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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
A light hearted read that takes on topics of corruption and survival in Lagos and Nigeria more broadly. I enjoyed the short chapters, each like a snapshot, but I would have liked to have known more about the characters, especially the two women. Isoken and Oma.
it kind of just tapers off with its pacing towards the end but! apart from that this was excellent!
What can I say about this book? It's full of people, the way I can imagine streets of Lagos are full of people with so many different stories. Welcome to Lagos is a story of seven different people, each of them running away, escaping their past, looking for new home in Lagos. Seven people whose lives intersect on a bus to Lagos and from then on, they stay together and share an extraordinary journey. Common goal can bring all sorts of people together.
The main focus of the group is Chike, leader of the group. He's moral struggles are the ones we're often faced with. He is the honest one among dishonest, among those who do not think if their actions are immortal, they just do what everyone else is doing, and they try to do it fist to gain the most. Part of the story line focuses on corruption in politics, it shows how badly it impacts disenfranchised citizens of Nigeria. Story gives us how hard it is to be honest, hard-working citizen when the country is turned against you. If you don't know someone, if you cannot talk yourself into something, hustle your way up, your honesty and hard work may be for nothing. It's always heartbreaking to see that some people, no matter how good and decent they are, just don't have the opportunity to prosper. The contrast between wealthy Nigeria and the poor Nigeria is enormous, but people are just people, no matter how wealthy they are. And this novel shows us, in some way, that we put too much value in money, and too little in people.
Welcome to Lagos was in moments hard to read, because the characters use all the different languages, they speak in Pidgin which was hard for me to understand sometimes, but I think I didn't lose so much of the story because I didn't fully understand some conversations. I had an e-ARC version of the book, and it didn't feature any translations, I don't know if the final version has those translations. It didn't bother me much, but I know some people don't like that in books.
It was a great read, however it was very slow at the beginning. There was little action, I was struggling to get into the story. It only really started to pick up when the team was joined by the infamous politician, and then journalist. It all started to take shape and I got more interested. I liked how the Nigeria was portrayed in the story, it was different view than I got from reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie books. I've never been to Nigeria, so books is all that shaped my view of the country, and I'm definitely curious to learn more.
The main focus of the group is Chike, leader of the group. He's moral struggles are the ones we're often faced with. He is the honest one among dishonest, among those who do not think if their actions are immortal, they just do what everyone else is doing, and they try to do it fist to gain the most. Part of the story line focuses on corruption in politics, it shows how badly it impacts disenfranchised citizens of Nigeria. Story gives us how hard it is to be honest, hard-working citizen when the country is turned against you. If you don't know someone, if you cannot talk yourself into something, hustle your way up, your honesty and hard work may be for nothing. It's always heartbreaking to see that some people, no matter how good and decent they are, just don't have the opportunity to prosper. The contrast between wealthy Nigeria and the poor Nigeria is enormous, but people are just people, no matter how wealthy they are. And this novel shows us, in some way, that we put too much value in money, and too little in people.
Welcome to Lagos was in moments hard to read, because the characters use all the different languages, they speak in Pidgin which was hard for me to understand sometimes, but I think I didn't lose so much of the story because I didn't fully understand some conversations. I had an e-ARC version of the book, and it didn't feature any translations, I don't know if the final version has those translations. It didn't bother me much, but I know some people don't like that in books.
It was a great read, however it was very slow at the beginning. There was little action, I was struggling to get into the story. It only really started to pick up when the team was joined by the infamous politician, and then journalist. It all started to take shape and I got more interested. I liked how the Nigeria was portrayed in the story, it was different view than I got from reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie books. I've never been to Nigeria, so books is all that shaped my view of the country, and I'm definitely curious to learn more.
this is a good book, but one it took me at least 100 pages to get into.
the beginning is slow and their arrival in lagos a bit dragged out and slow-paced, the action only really picking up once the political stuff starts happening. however, I don’t even think that was the main reason it took me so long to get into this book - my main issue with it is the writing style.
the strewn-in phrases of pidgin, igbo and yaruba may make for some authenticity, and I don’t think not understanding them made me miss anything significant, but paired with the author’s obsession with throwing in copious amounts of highbrow words the average reader needs to google the definition of*, it just ruins the reading flow. the writing was beautiful in parts, but especially in the beginning I sometimes had to focus more on grasping what was being said than on following the story itself which made the experience less enjoyable.
once you get past this though, it really is a gripping story that taught me a good bit about a country and a city that I knew pretty much nothing about. though fictional, the political storyline seems close enough to reality and offers some interesting insights and perspectives to ponder, especially for someone who wants to do good and drive change in the world and spends a lot of time reflecting on what may be the most effective and right way to do this, and what makes someone a good man (loved the moral ambiguity of the chief and the way this was taken up in the end!). the questions of morality around money are interesting as well, just like the theme of spirituality, told through a character who doesn’t quite believe in it but finds comfort and solace in it in hard times.
a good read that could be great if the writing was a little bit less obnoxious and inaccessible at times.
*very ironic for someone who put this great sentence to paper: “The jargon came easily to Sandayo now, each technical phrase linked to another, forming a chain of incomprehensibility that passed as knowledge in front of this crowd.”
the beginning is slow and their arrival in lagos a bit dragged out and slow-paced, the action only really picking up once the political stuff starts happening. however, I don’t even think that was the main reason it took me so long to get into this book - my main issue with it is the writing style.
the strewn-in phrases of pidgin, igbo and yaruba may make for some authenticity, and I don’t think not understanding them made me miss anything significant, but paired with the author’s obsession with throwing in copious amounts of highbrow words the average reader needs to google the definition of*, it just ruins the reading flow. the writing was beautiful in parts, but especially in the beginning I sometimes had to focus more on grasping what was being said than on following the story itself which made the experience less enjoyable.
once you get past this though, it really is a gripping story that taught me a good bit about a country and a city that I knew pretty much nothing about. though fictional, the political storyline seems close enough to reality and offers some interesting insights and perspectives to ponder, especially for someone who wants to do good and drive change in the world and spends a lot of time reflecting on what may be the most effective and right way to do this, and what makes someone a good man (loved the moral ambiguity of the chief and the way this was taken up in the end!). the questions of morality around money are interesting as well, just like the theme of spirituality, told through a character who doesn’t quite believe in it but finds comfort and solace in it in hard times.
a good read that could be great if the writing was a little bit less obnoxious and inaccessible at times.
*very ironic for someone who put this great sentence to paper: “The jargon came easily to Sandayo now, each technical phrase linked to another, forming a chain of incomprehensibility that passed as knowledge in front of this crowd.”
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Five strangers are thrown together and end up on the bus to Lagos, hopeful of new and better lives.
I picked this one up entirely based on the title and cover (which I love, though it is a rather sanitised version of the chaos of Lagos’ streets), and it did not disappoint! A bit of a slow start and I couldn’t see where it was going for a while, but when the story eventually did take off, it was riveting. It’s a well-written, clever and scathing critique of the ubiquitous corruption rife in all levels of Nigerian society, politics and military, yet manages not to be totally depressing - an impressive feat which I put down to Onuzo’s wonderful (and believable) characters and some moments of pure comedy. I had to really work at some of the pidgin (which is not a criticism of the book - I can understand it perfectly fine orally, but my brain trips over it when written), and I remember veeery little Yoruba or Igbo - since I read this during night feeds specifically to avoid screens, I wasn’t about to look up translations on my phone as I normally would - but that didn’t particularly detract from my understanding of the story, I think I just missed out on some of its richness. I suspect it would render well as an audiobook. A well-written and enjoyable story of found family and Nigeria’s omnipresent corruption.
I picked this one up entirely based on the title and cover (which I love, though it is a rather sanitised version of the chaos of Lagos’ streets), and it did not disappoint! A bit of a slow start and I couldn’t see where it was going for a while, but when the story eventually did take off, it was riveting. It’s a well-written, clever and scathing critique of the ubiquitous corruption rife in all levels of Nigerian society, politics and military, yet manages not to be totally depressing - an impressive feat which I put down to Onuzo’s wonderful (and believable) characters and some moments of pure comedy. I had to really work at some of the pidgin (which is not a criticism of the book - I can understand it perfectly fine orally, but my brain trips over it when written), and I remember veeery little Yoruba or Igbo - since I read this during night feeds specifically to avoid screens, I wasn’t about to look up translations on my phone as I normally would - but that didn’t particularly detract from my understanding of the story, I think I just missed out on some of its richness. I suspect it would render well as an audiobook. A well-written and enjoyable story of found family and Nigeria’s omnipresent corruption.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
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:
Yes
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Simple but beautiful writing exploring complex themes and a spectrum of characters with warmth and humanity.
Welcome to Lagos is a story of five wayward and unlikely companions traveling from the north of Nigeria to Lagos, where they attempt to make new lives for themselves. As is the case in a bustling and explosive city like Lagos, things do not go as planned. This was a joyful rendering of Nigeria's issues with corruption - in the government and in the people. The story verged on absurd, but was nonetheless entertaining and informative.
Not really sure what I was expecting when I went into reading this story, but I was satisfied with what I found. This wasn't the dark, depressing Lagos that's normally portrayed in stories and of that I was very appreciative. The beginning had me worried because there were so many characters introduced right away, but the author was able to keep the flow smooth with very little confusion. Very impressive!