- Book: The Incredible Dreams of Garba Dakaskus
- Author: Umar Abubakar Sidi
- Genre: Prose
- Year of Publication: 2024
- ISBN: 978-978-60489-0-1
As Umar Abubakar Sidi’s debut novel, The Incredible Dreams of Garba Dakaskus draws to a close, readers are confronted with an absurd and surreal occurrence. The story introduces a book—revered and sought after within the novel’s universe—that inexplicably comes to life and speaks directly to the audience. This moment disrupts all logic and blurs the lines between fiction and reality. Readers are left dumbfounded, unable to dismiss the book’s seemingly empty threats, only to realize they were not mere bluffs.
There are no better ways to describe the esoteric, haunting, and mystical quality of Sidi’s novel than this. At its core, the novel is a book split into four books: Book of Mysterious Narrations, The Memoirs of Al-Sudani, Book of Sorcery and the Evolution of Superstitious Allusions, and Book of Injurious Disclosures. Central to each of these is the 1000-year-old manuscript, A Guide to the Secrets of the Alphabet whose evolution, mysterious powers, and infinite web of stories form the backbone of the novel’s labyrinthine narrative.
The story primarily revolves around the titular narrator, Garba Dakaskus. A resident of the Kware Mad House in Sokoto, Garba believes he is being pursued by members of a secret organization because of the knowledge he possesses about A Guide to the Secrets of the Alphabet. Writing from his room in the asylum, Garba’s sense of urgency is palpable. His narration is frequently interrupted by attempts to silence the ominous noises from The Cabinet of Curiosities or by the beeper alerting him to the proximity of his assassin. From this confined space, Garba takes us on a wild journey across centuries, recounting numerous tales: the Caliph and his incestuous relationship with his sister, Bulbub the Grand Vizier (a parrot second-in-command to the Caliph in a world where humans and animals coexist), Al-Sudani, who pilots an airship and becomes lost in time, et cetera.
However, in the later parts of the novel, Garba is not the person he was initially presented as. He is revealed to be the very object of his narration—the long-sought A Guide to the Secrets of the Alphabet. This revelation unveils the novel’s palindromic structure. When Garba as the book begins his narration, we realise that we are back to the novel’s opening lines.
In the beginning, readers struggle to discern the novel’s focus. Garba’s narration, delivered from a mental institute, is unreliable and steeped in arcane references to other books. This initial confusion is compounded by elements of surrealism and magical realism– talking parrots, soldier-apes, and stories of human-animal copulation– as well as allusions to historical events, figures, and books, strange to readers but assuming familiarity. The novel grows increasingly disorienting, especially in the second half, where readers might expect clarity. By the end, it remains unclear whether the focal point of the novel is Garba Dakaskus or A Guide to the Secrets of the Alphabet.
Much of the mystique centers on Garba’s true identity. Is he a mad novelist in a near-hypnotic frenzy, claiming to be hunted by imaginary foes? Are the events he recounts real or figments of his imagination– ‘incredible dreams’ as the title suggests? Is he a man, a literary device, or an enigmatic symbol designed to puzzle readers? Sidi deepens this ambiguity through deliberate allusions to real places and people, yet mystifies even the familiar. For instance, references to cities like London and Damascus do not illuminate the narrative but instead strip them of their usual context. Time-traveling to eras of talking parrots and fighting monkeys evokes an ancientness that makes the surreal seem plausible within its setting.
The novel’s first section casts doubt on Garba, portraying him as more invested in recounting his knowledge of the manuscript than revealing himself to the readers. In contrast, the later sections attempt to demystify Garba by unveiling his identity as a book. Yet, this revelation only deepens the reader’s confusion.
Sidi is just as guilty as his fictional authors in hypnotising his readers to such an extreme point that even after reading the book, they are still in Garba’s dream and cannot stir themselves back to conscious and logical thinking. Structurally, the novel is a patchwork of stories, written with a syntax reminiscent of ancient manuscripts. Chapters are absent, with breaks provided solely by Garba’s narration. The first section is an expose into Garba’s mental state, reflecting his chaotic consciousness. Sentences flow smoothly, yet readers often lose track of how they arrived at certain points. It is as though we are invited to experience the same chaos as Garba’s mind.
Despite its confounding nature, it would be a blunder to say this novel is not a literary achievement in itself. Sometimes, the confusion and the never-ending stories made me want to drop the book, but this blurs in comparison with Sidi’s ability to sustain readers’ attention through his storytelling. This novel is a flowing river. The flow may become slower at some point, but it never stops. You continue reading and realise there is no end, only an ocean of confusion.
Evidence Egwuono Adjarho
Evidence Egwuono Adjarho is a Gen-Z who loves God. She enjoys reading books and writing about them. She spends her free time creating content on her Instagram page (evidence_egwuono). Finally, she is an undergraduate studying English at the University of Lagos.
