By Bamigbade Racheal

Family life contributes immensely to an individual’s happiness, only in a happy home life can be complete and contentment can be found, “Dorotea S. Koppliln”.

Families all over the world have one or other problems such as selfish attitude from extended families, low self-esteem, lack of communication, parenting issues, secrecy etc.

Titilope Adefunke Laniran’s Life, Deceit and Death, a collection of three short stories written in first person narrative presents spellbinding takes of family problems which showcased the journey of adolescence in a family home in order to educate the reader on hope, good self-esteem,good communication, humble life, companionship and good family bond. The collection deals with indecent behaviors that occurs among youths due to family problems.

The 111-page collection, a 2021 publication of OAK initiative, the publishing aim of OAK Charity Initiative, a charity organization aimed at supporting indigent students, widows and the fatherless in Africa has the following three short stories; The world I live in, The power of deception and The color of death. The first story had happy ending, the second had a tragic ending, while the third story had a tragic-happy ending.

The first story, the world I live in, is divided into six parts. The story shows Funmbi, Ronke’s daughter as the protagonist. The little family was at the brink of collapse due to poor communication and lack of attention and good communion. Ronke, Funmbi’s mother has a rough youthful life due to the death of her parents which resulted to the hardship treatment she received from her extended family members who took charge of her parents’ properties without giving her a dime. This resulted to her going into prostitution just to cater for herself, this led to her enjoying her affluent life style and neglecting her daughter Funmbi. Funmbi has lost the attention of her, received verbal abuse, which affected her lifestyle as an adolescent, she was influenced into drugs. The help of her therapist brought a long-lasting solution to her psychological stress and reunion of mother and daughter.

The second story, the power of deception, is divided into two parts. The story setting was in Alfred house, Kayode the son of Alfred as the protagonist, was lured by Joseph who had the devilish tactics of wiping out the so-called evil politicians disturbing the country. As such the evil plan masterminded by Joseph led to the President Aminu’s order to the department of state security to arrest them including Kayode the protest leader, resulting in bringing shame upon his family.

The third story, the color of death, is divided into five parts. The story setting was in Adewale’s house. Sadness wallowed in his family due to the state of oblivion their son was as result of contracting the deadly disease called HIV/AIDS. Wes the son of Adewale enjoyed life to the fullest due to the care he enjoyed from his parents and also the soccer fame, this resulted in him dating several ladies and contracting the disease that claimed his life a year later. Bam, Veronica, Jide and Kemi supported the Adewale’s one way or the other to assist in taking care of Wes that was bedridden before he died. Adewale had the hope of life when he saw the love note his son wrote before he died which showed how he loved his dad and people around him and ensured he was able to influence people positively.