Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad
Stories
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- 7,49 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
The anti-rom-com debut collection that took Nigeria by storm, featuring twelve “bewitching and revelatory” (The New York Times) and “ridiculously entertaining” (Booklist starred review) stories about the perils and pitfalls of dating men in Lagos, from a rising star of Nollywood
“Sharply observational, funny and profound, this book is dynamic sociological satire that is as universal as it is specific.” —Bolu Babalola, author of Reese's Book Club pick and national bestseller Honey and Spice
One night, you will calmly put a knife to your husband's private part and promise to cut it off. It will scare him so much that the next day, he will call his family members for a meeting in the house. He will not call your family members, but you will not care. You won’t need them.
In this remarkable short story collection, Damilare Kuku takes us deep into the heart of modern Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, and the lives of a collection of audacious women who cope with romantic difficulties by brilliantly turning the tables on the men who wrong them.
One hardworking married woman calmly threatens sharp-edged revenge on her lazy, hypocritical husband. Another skillfully protects her own business interests by shielding her pastor-husband from allegations of cheating that may or may not be true. A group of wealthy wives deceived by their husbands join forces in a WhatsApp support group called the Virtuous Wives Guild. And a discerning dater fed up with Nigerian men makes a vow to date only oyibos before discovering that white men can act just as badly.
A bestseller in Damilare Kuku’s native Nigeria, Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad is a raunchy, satisfying, and outrageous read steeped in the chaos and allure of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest city. It’s also a love letter to Nigerian women: the women in these stories may be confronted at every turn with liars, scammers, and cheaters in their quests for love, but they always figure out how to come out victorious.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
With this singular debut collection, Nigerian author Kuku digs into the trials and tribulations of dating and married life for women in Lagos. The frank "Cuck-up," narrated in the second person, begins, "One night, you will calmly put a knife to your husband's penis and promise to cut it off." The narrator then attempts to convince her husband's family to intervene and push him to work rather than mooch off her. When that doesn't succeed, the couple's financial woes build to an unsettling denouement—less Lorena Bobbitt than Indecent Proposal. In "The Annointed Wife," the wife of a pastor accused of hiring a sex worker stands behind her husband, indignant at what she believes are unfounded rumors. Her feelings change after she learns more about his secret life. The dual narrative of "Catfish" follows an up-and-coming musician named Don Okoro who slides into the DMs of a woman named Dooshima. Sensing he'd prefer casual sex to a serious relationship, she ends up turning down his booty call, though he still manages to hurt her feelings. Kuku finds both hideousness and humor in her precise details and candid, voice-driven characterizations. Readers who have had their own share of bad romances will appreciate the realness on display.
