Dead Wood


Fiction - Drama
90 Pages
Reviewed on 07/14/2016
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Viga Boland for Readers' Favorite

Before you begin reading the play Dead Wood by Joshua Agbo, go to the end of the book and consult the glossary he has provided. By doing so, you will have a much easier time following the dialogue exchanged by the actors in this play. Dead Wood is described in the introduction as a "satirical comedy", and readers will get that once they have consulted the glossary. They will be able to catch the humor in the exchanges between the students who have enrolled for a year in the National Youth Service Corps in Kebbi State, Nigeria. Like all students worldwide who arrive at their chosen colleges or institutions of further education, these first year students are full of expectation and excitement, proud to be part of such an intellectual community. But as the year unfolds, they see the realities, the corruption and human inequalities behind the hallowed halls of learning, and it's not a pretty picture.

Joshua Agbo has written Dead Wood, a term applied by the oppressors, by the way, to the poor, oppressed and "dispossessed" peoples of Nigeria, to present his deeply philosophical views on the human condition, not just in Nigeria, but worldwide. As such, the ideas presented by Agbo apply to all nations. But who will read the book or come to see the play? As Agbo informs us: "When I first considered the idea of writing this play, somehow the information got to the ears of the NYSC authorities in Kebbi State where I served, and I was threatened never to write the story or else I would face sanction." How typical of the powers that be to attempt to silence voices that might speak out against them! And that is, essentially, what the play Dead Wood is designed to fight: the silencing of voices that need to be heard.

It may be necessary, along with the glossary, to read all the pages preceding the actual play to be prepared for what will be presented by the actors in this short piece. Readers with strong Christian beliefs will appreciate the concepts and words spoken by the actors at the play's conclusion. And don't miss the page of quotes at the beginning of the play. All, like the ancient proverb that follows, will make you think long and hard about this world in which we live: "To live in the world without becoming aware of the meaning of the world is like wandering in a great library without touching the books."