This book reads a lot like an anthology, which is something I wasn’t expecting but it’s also something I grew to enjoy because despite the fact that the correlation between each story isn’t made clear right from the beginning, you get to the end of the book and realise that they were all intertwined in one way or another. 

Yet again, this book shows how well the magical realism genre and West African folklore work together. It’s honestly beautiful stuff. I especially enjoyed the personification of Lagos (Eko) and how Osunde made the choice to represent the city as a “city-spirit” with a consciousness, a set of desires and a set of dislikes. This choice was such an interesting way to speak about the city, about how the city treats its people, about how it favours the rich and aims to dispose of its poor, its vulnerable, it’s “vagabonds.” 

I loved this book. The only reason why it’s not getting a five is that it felt a little slow at parts, and I found myself wishing for more chapters from Tatafo (our personified character of “Gossip”) and his relationship with Eko. Still, for a debut novel? This was great work.