Brain Surgery on the Highway

From the crowded streets of Lagos to the unpredictable corners of London, Brain Surgery on the Highway and Other Manic Expressions presents eleven darkly comic stories about ordinary people trapped in extraordinarily absurd situations.

A man who believes he can read minds encounters the disturbing thoughts of passengers on a Lagos bus. A newly ordained pastor confronts his criminal past and unsettling visions. A motorist argues with his talking Mercedes, while preachers, hustlers, madmen, criminals and desperate dreamers struggle to impose order on worlds determined to remain chaotic.

Blending satire, surrealism, crime and farce, Rotimi Ogunjobi examines religion, poverty, ambition, migration, greed and madness with an irreverent eye. Beneath the outrageous situations and eccentric characters lies a sharply observed portrait of human beings trying to survive—and occasionally prosper—in societies where sanity may be the strangest condition of all.

Inventive, provocative and relentlessly funny, this collection transforms everyday disorder into unforgettable manic comedy.