Reviews

Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde

Only show reviews with written explanations

nonatibynature's review

dark funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

😭 I needed to read this. It has the fucked up fairytale-meets-reality vibe I can’t get enough of. I’ll be revisiting this one.

matheo96gro's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

3.5 stars. extremely beautifully written book, there are so many sentences that jumped at me. the story of johnny literally left me speechless (no pun intended). but the pacing off was just a bit off for me, unfortunately :( it started off very strongly with the short stories but the second half of the book is where the plot became sacrificed in order to make the theme and messaging more obvious, and it just lost momentum for me. regardless, really excited to see what eloghosa osunde comes out with next!

tatyanavogt's review

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3.0

3.25 rounded down

Okay, so this was a pretty interesting experience because I was very confused at first and wasn't totally enjoying the book. I feel like it wasn't until later where the point was brought up in a way that everything made sense to me and I don't think it was necessary to wait. After that moment I got more connected and ended up appreciating and liking what the book did.

I am thinking that I might need to re-read this in the future knowing what I now know and I might end up enjoying it more then. But it does not have a clear plot line and is kind of a "random" collection of moments that different people are experiencing that fit within this 'Vagabond' category. Admittedly that isn't usually my cup of tea in general but I did really enjoy some of the moments that we got and I wonder if there were hints at things earlier on that I just missed. I dunno.

iku978's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is the book of the century. Every queer African across the diaspora needs to read this story’s. Every chapter written with love and holding incredible truths that leave you yearning for the authors words to come to life. Thank you for giving us this

dliterate's review

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3.0

I enjoyed the magical realism (and light smattering of sci-fi?) of Vagabonds!, and think that it served the exploration of more realistic themes (of socioeconomic inequality, queerphobia, sexism, etc.) well. I actually think I'd really enjoy this as a Black Mirror-esque TV show, with each episode zooming in on an aspect of this fantastical version of Nigeria.

In its current format as a novel, though? I have to admit, I struggled a bit.

I would have liked a bit more structure to the whole thing, with more of a follow-through than the broad theme of vagabonds being society's outsiders. Why or how did these fantastical elements come to be? Is this a worldwide phenomenon, or something specific to Nigeria? Does everyone know about what's going on, or is this something hidden from the majority of people? I would have loved some world building to address these questions. Doing so would have done a lot to bring this together as a novel rather than a collection of short stories.

As for the stories themselves: I liked more than I disliked. There was an interesting array of ideas on display, and I'd be interested in seeing more of this world - as long as it was actually presented as part of a world, and not just a collection of disconnected short stories.

cpbindel's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I loved these detailed and poignant portraits of people, many queer, in contemporary Lagos. It felt more like a short story collection with a few roving characters than a novel. And at times it was hard to identify what was happening/who was holding the focus. But the intimacies these characters share and the negotiations they make with the world were nonetheless intensely compelling. I loved the many ghosts, the bluebeard tale, the defiant minor deity.

This book might pair well with The Pink Line by Mark Gevisser, as both books are highly attuned to the dueling pressures of politics and social acceptance/disgust, and the temporary/conditional arrangements that many queer people exist under right now