Last 2018 Mini Reseñas feat. Welcome To Lagos (eng)
December 21, 2018
I Was Born For This - Alice Oseman
Blurb: For Angel, life is about one thing: The Ark- a pop-rock trio of teenage boys taking the world by storm. Being part of The Ark's fandom has given her everything she loves - her friend Juliet, her dreams, her place in the world.
Jimmy owes everything to The Ark. He's their frontman - and playing in a band with his mates is all he ever dreamed of doing.
But dreams don't always turn out the way you think, and when Jimmy and Angel are unexpectedly thrust together they find out how strange and surprising facing up to reality can be.
I originally thought I wouldn't like this because it's a book about a boy band. It's not that I don't necessarily belong to any boy band fandom, but sometimes when you don't really fit into the fangirl 'mold' you feel really distant.
The novel also explores the expectations vs reality of internet friendships. There may or may not be an extra person who threatens their friendship.
The novel explored a lot of what goes on behind the scenes of boy groups and the ugly side of fandoms-especially the ones who physically hurt the people they are fans of.
I almost forgot to mention the parts on faith as Jimmy is Catholic and Angel is Muslim. I can't really say that I expected it to be well done as the author doesn't have a religion. To me it was really lacking but *sigh* as I said, I didn't expect much.
Welcome to Lagos - Chibundu Onuzo
Blurb: Deep in the Niger Delta, officer Chike Ameobi deserts the army and sets out on the road to Lagos. He is soon joined by a wayward private, a naive militant, a vulnerable young woman and a runaway middle-class wife. The shared goals of this unlikely group: freedom and new life.
As they strive to find their places in the city, they become embroiled in a political scandal Ahmed Bakare, editor of the failing Nigerian journal, is determined to report the truth. Yet government minister Chief Sandayo will do anything to maintain his position. Trapped between the two, they are forced to make a life-changing decision.
Full of shimmering detail, Welcome to Lagos is a stunning portrayal of an extraordinary city, and of seven lines that intersect in a breathless story of courage and survival.
(Taken from Goodreads)
I buddy read this with Etinosa from Uwadis!
At first, I was very drawn to it, mostly because of the pidgin English in the dialogue (stupid reason, but still. shh. I rarely get to read Nigerian books).
I was pretty confused about the whole journalism as its not an area I'm well aware of.
The last thing I had a problem with was that there were too many characters for a 300+ page novel.
However, it was pretty funny so I think I might check out more things by this author.
And there you have it. Finished! All the (English) mini reviews are done!
Feel free to tell me about your favourite reads or even least favourite read this year.
Byee!
2 comments
Oh Welcome to Lagos sounds really interesting! And I agree: I Was Born For This was definitely not my favourite Alice Oseman novel -- I thought it was well written but the religion stuff could have been done way way better in my opinion. Good review! I think it's great that you review everything :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! I think I'll review a bit less next year, though unless it's a book I have to xD
DeleteKeep it all clean, man. Well, if you really wanna curse, use minor swear words. And I mean the minorest of minor ones.
"Or what?" you ask in indignation.
"Or else."