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jhadiin's review
5.0
4.5 stars rounded up to 5 stars.
This collection ate. There were just two or three I didn't really resonate with, but all in all, it's a great collection and I think everyone should read it. I can't even pick favourites because I loved the rest of them so much.
This collection ate. There were just two or three I didn't really resonate with, but all in all, it's a great collection and I think everyone should read it. I can't even pick favourites because I loved the rest of them so much.
jendella's review
5.0
This collection of 24 personal essays did what it needed to do! The voices included are as eclectic and diverse as the country itself, and you can go from laughing to wanting to weep in a matter of moments as you’re taken through the ups and downs of a nation – and national identity – that is still scarred by colonialism, civil war and corruption but strides towards the future with arrogance, endless optimism and sheer bloody-mindedness. To be Nigerian is a complex and contradictory thing, but so many of these essays put into words things what I feel in the fibre of my gut but haven’t quite worked out the language for.
theotherbananwoman's review
5.0
Geweldige manier om een land te leren kennen. Geeft me het gevoel dat ik een beetje begrijp, en vooral honger om meer te zien en het zelf te ervaren
archytas's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
A startlingly good compendium of non-fiction about Nigeria, from Nigerian writers - both ex-pat and resident. There is a dazzling array of perspectives here - from love letters to Lagos to some which challenge the narratives created by wealthier Nigerians obscuring the benefactors of corruption. I found myself dipping back and forth, as my understanding of this country grew, to compare and contrast at times. A country with one of the largest out-of-school populations but also some of the world's most elite schools, one of achievement and exclusion, science and corruption, a place many authors found hard to leave and hard to stay in. And now I've added another swag of authors to my to-read pile.