Reviews of The Restless Crucible
“This first novel from Yaw Agawu-Kakabra is beyond brilliant! The mastery of his literary skillfulness juxtaposes the horrors of the African slave trade within each line of every page of the novel. I felt as though transported not only into that era, but also into the souls of each character. Pedro is a reminder to us of the limits and complexities that define, and may ultimately justify the inner battle between our consciences and desperate acts for survival, when the lived experience of discrimination and cruelty is pitted against the quest for survival, freedom and respectability.
The Ruthless Crucible is such a great novel. It’s set between the late 18th, and the early 19th Century, but Pedro’s legacy still impacts those descendants of slaves today who continue to struggle for survival, freedom and respectability…”___ Carole Bignell, Amazon Reviewer, United Kingdom
“THE RESTLESS CRUCIBLE is, first and foremost, about setting the historical record straight. Whereas this is suggested implicitly throughout the novel, Queen Ena Sunu of Dahomey (early 19th century) lays it out explicitly in her final words to Sintana Fansinnou, leader of the N’Nonmiton (female) warriors: “They must never say that we, the women of Allada, Ouidah, and Dahomey, never raised our voices in objection” to an abominable slave trade that so many African mothers in fact defied. The queen reflects with confidence from her place in history on a future rewriting of the history of this trade, that is, on the honor that her author, Prof. Agawu-Kakraba, will eventually bestow (in 2022, in this novel) on those who “rebelled and cut deep into a system that seeks to extract from the other.” The novel is to be praised for teaching us about the Queen Ena Sunus and Sintana Fansinnous of the past, about African-based abolitionism. It is also to be praised for exploring the complex and repulsive psychology of Queen Ena Sunu’s nemesis, Pedro de Barbosa, the runaway slave who as Governor of the Portuguese fort, São João Baptista de Ajudá, inflicts on the African people he sells off into slavery the same unspeakable horrors that he endured before leaving his native Salvador de Bahia. As Prof. Agawu-Kakraba shows, human beings respond to inhumanity in unpredictable ways. The ethical issues and personal dilemmas that the author dramatizes are embedded in a novel that is part bildungsroman, part adventure novel, a dose of post-modern reflection on truth and the art of narrative (with Miguel de Unamuno as his model) and very much a history lesson. We are very lucky indeed to have among us someone so capable of teaching us so much, in clear and elegant prose and precisely documented detail, geographic and historical. THE RESTLESS CRUCIBLE offers lessons that are very much in need of being learned.”___Gonzo, Amazon Reviewer, USA
“This is a fascinating and thought-provoking historical novel. At one level it is a gritty and fast-paced story of personal odysseys, ambitions, and intrigue. These intersect and play out in the larger framework of the Atlantic slave trade between west Africa and Brazil, at a pivotal moment in its history (the early 1800s, when both the trade and the Portuguese Empire that created it were in decline but still kicking). That system of wealth and power is the arena in which the novel’s characters—slaves and former slaves, merchants, colonial administrators, soldiers, priests, kings and queens in Europe and Africa—form and pursue their own agendas. Yaw Agawu-Kakraba uses this story to explore the possibilities of individual agency—personal choices and life paths—in a world of brutal injustice. There are power struggles among street youths, slave traders, kings and queens, and nations. There are calculations, doubts, and choices to be made: for survival, profit, advancement, love, and even between right and wrong. And there is an underlying question: when a vicious system dehumanizes both exploiters and exploited, can anyone transcend it? The action takes place in Brazil, Europe, and west Africa, and through it all the story is earthy and sensory. Markets and food stalls, palaces and hovels, temples and dungeons, royalty and street urchins: all have their distinctive looks, sounds, textures, aromas, and tastes (there are tantalizing food descriptions, and five pages of recipes at the end of the book). There is also hunger, sex, violence, some coarse language, victimization, and bloody vengeance. Running through the story is a striking interplay between opposites, including freedom and enslavement, wealth and poverty, strength and weakness, belonging and isolation, calculation and impulse, norms and innovation. There are established hierarchies but also gray areas and mobility, with events and individual actions bringing changes in status and power. In a poignant statement in the Acknowledgments section, Agawu-Kakraba notes that “stories are a gateway to explore imaginary worlds that circle back to our own.” His book sets characters moving through a harsh and changing world, allows us to observe as they feel their way and make their choices, and invites us to circle back and think about human potential in the here and now.”___M. M. Amazon Reviewer, USA
“Yaw Agawu Kakraba’s The Restless Crucible is an ambitious novel in which the author tells a story and at the same time explores the art of storytelling. It is set in the Brazil of the late 18th and early 19 centuries and tells the story of Pedro Barbosa and his effort to leave behind his history of misery as a slave, street gang leader and all-round rogue and move into a life of wealth and respectability. The novel offers a vast panoramic view of the epoque of the slave trade and a nuanced forensics of slave society in Bahia, Brazil, and the mechanisms of personal interest and social ambition that enabled it. The action of the novel extends across three continents, Brazil in America, Portugal and England in Europe and the kingdoms of Dahomey, Allada and Ouidah on the West African coast. The geographic extension of novel permits an examination of the political and financial interests that drive the elites at all those locations to compete for the control of what had been, for them, a lucrative commercial activity. Everything about Agawu Kakraba’s novel is fresh and dynamic, from its hybrid style and narrative perspective to the invitation to a metafictional meditation on the relationship between the writer and the novelistic world and the characters that he/she creates.”__Samuel Mate-Kodjo, Goodreads Reviewer, USA
Throughout our lives, we read a few books that have great power to influence our worldview, our individuality, and our imagination. After reading such books, our world seems a bit different – or maybe we look at it in a different way. These books are unique, memorable and magical. One such book is The Restless Crucible. “Written with vivid and extremely colorful language, the story of Pedro de Barbosa’s odyssey through life arouses considerable emotions, making it an unforgettable read. The main character ruthlessly exposes the weaknesses of human character – lust for power, thoughtless need for possession, cruelty – and unveils the horrors of slavery and the choices one has to make to survive. Who can reach for The Restless Crucible? Absolutely everyone! The young reader will take an interesting journey and meet extraordinary characters, while the older reader will have the opportunity to stop for a while and reflect on what is really important in life.” __Iwona Dorabiala, Goodreads Reviewer, USA