Title: The Oyster Man
Author: Bill Marshall
Publication Details:
First Published 2000 by
Afram Publications (Ghana) Ltd.

Tag: Reader Review

Oysters for Survival

Having read, many years ago, Bill Marshall's 'Permit for Survival", I find the 'Oyster Man' a rather weak narrative. One does not quite know what to make of it. It seems to be about Tanko's love for Tsoli, but from a lopsided perspective, as if one were watching the love affair as a sideshow away from the main show, which seems to be about Dr Hoffman and Dr Klutse. I think that the point of view is not strongly defined.

The hero, Tanko, is having to battle it out with faceless antagonists whose motive is murky. We are not sure whether they are jealous fishermen, minions of the Voodoshie, or competitors for Tsoli, the Togbi's daughter. Their half-hearted attempts on Tanko's life are rather mysterious and their context not properly defined in the story.

However, getting to the end, one finds once again, flashes of Bill Marshall's mastery of witty conversation: in the flashback where Dr Huffman (Hoffman?) recalls his affair with nurse Lenyo, the back-and-forth holds some rich writing.
In this scene, the good doctor pursues Lenyo to Church, and invites her to his bungalow.

'...but why have you stopped coming to see me?' He insisted.
She explained that the last time she visited him was a Sunday (Saturday?). The next day when she went to Church, the bishop preached against fornication.
'Oh I see. And what did the bishop say about fornication?' he asked.
'He said that good Christians should not fornicate. That is in the bible. I am a good Christian you know.'
'Listen, my dear, Christianity is a foreign religion. It was brought to Africa by the whiteman.'
'Which was a very good thing.'
'I think it is the most stupid thing the whiteman ever did to Africa.'
'But you are a whiteman.'
'Yes.'
'Are you stupid?'
'Yes. I also love you. Now, let's go,' he said.
'Where are we going?'
'To my bungalow.'
'What for?'
'I want us to climb the stairs again.'
'No, no, no, not on a Sunday. You are just another goat,' she said and laughed.

From my humble perspective, the story is set, possibly, in the late sixties or early seventies. One wonders then about the 'portable tape recorders' that appear in the story, and the jet which takes six hours to reach Accra from Gatwick.

Finally, at the end, one welcomes the pregnancy of Tsoli, Tanko's girlfriend, if only because it opens up vast new possibilities for the development of the story. But instead, after spanking Tsoli on the buttocks (very good, Bill Marshall: I enjoyed that bit and I kid you not), Tanko instead speeds off with Tsoli in the motorboat, with the cryptic words,

'That is a much better idea. So that you, me and the baby will die together. That will be a big, big, funeral. Let's go!'

But we have no idea where they are going: to Togbi, whom Tsoli has suggested might just as well dispatch them to the otherworld, or to Kpandu, which represents, well, another world.

A word about the typos - there were enough to make reading slightly uncomfortable; a little 'hedious' perhaps. But not enough to make it a hideous experience.

Martin Egblewogbe.