A review by bukolayemi
Swallow by Sefi Atta

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Swallow is a novel about corruption, friendship, love, morality, identity, drug trafficking among other themes.

Set in 1980s Lagos during the Nigerian government’s War Against Indiscipline and austerity measures, it softly deals with the heavy themes with engaging and beautiful writing. 

Sefi Atta writes Lagos well, she documents places, political events and pop culture in such a lovely way.

I don’t remember reading any other novel that is not broken down into chapters. Well the last 50 pages are in part two but majority of this story is one long continuous part one.

If like me, you wait until the end of a chapter to put down a book, be ready to drop this one midway and pick it again in the morning, there are no chapters. Saying that, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and soon got used to the lack of chapters.