It was refreshing to read a novel by a Tanzania millennial. Where you bump into references of celebrities like Ali Kiba, John Legend, Kanye West, “They were pictures of my birthday cake whose theme was ripped off straight from Ye’s POWER track cover art.”

The author of Fine Needle, Hamdan Hussein, 27, is a licensed medical practitioner in his late 20s and in this was his debut novel, the main character is also a medical practitioner.

Coursing through the pages, you get the feeling the novel has a lot of parallels with Hamdan’s own life, as Donny the main character also has penned a novel. “I like the novel by the way. You’ve got a knack with words,” she said softly.” (Yusra)

Fine Needle is a drama with embers of a thriller in its plot, told from the main character’s lens Donny Shira. It uncovers critical events following the first job Donny is in as an intern at Sewahaji National Hospital.

Whiff of misogyny

As you bump into hospital terminologies in abbreviations like CPL-Central Pathology Laboratory, FNAC-Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology. This hospital world comes to life as a believable place where we meet Donny, Yusra, and Benny among others.

Donny had a rocky childhood with his father dying while he was at the tender age of one and his mother soon following suit. From teenage, he practically raised himself which left him with a sombre outlook on life. “I need to look out for number one. I’m on my own. I’ve always been that way my whole life.”

Still it was amusement more than empathy that kept me turning the pages, as Donny and many of the characters in this novel are flawed yet endearing as you can picture persons in your life with these same outlooks.

Take Donny’s view of any woman with a child and not wed is a warning sign, yet he is okay with having an office fling. He goes on to name the lady in question whom he’s had a few sexual encounters with as ‘some crazy b**ch’.

Cover of the 'Fine Needle' book by a 27-year-old medical practitioner called Hamdan Hussein. PHOTO | COURTESY

However, flawed the characters they also have strengths that unravel through the plot. Allowing me to finish the 287-page paperback, within two days; you see Donny is passionate about justice for the medical workers particularly those working as Clinical Laboratory Scientists.

He goes to great lengths to protect the rights of those in his profession. In between he falls in love and lusts but also he finds out things about his childhood that allow him to see his father in a new light.

Another standout character is Yusra. A strong woman; a young single mother that still manages to forge a career. She is Donny’s superior and their interactions give much of the sauce in this book, I liked her unapologetic demeanour.

Self-published

Fine Needle is also a social commentary; set in a country called ‘Tanzagiza’ with a Minister of Health called Hon. Umami Maalum and a President recently sworn in after the death of a Hon. Joseph called Hon Mama Samira.

As an East African you will quickly get the tongue-in-cheek connotations of these characters’ names, resembling real figures. Here the author uses his work to highlight the plight of fresh graduates and what they encounter in the field with student loans and unsavoury working conditions.

The story is juicy and the end savoury. My only qualm with this work is that it is self-published. It screams of the lack of a strong editor behind it, which in the fiction publishing unsavoury world of Tanzania can’t be faulted much.

The book is in Dar es Salaam at Ridge Café otherwise you can order it via this email [email protected]