A Righteous Man - Tochi Onyebuchi - ★★

AUTHOR: Tochi Onyebuchi

SERIES: Trespass. #5

GENRE: Short Story, Historical Fiction.

RATING: 2 stars.

In a Nutshell: Doesn’t deliver as per the premise.

Written in an epistolary format, the story is narrated through letters written by Nathaniel, a British missionary, to his wife Theresa. Nathaniel has travelled to an unnamed West African country, and feels passionate about “educating the natives” about his omniscient and omnipotent God. His initial confidence soon turns into misgivings, as he wonders how God cannot already be present in a place with such natural beauty. The pragmatic approach of the locals towards abstract concepts such as belief and faith doesn’t help. When Nathaniel sees some horrifying events, his head questions the actions of his fellow white men and his heart wonders about his purpose in the African land.

The premise of the story is what made me grab it. Missionaries have wreaked quite a lot of damage in God’s name, whether knowingly or unknowingly. They genuinely believe that what they are doing is for God's greater glory. But they forget that God also told them to “do unto others as you would like others to do unto you.” So to see a well-written story that highlights the doubts a naïve missionary might have after his experiences in a “savage” country would have been a revelation.

The story does work decently at the start, when it reveals the first doubts that Nathaniel has about his role. Unfortunately, it soon devolves into a confused mess of emotions and events. Rather than focussing on clear feelings, it focusses on Nathaniel’s mental degeneration, without clarifying whether it was a psychological effect or a psychosomatic one or even a paranormal one, as one line seems to suggest. The lack of a satisfactory conclusion is a further dampener.

Though the story is epistolary, we never get to see Theresa’s replies, which would have worked in instigating a better analysis of Nathaniel’s spiritual quandary. As we hear only his side of the story, the moral dilemma stays half-baked. There are some introspective elements, but these are far and few between.

I have not read the other stories in the ‘Trespass’ collection, but the blurb describes its theme as “a collection of wild stories about animal instincts, human folly, and survival.” I honestly don’t think “A Righteous Man” meets any of those claims.

In short, the initial build-up was good but the end result was just hodgepodge. This needed a lot of tightening to be memorable.

Strictly average. Not recommended.

This is the fifth standalone story in the Trespass collection, and is available for free to Amazon Prime subscribers.