Reviews with content warning for Racism - The Lagos Wife

Perceptive. Philosophical. Eloquent.
🇳🇬☀️🌧️ Set in the Victoria Island region of Lagos, Nigeria. The story unfolds during summer and the rainy season.
POV: We alternate between the perspectives of one character before their disappearance and that of their relative travelling to Nigeria from the UK to find them.

Mood Reading Match Up:
-Deep dives into family dynamics, exploring different aspects of African identity, expatriate experiences, and cultural contrasts
-True crime-style mystery centred on a missing person
-Complex romantic drama with themes of secret lives and mismatched relationships
-Rich exploration of themes like ‘behind closed doors’, femininity, motherhood, marriage, tradition versus rebellion, love, freedom, and sacrifice.

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🐺 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐕
✏️ Writing: The prose is beautifully crafted. It has a heavy reliance on dialogue to drive the plot and scenes, so if that’s not your favourite it could be more difficult to stay engaged.

🫥 Characters: All the characters are intriguing to learn about, gradually becoming relatable and evoking empathy or frustration.

🗺️ Worldbuilding: The description of Lagos is atmospheric and experiential, offering in-depth insights into the sounds, smells, sights, and local culture.

🔥 Fuel: The story is character-driven, focusing on Nicole’s life leading up to her disappearance and the subsequent search to uncover the truth.

🐢 Pacing: The narrative is dialogue-heavy, interspersed with monologues recalling past conversations. It feels like a drama, with distinctive character voices and opinions. It sometimes feels slow, particularly when characters are philosophical or exploring commentary, but I never found it uninteresting or lazy. I can see how it can be tiresome if you are here mainly here for the mysteries and thrills though!

That ending…I need to know more! Hoping for a follow-up novel!

🤔 Random Thoughts: The novel excellently portrays the complexities of gender roles and expectations, showing how these can be both protective and destructive. It delves into the reasons behind the enforcement of traditions and their impacts on modern society.
I think it was a thought-provoking and immersive read, offering a multifaceted view of Nigerian life and the complexities of interpersonal relationships.

🎧 Audio: The audiobook narration is outstanding, with clear distinctions between characters and accents. Narrators brought the characters to life and despite the timeline switching and large-ish cast of characters I never felt lost or confused.

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Content Heads-Up: Death. Missing spouse. Loss of adult child. Infidelity. Domestic violence. Gaslighting, mental abuse. Slavery (recalled, character opinions). Sexual content (consentual; mentioned, insinuated). Infidelity (on page; descriptive). Toxic gender dynamics. Racism (internalized, externalized; colourism).
Rep includes: Nigerian and Carribean immigration, history, and cultural outlooks; foreign wives of Nigerian men.

Format: Library Audio via Libby.

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Content Warnings

heather667's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

starrysteph's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

An uneasy dive into familial pressures, hierarchies, and trauma that highlights cultural isolation - and a slow-burn mystery.

Claudine’s niece Nicole has disappeared, and she’s determined to uncover the truth. So she steps into Nicole’s seemingly-perfect life in Nigeria, with a wealthy family, two young kids, and a mansion overlooking beautiful waters. But the deeper she digs - combating the detached family of Nicole’s husband and the tight lips of those who surround them - the more disturbing elements come to light.

Claudine’s current day search is woven side-by-side with Nicole’s timeline from the past. We watch Nicole slowly unravel amidst her difficult marriage and complicated friendships (many with fellow ‘Nigerwives’, foreign women who moved to Lagos after their marriage), and the two stories slowly come together as past secrets are revealed.

I wouldn’t quite call it “twisty and electrifying” per the blurb, but it held my attention with a slowly-mounting sense of dread. The cultural elements were detailed & fascinating (from the fabrics to the food to the strict hierarchies and pressures around social images), but occasionally the dialogue & writing in general were a bit too meandering and dry for my taste.

I could really feel Claudine’s frustration & guilt, and although some ‘twists’ were predictable, I still thought the reveals were well-executed. It was less about the surprise element and more about seeing the reveal through the eyes of the person narrating at the time.

It was also not my favorite type of ending - but there was at least some resolve and satisfaction.

CW: violence, death (incl. child death), murder, sexism, misogyny, rape, pedophilia, domestic abuse, toxic relationship, self harm, animal death, addiction, body shaming, classism, colorism, racism, slavery (discussed), infidelity

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(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

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