Hello people.
The first thought that may occur to a person
who sees the book, Diary of a Pregnant Virgin, for the first time might be:
These fiction writers have started again.
How is it possible for a virgin to be pregnant?
I definitely would have thought the same thing
except that in this case, Diary of a Pregnant Virgin is the real life story
of Olamipeju Adekunle, the host of The Girls Show on Unilag FM who also happened to be my roommate in final year in the University of Lagos.
In the opening chapter of the book, Olamipeju learns that she has been posted to Zamfara State for the National Youth
Service Corps[N.Y.S.C]. For those who do not know, N.Y.S.C is a mandatory one year
service that all Nigerian graduates must undergo if they wish to get a good job
afterwards [although I must add that observing the compulsory youth service is
not a guarantee that a graduate will get a good job at the end of the service year].
Peju, a Southerner, is upset by this posting
to a Northern part of Nigeria but later makes up her mind to go after receiving
encouragement from her family and friends.
A lively Peju embarks on an adventure in the
North, spends three weeks in camp, and comes back to Lagos to prepare for her
one year stay in the North, where she is welcomed by her loved ones.
Few days later, Peju falls ill and visits the
doctor, only to be told that she is pregnant, notwithstanding the fact that she is
still a virgin.
I like the conversational style of the book.
Despite being titled Diary
of a Pregnant Virgin, there are no letters to a diary, no ‘Dear Diary’ as
other books with such titles are wont to do. Instead, Peju regales readers with
humorous stories of her life after being told about the pregnancy during the
period of Youth Service.
I was also a bit surprised at how frank Peju
was in the book. I mean, she is not the first media personality to get pregnant
outside of marriage. We all know some actresses like Genevieve Nnaji and
Iretiola Doyle got pregnant at a young age, however, the tendency for such celebrities is to keep
mum about it, preferring to label it as ‘a mistake’ or something similar to that.
In Peju’s case, however, she is very frank
[if not too frank] and describes events leading up to the pregnancy and afterwards.
This has the effect of making readers connect with her even while marvelling at
her daring and crazy acts.
All in all, readers will definitely have
something to think about and take away long after reading the book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Olamipeju Adekunle is the host of The Girls
Show on Unilag 103.1FM. She is also the convener of The Girls Revolution, an
annual conference aimed at empowering young girls. The conference has featured
notable speakers such as Toyin Saraki; the wife of Senate President, Bukola
Saraki, Abimbola Fashola; erstwhile
First Lady of Lagos State and Bolanle Ambode, the wife of the Lagos State
governor, Akinwunmi Ambode.
The Diary of
a Pregnant Virgin can be gotten via this link on Okadabooks: https://www.okadabooks.com/book/about/diary_of_a_pregnant_virgin/15648#.WckfhFRAM4k.link
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