of the gravity of information and secrets shared. I was so down emotionally I had to put the book away to ruminate on the stories.
It took everything in me to write this review, having to relive each story in my head again. We might shy away from the themes discussed in each story but these are events that happened, are happening and will still happen in peoples’ lives.