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A review by katharinars
Welcome to Lagos by Chibundu Onuzo
4.0
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.”