Nearly all the Men in Lagos are Mad
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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.
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Overall, I enjoyed this book. I was concerned before I read it that it would be just story after story of men cheating. While about half of them were that, there were other types of stories too that were a nice break. For one of the stories, to be honest I don’t see what the guy did wrong, the woman didn’t do anything wrong either so I wondered a bit what what the point of the story was.
The stories were interesting and engaging, not as funny as Only Big Bum Bum Matters Tomorrow, but still a good read. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4, 3.5 because I think some of the stories could have been funnier instead of just about the guy cheating on his parter, at a point listening to his thoughts on why he’s deceiving his partner or being asshole being funny got old fast. But 4 stars for the pacing and how entertaining the stories are.
The book is packaged with all sorts of red flags for men, written in first and second person, 12 short stories in total. I did not finish the book. It was full of sad stories back to back no positive endings till where I got to. I also found the explicit scenes too much and kind of forced. Maybe because I wasn't bonding and rooting for the couples.
Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review!
I was super surprised with these beautiful stories! They were refreshing and unique. At first, I was a bit confused on what the stories were trying to do, specifically with the sex scenes. They were unexpected and sometimes felt ill-fitting for the tone of certain stories here. I wasn't sure if they were supposed to be a critical analysis of bad male behavior or just stories of unusual relationships with eroticism mixed in. But I think they can totally be both. That's one of my favorite parts of this collection. It can be lighthearted and fun while also saying something important about culture, gender, and status. The last story is, in my opinion, the most powerful (and also the most triggering, i'm sure). While some endings fell flat or rushed, this one was particularly perfect. Overall this was so good and I'd recommend it to probably everyone!
