Graceland (Today Show Pick January 2005)
September 22, 2008
“A richly detailed, poignant, and utterly fascinating look into another culture and how it is cross-pollinated by our own. It brings to mind the work of Ha Jin in its power and revelation of the new.”–T. Coraghessan BoyleThe sprawling, swampy, cacophonous city of Lagos, Nigeria, provides the backdrop to the story of Elvis, a teenage Elvis impersonator hoping to make his way out of the ghetto. Nuanced, lyrical, and pitch perfect, this is a remarkable story of a son and his father, and an examination of postcolonial Nigeria, where the trappings of American culture reign supreme.
Customer Review: Coming of age in Nigeria
This is a powerful coming-of-age novel, spanning the life of Elvis Oke from age 5 to age 16. Elvis is an Igbo boy from Akikpo, Nigeria who moves with his father to Lagos in 1981 after his father’s bankruptcy and his mother’s death from cancer. Nigeria is in turmoil after the tragedy of the Biafran war and a series of brutal dictators. Elvis lives in the slums reading Rilke and dreaming of becoming a dancer (he’s already a creditable Elvis Presley impersonator). The distance Elvis travels to become a man is far greater than the 800 miles between Akikpo and Lagos: it’s the distance between his largely traditional culture with its rhythms of the soil and the rain and the urban ghetto lifestyle he confronts in Lagos.
Lagos has everything and nothing for Elvis. He watches his father disappear into alcoholism. He is ignored and even starved by his father’s live-in lover. He tries legal and illegal employment. But above all we see the chaos that is Lagos under one dictatorship after another. The police brutalize the citizenry. The government bulldozes the slums, crushing all underfoot. There is even a frightful trade in human organs. And through it all there is music: African music, western music, eastern music, Hound Dog.
How can a sensitive 16-year old find his way amid all this disorder? Where can he find guidance? Despite the harsh realities Elvis faces this book gives us a gentle, even poetic, portrait of a sensitive young man in an intolerable situation. I found it deeply moving and highly readable. Highly recommended.
Customer Review: A Master Storyteller - A Masterful Rendering
Chris Abani ranks right up there with Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka in my book. He peels away the glossy shell of life and dives right into the soft underbelly where life and death compete side by side.
Graceland took my breath away with its vivid rendering of Lagos and Nigeria, it’s compassionate protagonist, and its heartfelt stuggle to do more than merely survive. Abani writes with such passion and insight that I was easily swept away with every sentence.
I used to work in Nigeria, and it all came rushing back to me with this book - the sights, the sounds, the smells, the pace . . . it’s all there. Raucous music mingling with car horns. Burning tires overpowering the barbeque chicken. Palm wine and beer. Overfilled jitneys. Waterlogged slums. Bar Beach Market.
I have read this book twice already and am still not tired of it. In addition, I’ve read his poetry in “Daphne’s Lot” and “Kalakuta Republic” and found them to be as melodic and memorable as “Graceland.”
I definitely recommend that you buy and read this book. It will earn a place in your heart and your top ten fiction list.
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