A very good novel. I wasn’t sure about the last third, I suppose it was simply a finalization of the metamorphosis. Perhaps it closely hues to Kafka’s I can't remember how that ends...

fiction (Kafka's metamorphosis translated to modern Nigeria) ( )

A black Nigerian wakes up to find he has turned into a redheaded, green-eyed white man. He flees into the streets of Lagos and faces a new world of privilege and prejudice. The premise and satirical potential were excellent but execution fell short. The female characters were pretty one-dimensional (i.e., sexist depictions) and Furo had a *criminally* uninteresting internal life given his circumstances. Igoni’s parallel sexual transformation also came out of nowhere (I had to read back I was so confused). But the pidgin and side characters made me miss Lagos. ( )

I agree with some of the other Goodreads reviewers -- great premise, skillfull writing, wonderful evocation of Lagos and Nigerian culture -- then a pretty dramatic stall. I was reminded of Jose Saramago's [b:Blindness|2526|Blindness|José Saramago|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1327866409s/2526.jpg|3213039], which has a similar mechanism -- start with a singular, strange event that changes everything then see what happens. Saramago goes deeper and deeper, surprising us with every new twist. ut Barrett seems to stall on a pretty predictable revelation of white privilege. That's fine and rings true -- but then what? What new aspect of race relations or Nigerian culture or Furo's family does the story reveal? Barrett doesn't seem to have that much to say other than the obvious. Also, I didn't get a deeper sense of Furo's humanity -- he seemed a vehicle to explore a racism we (should) already know about. ( )

I felt like this book was anti-climactic. I was almost done when I had to return it to the library and I remember being sad that I had to take a break, but upon picking it up again I couldn't figure out *why*. In my opinion, there's no resolution in this book either. I don't feel like the main character ever truly finds his way, which is what I was waiting for the whole time. There's also maybe a sub-plot (though under-developed if that is indeed what it is) that was just confusing and distracting. Overall, glad I read it but would not recommend strongly. ( )