Reviews

I hope I will eventually finish this. The writing is packed really tightly and it’s hard to follow if you’re not super focused. It’s like reading an academic article. I really liked the premise though and will definitely try again at a later date.

purplelorikeet's review against another edition

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4.0

"Chronicle from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth" is a scathing satire of a fictionalised modern Nigeria. There is a plot to this lengthy work but it takes quite a while before we have any understanding of it. The writer takes us on a journey into scenes from a variety of characters, from Papa Davina, a modern-day charlatan of a religious leader, to Sir Goddie, a prime minister whose main objective is to make sure he's elected for another term, to Dr. Menka and Duyole Pitan-Payne, two members of a gang of four from their youth who seem to be about the only ones with a moral compass in this story.

I will admit this was a difficult read, especially for the first half of the book. In the second half, we finally are into the real plot and it feels like things are happening. Before that, it kind of meanders back and forth between characters, giving the reader a background to support the story. There were times I didn't think I would be able to finish but I'm glad I stuck with it because there is a good story buried in there. I just think it perhaps could have been reduced in terms of the expansive background that was created.

One thing that did come of all the words is a real sense of the corruption that exists in the world, no matter whether it be first-world or not. There's a tedium to the process of effecting positive changes much of the time and one can never be assured of things right to the end. Someone is always plotting behind the scenes and second-guessing is part of the way things work.

For the most part, I did like this book in the end. I just thought it could have been better than it was. I'm also not certain how I feel about the ending. In a way, it does suit the style of the story but it also left a lot of questions in my mind. Overall I'm rating this 3.5 stars. I would like to thank Netgalley and Pantheon for providing freely an advanced reader copy. This review is written voluntarily.

readerette's review

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challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

The verbosity distracts from the mystery. There is way too much backstory on everyone, and most of it ends up completely irrelevant to the core plot.

Interesting insights into life in Nigeria. I felt nothing for any of the characters and I only finished because it was for a book club. All the female characters were worriers or caretakers or both, and fully on the sidelines of the plot. There wasn't much more variety in the male characters, but since all the main characters were male it was easier for them to get some nuance.

chilgeman's review

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The writing is too dense and provides far too much context with no plot almost 100 pages into the book.

fiendfull's review

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3.0

Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People On Earth is a sprawling tale of corruption, religion, and power in Nigeria, as longtime friends discover a strange plot selling body parts. Duyole Pitan-Payne is an engineer and rising star who has just had an audience with the Prime Minister, but when his old friend Dr Menka gets in touch using their old code, something seems to be wrong. Menka is exhausted from the horrors he has seen as a surgeon, but he's just found out a new one: body parts are being stolen from the hospital for sale. Soon a story of power and corruption unravels, but the truth might be close to home.

This is a book that takes time to get into, as the opening chapters jump about in character and focus, and I wasn't sure if the narrative would settle into a particularly clear narrative, despite the length of the book. However, after a while it does focus on Dr Menka mostly, making it easier to keep track of what was going on, though there were still a few plot points (including exactly what was going on with the body parts) that I found confusing. The third person narrative voice occasionally moves from focusing on the action or flashbacks to a broader explanatory tone that satirises various political and national happenings in the book, but mostly it follows the mystery of what is going on in Menka and Pitan-Payne's lives.

Once I got into it, the story was good, a witty look at corruption and influence, though it did get a bit meandering at times due to its length (particularly a section about whether or not someone is buried in Austria or Nigeria, which went on for a long time). Some of the satire probably passed me by, especially as I don't tend to read a huge amount of political satire, but the overall narrative came together well and it had a satisfying ending that I hadn't guessed.