| Ifeoma Okoye: Excerpts from Book Reviews |
Ifeoma Okoye sets out to redeem the humiliating images of women in the African setting. She focuses on "correcting" the debased image of Nigerian women in order to present them as dignified and humane individuals capable of personal integrity and economic independence. - Marie Umeh, writing about Behind the Clouds in Perspectives on Nigerian Literature: 1700 to the Present, edited by Yemi Ogunbiyi, Lagos, Guardian Books 1988 Ifeoma Okoye's story is a human one, sympathetically told in flowing prose and laced with healthy values that will edify any reader. Chuks Iloegbunam writing about Behind the Clouds in Sunday Punch, August 29, 1982 In all her novels, Okoye's main concern has been the exploration of the experience of sensitive individuals in the society. Akachi Ezeigbo, in The Independent Weekly, 21-31 July 1993 Ifeoma Okoye treats her subjects realistically and with great compassion, and has created a likeable and sympathetic character in Chigo. Chris Wills, writing on Men Without Ears, in West Africa, November 1984, page 2223 Okoye recognizes her duty to the Nigerian society to write about social problems. Her artistic expressions become people's literature on socio-political awareness. Uduma Kalu in The Guardian, December 27, 1999 The simple prose, the laconic sentences loaded with irony or pathos, all prick us like sharp points of a needle. Even when in Men Without Ears, Okoye boldly adopts a persona, her style only becomes the more accomplished. Femi Osofisan in Newswatch, Special Edition, October 1985 |