We are all about to be submerged by a tidal wave of Nnedi Okorafor. Who Fears Death (read before I started Reading Wells, and highly recommended) is in production by HBO, her Binti series is a critical favorite, etc. The third novel to be reviewed here is Lagoon (2014), which is most similar to The Book of Phoenix in that it is, in my view, likely to be seen as a less-central part of her output.
Lagoon is an odd book, one that becomes much better than anticipated, but quite intentionally doesn’t really end, and not necessarily because there are more installments coming (although that is possible, for sure). At core, I think the novel is really focused on two areas: the first is the essential question of the plot, which is what would you do if the aliens appeared? and the second is a loving ode to the city of Lagos.
The former is complicated by three central characters with supernatural powers, but the basic range of responses, from flight to fight, from riot to rally together, are presented in inventive, creative ways. The latter is more subtext than text, but is clearly present, both in some key secondary human characters (government officials, soldiers, a particularly vocal pastor) and some nice non-human touches (the spirit of the city itself, a monster that possesses the Lagos-Benin expressway to feed on the bones of travelers).
The aliens are a catalyst in many ways, loosing upon the world both the range of human behavior described above and a wave of monsters from the deep ocean with long held resentments towards humanity.
The action of the book is limited first to Lagos, and then to Nigeria (with a short vignette in Ghana), but there is also a gradual widening of the lens, as millions of people start to observe what is happening via social media. The end of the book–even interspersed with the author’s note and acknowledgements–touches on a trio of African-American students in North America and their reactions to what they have seen.
In the first third of the book, I was concerned about it feeling a bit thin, a bit prone to caricature. By halfway, though, I was hooked, and I found it to be as creative and thought-provoking as the rest of Okorafor’s work.
#WhatIWishICouldDo
Okorafor’s writing sparkles with creativity and confidence, a combination that is hard to beat, and Lagoon is no exception.