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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
i missed the characters so much. I wanted to continue spying on their lives through Sefi's eyes and beautiful writing. Sefi writes brilliantly without the usual ethnic stereotypes that can be found in other Nigerian writers books. You are introduced to each characters life and you will fall in love with them, this book made me cry like a baby and also laugh out loud all by myself, loved it
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The book opens with a dialogue between two friends on the bus, on their way to work, after narrowly escaping a possible accident. Rose talks a lot, and preferably about what her friend Tolani should do with her life and her boyfriend, while Tolani herself only gives laconic replies. Both face an uphill struggle trying to survive in the chaotic metropolis of Lagos, Nigeria, in a society dominated by men who tend to be unreliable, molesting, or even criminal.
Tolani doesn't appear to be very good at getting her way through dialogue, even though there is a lot of it going on. Somehow, it never goes her way, and she always ends up swallowing her pride. Her employers kick her around, her useless boyfriend squanders her savings, her mother tells her everything except what she needs to know, and her friend Rose signs the pair of them up for a trip as drug mules, which, again, requires Tolani to swallow her pride, not to mention a condom filled with cocaine.
With its colourful representation of everyday life in Nigeria, this short novel (like Atta's debut, Everything good will come) is very engaging in the short term, for 10 or 20 pages. I especially enjoyed the swipes at us western people ("oyinbo" seems to be the Yoruba equivalent to "gringo"), such as: "... oyinbos write theories about things they can't understand, and by the time they finish, you can't understand either, even if they're writing about you." (p. 167) However, given the very slow pace of the progress our heroine makes, the reading experience is also a little bit frustrating in the longer term. This may very well be intentional, reflecting the frustration that this woman suffers every day. Only in the very last paragraph she seems to have picked herself up. "It's my turn to speak," she says. About time, too.
Tolani doesn't appear to be very good at getting her way through dialogue, even though there is a lot of it going on. Somehow, it never goes her way, and she always ends up swallowing her pride. Her employers kick her around, her useless boyfriend squanders her savings, her mother tells her everything except what she needs to know, and her friend Rose signs the pair of them up for a trip as drug mules, which, again, requires Tolani to swallow her pride, not to mention a condom filled with cocaine.
With its colourful representation of everyday life in Nigeria, this short novel (like Atta's debut, Everything good will come) is very engaging in the short term, for 10 or 20 pages. I especially enjoyed the swipes at us western people ("oyinbo" seems to be the Yoruba equivalent to "gringo"), such as: "... oyinbos write theories about things they can't understand, and by the time they finish, you can't understand either, even if they're writing about you." (p. 167) However, given the very slow pace of the progress our heroine makes, the reading experience is also a little bit frustrating in the longer term. This may very well be intentional, reflecting the frustration that this woman suffers every day. Only in the very last paragraph she seems to have picked herself up. "It's my turn to speak," she says. About time, too.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Sefi Atta's novel is a literary gem.
26 Jun 2011
Tolani is a single woman living with a roommate, Rose, in Lagos, Nigeria. In the beginning of the story, both women work in the same office where red tape, biases, and corruption abound. Rose is fired and Tolani is made to take her place with Rose's immoral boss, Mr. Salako. Besides the relationship of these two women, Tolani's mother's story seeps intermittently into the plot, giving it even more depth.
Later, while Rose takes up with a drug dealer, Tolani loses her boyfriend. What happens to these two women at the end of the story, and more so, what happens internally to Tolani is a powerful tale. It addresses women's psychological struggles and their fights to find their rightful place in a corrupt society.
This book was an eye-opener for me. I knew little if nothing about Nigeria, about its tribal prejudices, city and country life, civil war, and corruption in government and society, but I was especially impressed by the uniquely strong women in the story, strong despite superstition, social prejudice, and difficult everyday life, and also, I thought their camaraderie despite everything was truly awesome.
What most pleases me about this novel is its skillful portrayal of fully developed characters. It is those characters that carry the plot through the minute details of everyday life. In the hands of a lesser writer, this story could have been a bore, but Sefi Atta's pen has made it a literary winner.
Later, while Rose takes up with a drug dealer, Tolani loses her boyfriend. What happens to these two women at the end of the story, and more so, what happens internally to Tolani is a powerful tale. It addresses women's psychological struggles and their fights to find their rightful place in a corrupt society.
This book was an eye-opener for me. I knew little if nothing about Nigeria, about its tribal prejudices, city and country life, civil war, and corruption in government and society, but I was especially impressed by the uniquely strong women in the story, strong despite superstition, social prejudice, and difficult everyday life, and also, I thought their camaraderie despite everything was truly awesome.
What most pleases me about this novel is its skillful portrayal of fully developed characters. It is those characters that carry the plot through the minute details of everyday life. In the hands of a lesser writer, this story could have been a bore, but Sefi Atta's pen has made it a literary winner.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
women on the verge ... in Nigeria
23 Mar 2011
Format:Paperback
The book opens with a dialogue between two friends on the bus, on their way to work, after narrowly escaping a possible accident. Rose talks a lot, and preferably about what her friend Tolani should do with her life and her boyfriend, while Tolani herself only gives laconic replies. Both face an uphill struggle trying to survive in the chaotic metropolis of Lagos, Nigeria, in a society dominated by men who tend to be unreliable, molesting, or even criminal.
Tolani doesn't appear to be very good at getting her way through dialogue, even though there is a lot of it going on. Somehow, it never goes her way, and she always ends up swallowing her pride. Her employers kick her around, her useless boyfriend squanders her savings, her mother tells her everything except what she needs to know, and her friend Rose signs the pair of them up for a trip as drug mules, which, again, requires Tolani to swallow her pride, not to mention a condom filled with cocaine.
With its colourful representation of everyday life in Nigeria, this short novel (like Atta's debut, Everything good will come) is very engaging in the short term, for 10 or 20 pages. I especially enjoyed the swipes at us western people ("oyinbo" seems to be the Yoruba equivalent to "gringo"), such as: "... oyinbos write theories about things they can't understand, and by the time they finish, you can't understand either, even if they're writing about you." (p. 167) However, given the very slow pace of the progress our heroine makes, the reading experience is also a little bit frustrating in the longer term. This may very well be intentional, reflecting the frustration that this woman suffers every day. Only in the very last paragraph she seems to have picked herself up. "It's my turn to speak," she says. About time, too.
Tolani doesn't appear to be very good at getting her way through dialogue, even though there is a lot of it going on. Somehow, it never goes her way, and she always ends up swallowing her pride. Her employers kick her around, her useless boyfriend squanders her savings, her mother tells her everything except what she needs to know, and her friend Rose signs the pair of them up for a trip as drug mules, which, again, requires Tolani to swallow her pride, not to mention a condom filled with cocaine.
With its colourful representation of everyday life in Nigeria, this short novel (like Atta's debut, Everything good will come) is very engaging in the short term, for 10 or 20 pages. I especially enjoyed the swipes at us western people ("oyinbo" seems to be the Yoruba equivalent to "gringo"), such as: "... oyinbos write theories about things they can't understand, and by the time they finish, you can't understand either, even if they're writing about you." (p. 167) However, given the very slow pace of the progress our heroine makes, the reading experience is also a little bit frustrating in the longer term. This may very well be intentional, reflecting the frustration that this woman suffers every day. Only in the very last paragraph she seems to have picked herself up. "It's my turn to speak," she says. About time, too.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Book Snob Review
21 Feb 2011
Format:Paperback
Sefi Atta's Swallow is nothing like what I expected. This book has so many things going for it I was almost afraid to read it! Quality international Fiction is hard to find in the United States, let alone to find one that has been well translated by someone who understands the culture, and then add on top that this is a book by a woman! It's like the trifecta of interesting literature! Atta's book has all of the sensitivity and character description you could ever ask for, but the plot leaves you wanting.
I have to wonder if the difficulties I had with this book aren't a result of the very thing I was excited about when reading it, authentic cultural literature. Swallow was well written with a clear, consistent voice. Tolani is a single woman, negotiating the changes from her parent's Nigeria in a small farming town and her own experiences in the poverty ridden urban area of Lagos. She is unmarried, but has a long term boyfriend who has been promising to marry her for over two years. She is quiet and well behaved, never moving forward or backwards, her life is stagnant.
In opposition to Tolani's good behavior we are given the character of Rose, her co-worker and roommate. Rose sees money and sex as freedom and is desperate to improve her station. She is opinionated and audacious, taking risks that Tolani would never consider.
In between the stories of the two friends are stories that Tolani's mother Arike have told her daughter throughout her life about how she met Tolani's father and life in rural Nigeria.
The characters we are given in this story and the vivid emotions of the three, very different women involved are fantastic. You can feel the authenticity of their stories. Swallow stops short of actually being a great book for me because while the plot is realistic and plausible (the temptation of drug trafficking as a means to escape the poverty of urban Africa) the throughline doesn't grab the reader. The male characters are shallow and uninteresting. I don't know if this is done purposefully in contrast to the main female characters or if it is simply a side effect of Atta's dislike of her own characters, but regardless there is nothing endearing about any of them. The one male character that you almost begin to feel for, "Johnny", disappears and is never given any depth. Perhaps these male characters are archetypes of some sort, used to teach us a lesson. I can almost feel that, but in the end it falls short.
The sub-plot of Arike's history and the struggles of being a strong woman in rural Africa is the most interesting part of this. The details of her childhood and trials of marriage are fantastic and relate-able. I would love to see Atta focus on this story and was impressed enough with her writing that I would like to try another of her books.
In the end Swallow is an excellent exercise in culture based literature, but a less predictable or more fleshed out plot are necessary for it to be something I would recommend. If you are specifically interested in Nigerian history or women in Africa than this is a great read, but if you are looking for a story with depth and universal draw I suggest you keep looking.
I have to wonder if the difficulties I had with this book aren't a result of the very thing I was excited about when reading it, authentic cultural literature. Swallow was well written with a clear, consistent voice. Tolani is a single woman, negotiating the changes from her parent's Nigeria in a small farming town and her own experiences in the poverty ridden urban area of Lagos. She is unmarried, but has a long term boyfriend who has been promising to marry her for over two years. She is quiet and well behaved, never moving forward or backwards, her life is stagnant.
In opposition to Tolani's good behavior we are given the character of Rose, her co-worker and roommate. Rose sees money and sex as freedom and is desperate to improve her station. She is opinionated and audacious, taking risks that Tolani would never consider.
In between the stories of the two friends are stories that Tolani's mother Arike have told her daughter throughout her life about how she met Tolani's father and life in rural Nigeria.
The characters we are given in this story and the vivid emotions of the three, very different women involved are fantastic. You can feel the authenticity of their stories. Swallow stops short of actually being a great book for me because while the plot is realistic and plausible (the temptation of drug trafficking as a means to escape the poverty of urban Africa) the throughline doesn't grab the reader. The male characters are shallow and uninteresting. I don't know if this is done purposefully in contrast to the main female characters or if it is simply a side effect of Atta's dislike of her own characters, but regardless there is nothing endearing about any of them. The one male character that you almost begin to feel for, "Johnny", disappears and is never given any depth. Perhaps these male characters are archetypes of some sort, used to teach us a lesson. I can almost feel that, but in the end it falls short.
The sub-plot of Arike's history and the struggles of being a strong woman in rural Africa is the most interesting part of this. The details of her childhood and trials of marriage are fantastic and relate-able. I would love to see Atta focus on this story and was impressed enough with her writing that I would like to try another of her books.
In the end Swallow is an excellent exercise in culture based literature, but a less predictable or more fleshed out plot are necessary for it to be something I would recommend. If you are specifically interested in Nigerian history or women in Africa than this is a great read, but if you are looking for a story with depth and universal draw I suggest you keep looking.
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