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Everything happens in Lagos—from the best parties to chaotic beach days, outrageous public transport fights and long evenings spent in inexplicable traffic. The city never stops, and it never sleeps. Sure, there are bright spots, but surviving in Lagos can be a hassle. When the city is not filling you with terror, it is definitely getting on your last nerve!
In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of books to read to understand why Lagos drives people crazy. From a book that exposes the racial privilege that marks the city to one that explores its dangerous underground and criminal networks run by the very people who should be protecting the city, these books will make you livid about just how anything is permissible in Lagos!
Read our recommendations below.
easy motion tourist
author: leye adenle
Genre: fiction
If regular daily life in Lagos already makes you angry, then this book, which explores its dangerous underground world, featuring mutilated bodies and a thriving organs trade that goes all the way up the echelons of power, will drive you crazy.
Guy Collins, a clueless hack journalist from England, has come to Lagos to cover an upcoming election. But what starts out to be a simple business trip ends up dragging him through the Lagos underground when he goes to a club one night and finds a young woman’s mutilated body in the streets. He is subsequently arrested by the police as a suspect in the murder but is eventually broken out of his cell by Amaka, a young woman who protects sex workers in Lagos.
blackass
AUTHOR: a. igoni barrett
GENRE: fiction
There is nothing more aggravating than how Lagos seems to work best for only a certain set of people: those with privilege. And though people often argue that racism does not exist in Nigeria, being a white person in Lagos is a true privilege indeed and can open doors you didn’t even know existed.
This is what Furo Wariboko, a young Nigerian man living in Lagos, discovers when he wakes up one morning and discovers that he has turned into a white man. Stunned into confusion by this bizarre development, he flees home, wondering what he will now do with his life. But, though previously unemployed, Furo is surprised by how quickly his new skin lands him a good job and opens several other obscure doors for him.
Blackass exposes Lagos’s obsession with privilege, and especially racial privilege, which is a topic that is not discussed nearly enough.
every day is for the thief
authOR: teju cole
GENRE: fiction
Teju Cole’s 2007 novella, Every Day is for the Thief, follows a young man through his exploration ofTeju Cole’s 2007 novella, Every Day is for the Thief, follows a young man through his exploration of the chaotic city of Lagos. The unnamed man has just returned to Lagos after 15 years in the United States, only to find himself confused by the city. In an effort to rediscover it, he begins to take long walks and trips around Lagos, sightseeing and observing its people and cultures. This way, he discovers how poverty and corruption deeply marks the city. But he also discovers the humanity at the heart of Lagos.
Cassava Republic Press is proud to announce the launch of their inaugural $20,000 Global Black Women’s Non-Fiction Manuscript Prize dedicated to exceptional works by Black women. Deadline: 30th June 2024. Learn more here.
nights of the creaking bed
AUTHOR: toni kan
GENRE: fiction
In this collection of short stories, Toni Kan details different characters’ experiences of Lagos. From a young woman who can’t find love because she has to take care of her three brothers to a child street hawker hawking onions on Christmas day, the characters in these stories experience firsthand the ugly realities of Lagos.
Kan captures the effect Lagos has on people aptly in passages such as this: ‘Lagos was madness. Watching the crowds, the innumerable people stuck in what I supposed was perpetual motion, almost made me dizzy. Looking at the people in Lagos was like looking into a gigantic whirlwind, but instead of bits of rubbish, what we had inside was an eddy of human beings.’
welcome to lagos
Author: chibundu onuzo
Genre: fiction
After receiving an impossible order, Nigerian soldier, Chike Ameobi, decides that he would rather retire than kill innocent people. He surrenders his badge and heads to Lagos, accompanied by a junior soldier, Yemi, who, motivated by Chike’s bold decision, also decides to quit the army.
On their way to Lagos, both men meet several characters similarly escaping old lives. As the story unravels, these characters form a new platoon, headed by Chike. Together, they find themselves pulled into a political scandal in messy, unforgiving Lagos⎈
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