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A review by half_book_and_co
Welcome to Lagos by Chibundu Onuzo
4.0
Chibundu Onuzo was only born in 1991 and "Welcome to Lagos" is already her second novel. Besides having a beautiful cover, this book bursts with wonderful characters and a great, fun story.
The novel starts in the Niger Delta, where officer Chike Ameobi (together with private Yemi) deserts the army. On the run, they bump into Fineboy, who belonged to the rebels, but whose big dream is to be a radio host, and Isokan, a young woman, who fled from an attack in which she was separated from her parents. On their trip to Lagos, the group meets Oma, a woman from a well-to-do background but who tries to escape her violent husband.
When the group arrives in Lagos their struggles only begin for the city is big and opportunities are rare. The five strangers have to rely on each other, band together and understand their different strengths and weaknesses. And then there is also Chief Sandayo, a government minister on the run with 10 Million, and Ahmed Bakare, the founder and editor of a newspaper, who tries to do actual critical reporting but loses subscriptions every day.
The story does not shy away from gritty topics like sexual assault, domestic violence, violence through armies, corruption, colonial history, poverty etc., but there is a specific light tone to it and the story has some fairytale-like quality to it. So many aspects are realistic, but then the sum of parts is not - in a good way. In a hopeful way. Onuzo's writing is fluent, she switches between the different perspectives, inserts newspaper articles and just captures your attention. Despite the many heavy topics, "Welcome to Lagos" is not a particularly heavy read, there is always the hope that things might work out for our protagonists - and maybe they will even manage to do some good on the way.
The novel starts in the Niger Delta, where officer Chike Ameobi (together with private Yemi) deserts the army. On the run, they bump into Fineboy, who belonged to the rebels, but whose big dream is to be a radio host, and Isokan, a young woman, who fled from an attack in which she was separated from her parents. On their trip to Lagos, the group meets Oma, a woman from a well-to-do background but who tries to escape her violent husband.
When the group arrives in Lagos their struggles only begin for the city is big and opportunities are rare. The five strangers have to rely on each other, band together and understand their different strengths and weaknesses. And then there is also Chief Sandayo, a government minister on the run with 10 Million, and Ahmed Bakare, the founder and editor of a newspaper, who tries to do actual critical reporting but loses subscriptions every day.
The story does not shy away from gritty topics like sexual assault, domestic violence, violence through armies, corruption, colonial history, poverty etc., but there is a specific light tone to it and the story has some fairytale-like quality to it. So many aspects are realistic, but then the sum of parts is not - in a good way. In a hopeful way. Onuzo's writing is fluent, she switches between the different perspectives, inserts newspaper articles and just captures your attention. Despite the many heavy topics, "Welcome to Lagos" is not a particularly heavy read, there is always the hope that things might work out for our protagonists - and maybe they will even manage to do some good on the way.