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419

3.64 of 5 stars 3.64 · rating details · 1,831 ratings · 410 reviews

A startlingly original tale of heartbreak and suspense

A car tumbles down a snowy ravine. Accident or suicide?

On the other side of the world, a young woman walks out of a sandstorm in sub-Saharan Africa. In the labyrinth of the Niger Delta, a young boy learns to survive by navigating through the gas flares and oil spills of a ruined landscape. In the seething heat of Lagos...more

Hardcover, 393 pages

Published March 27th 2012 by Viking Canada (first published January 1st 2012)

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2012 Giller Prize Longlist

3rd out of 13 books — 28 voters

Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald

Canadian Fiction

90th out of 373 books — 266 voters

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Dec 02, 2012 Jennifer (aka EM) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: canlit, cftc

I finally break with a long string of novels about family dysfunction and land in a city that I think is supposed to be Calgary - somewhere in Alberta, anyway - and Nigeria: ranked 162 of 190 on the UNDP's Human Development Index and dead last on the list of countries The Economist recently reported a baby would best be born in, in 2013.

Ferguson's 2012 Giller-prize winning novel brings West Africa (or at least a sliver of it) to life through the cesspool of desperation, greed and poverty that i...more I finally break with a long string of novels about family dysfunction and land in a city that I think is supposed to be Calgary - somewhere in Alberta, anyway - and Nigeria: ranked 162 of 190 on the UNDP's Human Development Index and dead last on the list of countries The Economist recently reported a baby would best be born in, in 2013.

Ferguson's 2012 Giller-prize winning novel brings West Africa (or at least a sliver of it) to life through the cesspool of desperation, greed and poverty that is directly responsible for breeding the many forms of the '419' scheme: "Dearest Madame, my uncle a wealthy businessman is terminally ill and needs to deposit $34,739,952 in your bank account...".

It starts with a simple and intriguing premise: who responds to these things anyway? It proceeds to link four parallel plots together to show what happens when someone does, and how complex the web of corruption and responsibility is: who owes, who pays, who wins, who loses. Who is prey, and who is predator?

The plot has a classic detective story feel to it and that remains the centrifugal force holding it together, but I think it's Ferguson's unique sensibility as a travel writer that really lifts this story out of the ho-hum. There is so much movement in it - three of the four plots involve journeys: 1) an impoverished woman, Amina, travels south from the Sahel to seek a better life for herself and her unborn child; 2) a young man of great promise, Nnamdi, travels north out of the Nigerian Delta to do the same; 3) a sad and lonely copy editor, Laura, travels east (or would she travel west?) from Alberta to Nigeria, to avenge her father's death. The fourth plot - that of the scammer himself and the network that consumes and supports him - is still, with WWW-enabled reach, waiting to ensnare the three.

There's a proverb: Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle...when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.

In this story, everyone is running. Who is predator, and who is prey?

A most worthwhile read.

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Oct 31, 2012 Carolyn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

4.5 stars.
I enjoy a book which transports me to another place. Some authors set their stories in foreign countries but are unable to capture the sense of place, so the background doesn't ring true. Will Ferguson does a superior job in describing the sights and sounds of Lagos, from the well-to-do business areas and homes to the squalid and dangerous slums. I have never been to Lagos, but felt that I was there. I have been to the sahel and the picture of Amina, clad in her indigo robe, and cover...more 4.5 stars.
I enjoy a book which transports me to another place. Some authors set their stories in foreign countries but are unable to capture the sense of place, so the background doesn't ring true. Will Ferguson does a superior job in describing the sights and sounds of Lagos, from the well-to-do business areas and homes to the squalid and dangerous slums. I have never been to Lagos, but felt that I was there. I have been to the sahel and the picture of Amina, clad in her indigo robe, and covered with dust as she walks through the semi-desert is vivid in my mind.
419 refers to the section of the Nigerian criminal code which refers to obtaining goods of money by false pretenses.The book opens with a man driving off an icy road in western Canada.It is found to be a suicide, and he leaves behind a wife and two grown children. It is soon learned that he was the victim of a 419 scam and has lost the family's life savings and the house has been heavily re-mortgaged and will soon be taken by the bank. The daughter, Laura, finds much of her father's email from Nigeria, and papers where he has signed everything away naively thinking he was saving the life of a Nigerian girl and would make lots of money eventually. Laura is able to trace the person who committed the fraud by grammatical errors and unusual phrasing and heads off to Nigeria to confront the man responsible for the death of her father and try and get the money back.
Other major, and well developed characters are Winston, author of these emails under different names; Nnamdi, a young man from a fishing village where a big oil company has devastated the river and the environment, destroying the villagers' livelihood and health; Ironi Egobia is a frightening mob boss in Lagos. The least developed character is Amina, the girl crossing the sahel on foot. We know she is pregnant, but not sure if this is the reason she is fleeing her desert tribe. In her great fear she intends to get as far away from home as possible.
When all these separate stories converge, the conclusion is tragic and unforgettable. At first I was cheering for Laura, by herself in a place far from home. She was resourceful, brave and looking for revenge. She causes some cruel things to happen and shows little remorse,and I stopped admiring her.
Thought this was a great thriller, and learned a lot about the Nigerian email scams, and how the big Western oil companies are exploiting the land and its inhabitants.

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Jan 24, 2013 Keith rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, canadiana, ebooks, fiction

419 won this year's Giller Prize, perhaps Canada's premiere literary award (some may argue for the Governor-General's prize). It is a fascinating book which rests on a simple premise - what if one believed one of those Nigerian emails that flood our inboxes or spam folders on a daily basis. You know, like this:

Subject : MR SULEMAN BELLO

FROM THE OFFICE MR SULEMAN BELLO
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (ADB).
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO.
WEST AFRICA.

TRANSFER OF ($ 25,200.000.00) TWENTY FIVE MILLION, TWO HUNDREN

...more 419 won this year's Giller Prize, perhaps Canada's premiere literary award (some may argue for the Governor-General's prize). It is a fascinating book which rests on a simple premise - what if one believed one of those Nigerian emails that flood our inboxes or spam folders on a daily basis. You know, like this:

Subject : MR SULEMAN BELLO

FROM THE OFFICE MR SULEMAN BELLO
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (ADB).
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO.
WEST AFRICA.

TRANSFER OF ($ 25,200.000.00) TWENTY FIVE MILLION, TWO HUNDREN THOUSAND DOLLARS.

I AM SULEMAN BELLO, THE AUDITOR GENERAL OF AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK HERE IN BURKINA FASO. DURING THE COURSE OF OUR AUDITING, I DISCOVERED A FLOATING FUND IN AN ACCOUNT OPENED IN THE BANK BY MR JOHN KOROVO AND AFTER GOING THROUGH SOME OLD FILES IN THE RECORDS I DISCOVERED THAT THE OWNER OF THE ACCOUNT DIED IN THE (BEIRUT-BOUND CHARTER JET) PLANE CRASH ON THE 25TH DECEMBER 2003 IN COTONOU (REPUBLIC OF BENIN).

And so on. The novel follows in part, the effects on a Canadian family after their father dies and they discover that there is no money. While this story in itself is rife with possibility Ferguson melds it with three other stories: the pilgrimage of a young woman out of the Sahel desert to Lagos; the journey of a young Ijaw tribesman from his village to Lagos; and the tale of the young scammer himself. Their stories, although slowly developed, will converge in the book's conclusion. Ferguson paints a vivid picture of the new Nigeria. In a interview with the Calgary police commercial fraud unit, the two children of the man duped hear about the country from an officer:

"You seem to know an awful lot about Nigeria," said Warren.

"I do."

Laura looked at the detective. "You've been there, haven't you?"

"I have."

"Lagos?"

He nodded.

"What was it like?"

"It was like looking into the future."

"That bad?"

He nodded.

All this will be demonstrated in the book. Parts of Ferguson's description of Lagos and the Delta mirrored for me that of Los Angeles in Bladerunner and 2047 India in Ian McDonald's River of Gods. Here, though the time is now and the poverty, corruption, fear and desperation are heart-rending, Nevertheless, this is a well-plotted and controlled book that also demonstrates both human passion and fraility. In a strange way, it's also ennobling and inspiring.

(419, by the way, is the number of the Nigerian statute that bans Internet fraud)
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Feb 12, 2013 Luanne Ollivier rated it 4 of 5 stars

When I think of Canadian author Will Ferguson, it is his travel memoirs that immediately spring to mind. That and his rich sense of humour (He has won The Leacock Medal for Humour numerous times.)

419 takes us in a completely different direction....

We've all received them. In fact Barrister Salvadore Gallarto sent me one this morning. Can I help him with repatriating 8.5 million euros? It's a simple matter really. I'm sure that every reader has had one of these land in our inbox. And we promptly...more When I think of Canadian author Will Ferguson, it is his travel memoirs that immediately spring to mind. That and his rich sense of humour (He has won The Leacock Medal for Humour numerous times.)

419 takes us in a completely different direction....

We've all received them. In fact Barrister Salvadore Gallarto sent me one this morning. Can I help him with repatriating 8.5 million euros? It's a simple matter really. I'm sure that every reader has had one of these land in our inbox. And we promptly trash them. But what if you didn't?

Laura Curtis is heartbroken when her elderly father Henry is killed in an auto accident. But on further investigation, it appears he deliberately left the road. Why would he do such a thing? Further digging by the local Calgary police on his computer uncovers the truth - he had become embroiled in a 419 scam...."I can help...." (419 is the Nigerian criminal code for "obtaining money or goods under false pretenses.)

On the other side of the world in Nigeria, we follow the story of Winston - a 419 scammer. And Amina - a young pregnant woman walking her way across the country, escaping from something. And Nnamdi, a young man from the depths of the Niger Delta.

In the beginning, I wondered how these disparate stories would tie together, but Ferguson deftly weaves an absolutely riveting plot. The criminal underbelly of Nigeria is presented in all of it's seediness. But really, it is the story of Nnamdi that captured me the most. His story is given the most page space and he is the character I felt I 'knew' the most. The effect of the oil industry on a country and its' people is disheartening. The death of her father changes Laura as well. She becomes single minded, after years of staying safely within the confines of the small world she has created. She decides to go to Nigeria and find the man responsible for her father's death. I didn't feel I really got to know Laura and found her sudden about face to be a bit of a stretch.

419 is many things - a mystery, a thriller and a social commentary. I turned the final page with a sense of sadness. Varying degrees, but for most of the characters. Ferguson's tale of the story behind one of these schemes brings a very human face to what most see as a simple nuisance entry handled by a quick tap on the delete button.

An unusual, introspective and recommended read.
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Apr 10, 2013 Shelley added it

Overall I would have to say I enjoyed this book, although I found some parts very slow and almost boring while others caught my interest and wanting to know more.

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Dec 10, 2012 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010s, canadian, cultural-africa, bookmineset-2012-2013

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 16, 2013 Melanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Like many others, the reason why I read this book is because it won the Giller prize. It is certainly a worthwhile read, and a compelling one, but I was expecting it to be a little...better.
The premise and plot is very interesting, with the four storylines- Laura, the oyibo copy-editor whose father was driven to suicide by an Internet scammer, the scammer himself, the girl walking through the desert, Amina, and Nnamdi, whose village is destroyed by oil. I had no idea how these incredibly far apa...more Like many others, the reason why I read this book is because it won the Giller prize. It is certainly a worthwhile read, and a compelling one, but I was expecting it to be a little...better.
The premise and plot is very interesting, with the four storylines- Laura, the oyibo copy-editor whose father was driven to suicide by an Internet scammer, the scammer himself, the girl walking through the desert, Amina, and Nnamdi, whose village is destroyed by oil. I had no idea how these incredibly far apart storylines could intersect, but they did, and it was done very well.
(view spoiler)
Will Ferguson uses his language well, and there are some truly beautifully written passages. His descriptions of scenaries come to life, especially as Laura is driving through Nigeria, and the way he incorporates just enough foreign language phrases is perfect, with enough context and repitition so we can figure it out. However, I do wish the writing style was more consistent.
I cannot express how much I loved Nnamdi- he was talented, clever, sweet, and interesting to read from. (view spoiler) However, I really don't know what to make of the relationship with him and Amina, mostly because it didn't seem to make much sense or be that plausible at times. I also wish we had gotten more character development on Amina other than being scared and shy but brave and wanting to walk a lot. The sub-plot with Laura and Matthew Brisebois was also a bit weird...they didn't really even get to know eachother or talk or have much chemistry, it felt unnatural, and when Brisebois would look at Laura's window, a little creepy.
Despite my complaints above, I did enjoy this book- I finished it in two days, which is a moderate pace for me, and I would certainly reccomend it.(less)

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Apr 10, 2013 Arlene rated it 4 of 5 stars

The problem with prize-winning novels is, we can’t read them without thinking, “Would I have given this a prize?” We can’t read them without comparing them with the other contenders and second-guessing the work of the judges.

419 received the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize—a rather big deal here in Canada. No matter what people think about this book, with a Giller Prize win Will Ferguson won’t have any trouble signing book contracts for future projects.

Is he deserving? I think so.

419 begins with th...more The problem with prize-winning novels is, we can’t read them without thinking, “Would I have given this a prize?” We can’t read them without comparing them with the other contenders and second-guessing the work of the judges.

419 received the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize—a rather big deal here in Canada. No matter what people think about this book, with a Giller Prize win Will Ferguson won’t have any trouble signing book contracts for future projects.

Is he deserving? I think so.

419 begins with the stories of four very different, seemingly unconnected, people: Laura, a copy editor living in Calgary; Winston, a Nigerian internet scammer; Amina, a pregnant Muslim woman travelling through Nigeria alone to flee a mysterious threat; and Nnamdi, a boy from the Nigerian Delta who leaves his village to work for American oil interests. As savvy readers, we know they will inevitably connect, but Ferguson unfolds the story carefully, so we must keep reading to see how these disparate threads intertwine. Even when the inevitable meeting happens, we can’t predict the final outcome, so we must keep reading to see what transpires. I wouldn’t call it a page-turner, but I would call it compelling.

419 is the section in the Nigerian Criminal Code that deals with obtaining money through fraudulent means—internet email scams, for example. A significant portion of this book is set in Nigeria, and Ferguson does an outstanding job (Dare I say prize-winning?) of portraying Nigeria with harsh truths but respect and love. While reading, I thought repeatedly, “A Canadian wrote this?” How could a writer not born, raised and steeped in Nigerian culture capture it with such sensory precision? When reading Ferguson’s description of a car trip through Lagos, I could almost see, hear, smell the African city.

Ferguson wrote some beautiful phrases that I stopped and savoured. “She had outwalked her own dialect . . .” “Wealth produced garbage as surely as food produced feces.”

The book didn’t resolve itself in the way I would have wished, but it did resolve in a way that was true to the story.

So, what are the flaws? Perhaps the subject? Most North Americans have armed themselves with spam filters and skepticism enough to avoid falling prey to schemes like those portrayed in the book. I didn’t read it from an “If I’m not careful, this could happen to me” perspective, but more a “This is what used to happen to people” point of view.

I had to read this book because it won the Giller Prize. I tried to set its prize-winning status aside when reading. Was it deserving? I think so. But you should definitely give the other shortlisted books a try, too.(less)

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Apr 04, 2013 Ashley rated it 2 of 5 stars

Dear Giller Prize judges,
Please stop giving the prize to authors who choose the most controversial subject matter and give it to the one who wrote the best book.
Thanks.

This book was almost there. Lots of good stuff about it, but in the end unsatisfying and unfocussed. It seems the author couldn't decide between a sort of travel-detective story and a modern fable and they sort of crashed awkwardly in the middle.

First off, if you want to set a book in Nigeria, set it there. Don't half-ass a Canadi...more

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Mar 05, 2013 Harry Maier rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book won the Giller Prize in 2012. It was an interesting read especially because I grew up in Calgary and know the geography of much of the narrative. If you ever wanted to know, Who answers those emails about the Nigerian relative with millions to deposit into your bank account?, this book furnishes the answers. The book is a page turner in addition to being very informative about email scams. I am not going to spoil the plot, except to say that the plot revolves around a Calgary family vi...more This book won the Giller Prize in 2012. It was an interesting read especially because I grew up in Calgary and know the geography of much of the narrative. If you ever wanted to know, Who answers those emails about the Nigerian relative with millions to deposit into your bank account?, this book furnishes the answers. The book is a page turner in addition to being very informative about email scams. I am not going to spoil the plot, except to say that the plot revolves around a Calgary family victimized by a Nigerian email scammer who gets his comeuppance. There are many avenues of the relation between a white family in Calgary and a Nigerian poor man making his way through the world by preying criminally on westerners that I am not sure Ferguson either didn't explore, or left so subtly buried in the plot that I am not intelligent enough to see (I intend no irony). Since much of the Nigerian side of the plot centres around the annihilation of indigenous culture on the NIgerian coast thanks to oil exploration and destruction of habitat through drilling, it seems an obvious, if ironic, link (though I'm not sure Ferguson has recognized this) to situate the white victimized family in oil town Calgary. As the plot unfolds we gain deep insights into the destruction of Nigerian local cultures through oil industry and we see people surviving by their wits, and crime, to make their way in a new social and cultural situation. As the Calgarian protagonist travels to Nigeria to avenge her father's death, however, the pathos of the situation seems not to emerge, namely that there are two victims or sets of victims in this story: the family that has been scammed and the man who has become part of a crime syndicate to live and support his family. We do learn about a chief character who gets "work" through Shell oil, but under dehumanizing conditions. From a post-colonial perspective one could argue that the Nigerian scammer is engaging in his own form of capital enterprise by preying on and exploiting a native Calgarian. In that regard he is engaging in a form of colonial mimicry. However, the novel appears to end on a note of Schadenfreude, without the protagonist comprehending (or the reader for that matter) the deeper international logic that pits protagonist and antagonist against one another, and makes of them both perpetrators and victims. I would have thought that at the very least one would have had some link between the kind of gum-shoes Calgary detective story with its setting as the symbol of big oil and Nigeria as at once benefiting and suffering because of oil. I note that the author is a native Albertan and lives in Red Deer, so that left me wondering if the setting is accidental or familiar territory. If one wants to be even more suspicious, one might wonder if there is another kind of Albertan narrative going on here that is studiously uninformed about the oil industry's impact on the world. But that would I think be too deconstructive. (less)

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Mar 01, 2013 Anna Fg rated it 3 of 5 stars

At the section titled "Fuel," I started to get interested in this book. But unfortunately, that was about half way through its pages. "Fuel" is where we start to follow Nnamdi, the boy we meet on the outskirts his Nigerian village — the same place he runs into the "Shell man," (the guy from the oil company who's scoping out the Delta for places to drill).
Prior to that point in the novel, I found myself becoming repeatedly annoyed by the writing. The book starts with choppy sentence fragments tha...more At the section titled "Fuel," I started to get interested in this book. But unfortunately, that was about half way through its pages. "Fuel" is where we start to follow Nnamdi, the boy we meet on the outskirts his Nigerian village — the same place he runs into the "Shell man," (the guy from the oil company who's scoping out the Delta for places to drill).
Prior to that point in the novel, I found myself becoming repeatedly annoyed by the writing. The book starts with choppy sentence fragments that seem designed to function as cinematic montage, quickly introducing us to the different worlds inhabited by the main characters by setting their disparate moods - from lush jungle to parched desert and to the car crash on a deserted road late at night in an unnamed Canadian city. I don't know as much about the craft of writing as I do that of cinema, but I know that in filmic storytelling, you can only get away with that kind of fast editing at the outset of your tale if you can immediately invest it with narrative and emotional intensity so it really throws the whole thing into gear right away. Otherwise you have to wait until the viewer is particularly heavily invested in the story first. But in this case, the fragmentation of the beginning, and in fact, first half of the novel with its eventually-to-converge story lines popping back and forth, felt contrived. I kept thinking that the author had switched to one of the other stories because he'd run out of ways to continue the part he'd been writing and decided to try to amp up the interest by pointing to something else. I actually ended up skimming through a few chapters — not what I'd expected from the winner of the Giller prize.
What made this book worth reading, in the end, were the descriptions of Nigeria and the way that energy colonialism decimates not only a landscape, but human relationships and the structure of the colonized society. I don't know how Nigerians would respond to this book. Perhaps it would seem artificial to them, but to me, although I've never been to Nigeria, the description of this world seemed real and honest and present on the page. And Will Ferguson gets points for not trying to make this a story where everything turns out okay in the end, because it isn't a world where that happens.
Just a few words about the characters: Amina was boring - a cipher, which I think is kind of insulting to anyone who might find herself in the position she was in. And by the way - why exactly was she on her lengthy pilgrimmage?
Laura's purpose on the other hand was always very clear - perhaps a little too clear. I mean, everyone knows that copy editors are imbued with wisdom and great insight and are oracles of language and all that, but she seemed to be a bit too much mild-mannered copy editor by day/Laura Croft, Tomb Raider by night – capable of outwitting evil bad guys and carrying home the prize. I didn't really buy it.
Winston, the internet scam artist, was interesting, but his parents were a lot more interesting. I wanted to stay on after dinner and maybe spend the weekend with them.
Nnamdi was likeable because he was clever and kind, but I couldn't help thinking that he was being set up for sacrifice (spoiler alert) so that the ending would leave that desired sour taste in the mouth.
But what on earth was going on with Sergeant Brisebois? So he never rescued anyone. And … ?
Anyway, I thought I was going to write something a lot more positive than this when I sat down to write it. I actually did enjoy the last half of the book, but on closer analysis …
After Esi Edugyan's Half Blood Blues, and Joseph Boyden's Through Black Spruce, I had been all set for something wonderful from the Giller winner. I'll keep reading Will Ferguson's books as they come out, and hoping that the clunkiness of this one was just because it was a first novel. From all I know of is work, I think he's got some good things to say and will find more elegant ways of saying them.

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Jan 19, 2013 Elise rated it 3 of 5 stars

419 by Will Ferguson is this year’s Scotiabank Giller Prize Winner, so I thought I would read it to see the calibre of writing worthy of winning the Giller Prize. I wasn’t disappointed.

419 refers to Nigerian email scams. We’ve all received those emails requesting monetary assistance with the promise of a windfall in return. 419 explores the depths of what might happen when one responds to the emails and gets caught up in the web of deceit, fraud, and blackmail perpetrated by the scam baiters. In...more 419 by Will Ferguson is this year’s Scotiabank Giller Prize Winner, so I thought I would read it to see the calibre of writing worthy of winning the Giller Prize. I wasn’t disappointed.

419 refers to Nigerian email scams. We’ve all received those emails requesting monetary assistance with the promise of a windfall in return. 419 explores the depths of what might happen when one responds to the emails and gets caught up in the web of deceit, fraud, and blackmail perpetrated by the scam baiters. In 419, a man commits suicide after losing his life savings, including the house. His daughter decides to avenge her father’s death and winds up being scammed herself.

The novel follows four storylines: Laura, the daughter of the man who has committed suicide; Winston, the perpetrator of the crime; Amina, a young, pregnant Nigerian girl; and Nnamdi, the young boy who falls for Amina, assumes responsibility for her child, and winds up being killed when he, too, is swept up in the business of 419. Laura and her family’s story is interesting, as is Winston’s and his involvement and cavalier attitude toward the 419 frauds he perpetrates. To him, people like Laura’s dad are rich, stupid Americans, ripe for the picking by anyone with the smarts to outwit them. Nnamdi’s story becomes interesting, too, but only after he joins Ironsi Egobia’s team of thugs and is tasked with getting rid of Laura after she becomes a thorn in his side. But the stories of Laura, Winston and Nnamdi’s demise are parenthesis to a confused middle story which sees the introduction of Amina and Nnamdi with no indication of how they fit into the grand scheme of the story.

I read about half of the novel in one sitting, unable to put down the discovery of Laura’s father’s demise, the family’s reaction, and the police detective who flirts with Laura. I continued reading as I learned the ins and outs of the 419 scams. The reader is gradually introduced to both Amina and Nnamdi as their chapters alternate with Laura’s and Winston’s which are all but lost as Amina and Nnamdi take the forefront. I found it difficult to keep reading after fifty or so pages after that and almost put the novel down because I could not see how the new characters fit in with the old. Trusting that Ferguson wouldn’t leave his readers hanging, I pressed on, and I wasn’t disappointed. Once the stories met up, the book morphed back into a page-turner and the end was worth the wait.

As with many books I’ve read, Ferguson is rewarded with The Giller Prize for doing something others have slapped my wrist for doing—introducing characters with no immediate connection to the story with which the novel was begun. The fact that Ferguson has enjoyed such acclaim with this structure renews my hope that there is nothing wrong with the stories I’ve been writing, and that, with persistence, I may find a publishing house yet.
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Jan 08, 2013 Julia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Canadian Author - this book won the 2012 Giller prize which is one of Canada's leading literary groups.

I was totally enthralled from beginning to end with this story. 419 refers to the world's most insidious internet scams, where an email is sent to random people and it starts like this: "Dear Sir, or Madam, I am the daughter of a Nigerian diplomat, and I need your help....."

I personally have gotten emails like this over the years. It seems unbelievable that anyone would ever respond to these r...more

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Dec 11, 2012 Shannon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Overall, I enjoyed reading this. I found the writing to be a bit clunky, and the changes of narrator to be abrupt and confusing - it took me a while to sink into the novel, as I was getting comfortable with the circumstances of each narrator. The story itself, though, was original and intriguing - centering around young people in Nigeria who commit fraud by luring people into sending them money via the internet - the classic "Nigerian prince in trouble" scams that most of us filter right to our...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Jakey Gee rated it 2 of 5 stars

[Canadian Giller Prize Winner 2012].

Good concept – but a little too ‘concept’ (all the way to calling it ‘419’, which has a whiff of dystopian global SF about it at first). It’s rather let down by its character development and plot structure, which (I hate saying this) do feel ‘first novel’ and meant it struggled to satisfy. I’m a little surprised this one beat Alix Ohlin’s ‘Inside’.

Now, you can tell Will Ferguson is a travel writer. He’s done his Nigeria homework and that’s the book’s great s...more [Canadian Giller Prize Winner 2012].

Good concept – but a little too ‘concept’ (all the way to calling it ‘419’, which has a whiff of dystopian global SF about it at first). It’s rather let down by its character development and plot structure, which (I hate saying this) do feel ‘first novel’ and meant it struggled to satisfy. I’m a little surprised this one beat Alix Ohlin’s ‘Inside’.

Now, you can tell Will Ferguson is a travel writer. He’s done his Nigeria homework and that’s the book’s great strength. He’s strong on customs, ethnic relations, languages, food, war and politics. I came out of this with the sense of having travelled through a (yes, stereotypically) corrupt, dangerous and environmentally damned place (one that makes Russia, at its most heartless, look like Legoland).

He captures the 419 experience and machine very well too (emails are faithfully parodied), from internet café to victim. He also poses some interesting questions about the West and Africa (the thought hadn’t occurred to me that, arguably, 419 might be seen as some karmic payback for the rape of Africa. Interesting idea). It’s thorough and it’s didactic.

I particularly liked moments like the tourist-oriented bullshit banter the driver gives Laura about Lagos – it’s so very common for spokesmen of a city to talk about it as if it’s an exasperating but still adored lover ("That’s [city] for you… she’s a cruel mistress, but we [city residents] still love her. Ask any [city resident]…").

The book's central flaw is its character development. I wasn’t beguiled or interested in ‘Amina’, and she never really evolved beyond a rather bland, mute ‘innocent’ trying to get away from somewhere or other, for some reason or other – oh, and she’s expecting a baby. I struggled to buy into Nnandi’s interest in and commitment to her too. This being a place where ethnic group is everything, the fact that he not only takes her on board but her child-to-be (rather tweely) becomes ‘my child’. That commitment hangs on some shared food and the odd knowing, platonic exchange of smiles.

Nnandi’s own progression from boy to mechanic-wizard also seemed in need of a TV series style ‘three years later’ fade to black. Likewise, Laura’s transformation from anonymous Food Court patron to international scambuster didn’t really wash. Warren was just ‘angry white guy'.

The structure also frustrated me. Amina’s chapters are pretty arid (at times I wished for some pointer of where the hell she was heading, to help focus interest) and the flitting back for slender one-paragraph chapters to North America felt, again, self-consciously made-for-TV and shallow (as if to say, ‘Hey, I haven’t forgotten about the Canucks, right!?’).

In some respects, I had the feeling the writer enjoyed writing about Nigeria far more. The strongest chapters were actually the oil mission into the Sharia states – a kind of thug-lined road movie. Joe Igbo worked for me (a bandit with emerging warmth and a drink problem). The Canadian chapters felt thin.

The tie-up also felt a little hasty and perfunctory. Mom pretty much says it’s alright now ‘I never liked that house anyway’ – for me, rather taking the fire out of Laura’s vengeance. Amina completes the circle as Laura suddenly un-avenges Nigeria. So, we’re all square. Hmmm.

So, this one’s promising and strong on concept, but a little over-ambitious and ‘made for TV’. Think of it as a smarter mass-market airport thriller. Will Ferguson’s got plenty of promise. Next time, I’d get back into the Nigerian setting though. That’s where its strengths are and where his undoubted observational talents come through most strongly.
(less)

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Nov 18, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book won the Giller prize, one of the leading Canadian literary prizes plus I heard two radio interviews with Will Ferguson. 419 is about Nigerian scam artists who rob particular seniors out of their savings and since my parents lost some money to some scam artists, I was greatly interested.

This book delivers. An amazing story that, in some ways Ferguson takes no sides and yet takes both sides. His tale unwinds from the death of a senior who loses his house to the Nigerian scam artist and h...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Randy Mcdonald rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: cultural-studies

I wasn't surprised when Will Ferguson 's novel 419 won the Giller Award . From the moment I opened its pages, I knew that 419 was superb.

For starters, there's the compelling subject matter. In wintry Canada, a middle-aged man is killed in an unusual car accident. On closer examination, it turns out that the man's death was a suicide, that he took his own life after he had been taken over completely by a Nigerian 419 scam . In Nigeria, meanwhile, the people involved in this particular 419 sch...more

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Oct 13, 2012 Steven Buechler rated it 5 of 5 stars

Ferguson did a great job of weaving a bunch of people's personal stories to document this global problem.

Page 71:
A grin from the boy in the silk shirt as he clicked-and-dragged an image of a Nollywood starlet with almond eyes and a tattered dress (in the role of a destitute daughter from a Lagos melodrama) and inserted it into his email. That a famed Nigerian movie star would pitch her woes to a distant >i< oyibo>/i<, how could one not grin at such a thing.
>i< Mugu fall, guyman...more Ferguson did a great job of weaving a bunch of people's personal stories to document this global problem.

Page 71:
A grin from the boy in the silk shirt as he clicked-and-dragged an image of a Nollywood starlet with almond eyes and a tattered dress (in the role of a destitute daughter from a Lagos melodrama) and inserted it into his email. That a famed Nigerian movie star would pitch her woes to a distant >i< oyibo>/i<, how could one not grin at such a thing.
>i< Mugu fall, guyman whack >/i<
Before the boy could hit SEND, though, a reply came back from his previous petition, a single note from the schoolteacher in Canada.
>i< -I can help >/i<
How easily a grin turns into a chuckle, and a chuckle into something deeper even than laughter. Winston leaned back and cricked his neck, sipped his tea, felt the burlap-sack burden that was Lagos grow suddenly buoyant, felt the netted entanglements of daily life dissolve. Sweeter than soft drinks, sweeter than tea.
But no sooner had he congratulated himself on the fine-spun nature of his fairy tale than a face appeared on his screen -not in, on. A reflection thrown back by the protective sheen they cyber cafe placed over its computer screens. A face. Not his. And before Winston could react, the reflection had reached out, had touched his shoulder. Police raid? EFCC sweep? Winston turned in a smooth swirl of silk, exiting the window on his computer screen with practised ease in one flowing motion. "Yes, bruddah?" he asked.
A thin man with swampy eys, face bereft of expression. "Oga wants to see you."
Oga was title, not a name.
Among the shadowmen of Lagos, Oga was "boss," Oga was "big man," Oga was "strong man." Rarely was there a hoodlum or crime syndicate head who didn't fancy himself as Chief This or Oga That. It was prestige through proxy, stature by mere word association.
The meaning of Oga. It did not escape Winston. Nor could he escape it.
Swampy eyes, a face bereft of expression. "Your Oga is waiting."
Winston blinked. "I don't have an Oga."
"You do now."(less)

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Oct 09, 2012 Steven Langdon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: super

"419," an intricate novel about internet fraud and family ties, is one of the five books nominated in 2012 for Canada's main fiction award, the Giller Prize -- with the jury hailing it as a new-style form of global literature. To read it is to enter an inter-connected world, where a retired school teacher in Calgary becomes the counterpart of a displaced pregnant refugee fleeing from the Sahel -- both buffeted by forces beyond their ken yet trying to fulfill their duty as parents. In a superbly...more "419," an intricate novel about internet fraud and family ties, is one of the five books nominated in 2012 for Canada's main fiction award, the Giller Prize -- with the jury hailing it as a new-style form of global literature. To read it is to enter an inter-connected world, where a retired school teacher in Calgary becomes the counterpart of a displaced pregnant refugee fleeing from the Sahel -- both buffeted by forces beyond their ken yet trying to fulfill their duty as parents. In a superbly rendered plot structure of back and forth vignettes and narratives, Will Ferguson takes us deep into the social and economic texture of Nigeria, while he dissects the details of a deadly car crash in Calgary. The echo of the oil industry reverberates in each location as does the desperation of young men who turn to violence.

Ferguson writes beautifully, and his images are compelling. The school teacher's daughter comes to see herself as a modern Rapunzel, cutting her hair to escape from her hermit-like life. The Ijaw dissidents formed "mosquito crews" that tapped into oil pipelines "through a thousand pinpricks." The oil tanker that Nnamdi and Joe drive north to Kaduna is "a quicksilver coffin." This book is a fine read, it has vivid characters, and Ferguson has clearly done a great deal of research on the ambiguous impact of the oil industry in Nigeria, and on the mechanisms of the "419" internet frauds that have come to be associated with Lagos. This is far more than a thriller, too, despite its high-powered plot and dying bodies. Most of the figures in the book are agonized by their family relationships, with such ties, both positive and negative, shaping and distorting what they do.

And yet. And yet. I feel a sharp unease about "419." The core of my difficulty is this: Ferguson has taken on an extremely ambitious task. He has set himself to write a book set mostly in Nigeria, and write it mostly from the perspective of its black Nigerian characters, especially Nnamdi, the young Ijaw man from the south-eastern Delta area (whose father dies, as does the school-teacher father of Laura in Calgary,) Winston, the gifted Lagos storyteller who spins scams (that lure Laura's father,) and Amina, the young Sahel refugee woman whom Nnamdi befriends. This difficult goal is made even more complex by the fact that Ferguson has never been to Nigeria and experienced first-hand its complicated texture. By writing so much of the book from these perspectives, Ferguson makes the novel much more powerful. But can such writing have the authenticity to be truly insightful and honest?

In the end, others will have to provide a more definitive judgement than I can -- writers such as Yejide Kilanko (who wrote Daughters who Walk this Path,) or Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (who wrote Half of a Yellow Sun.) However, I have worked in Nigeria, been there a number of times, and know West Africa reasonably well -- so I feel that I can legitimately raise some serious questions. Four substantive issues worry me:

1) Like most of Africa, I have seen family ties in Nigeria to be extremely strong. In view of this, I do not find it credible that Nnamdi's mother would force him in effect to leave their village with Amina, rather than welcome her to stay there until her child is born. Her action seems to me especially unlikely given the greater leverage of men in Nigerian society relative to women, especially since Nnamdi has just returned with considerable earnings from his successful tanker expedition to Kaduna -- and since he is now head of the household given his father's death.

2) The treatment of the book's main villain, Ironsi-Egobia, also raises questions for me. That he should be heartless is fair enough. Also that he should carry resentment from being left as an orphan as a child. But the idea that he should have such detailed and constant knowledge of what is happening throughout Lagos, and should be able to intervene so efficiently with the police -- that perspective contradicts every characteristic that makes Lagos the chaotic, pulsating, unknowable amoebe that it is. The essence of Lagos is that there is no control, no coherence, no logic but the force of unchecked weather or markets or movements of people.

3) Then there is Amina. Her compulsive, driven need to escape is never explained. She is apparently from a tiny tribe, that has had major economic reverses. What is making her run? Is someone after her? If so, that is never explained. Why would a Moslem from the north want to go to the south of Nigeria, given the dangers and prejudice she will meet there? Perhaps her pregnancy might lead to sharia law punishment. But not all northern states apply such laws harshly. Could she not have stayed in Zaria or Kaduna, seemingly far from her tribe yet still in a Moslem area where her grasp of the Hausa language would help her?

4) I would raise one final point. Nigeria has a relatively low incidence of HIV-AIDS compared to southern Africa. Yet Ferguson has chosen to build in considerable reference to the disease -- Joe is said to die of it, Ironsi-Egobia's illness shows symptoms of HIV, another high-life singer is described as dead from AIDS. This seems to me to be playing a bit too much to the Western stereotype of Africa.

Overall, then, I have a concern with the authenticity of the story being told, and that troubles me. But at the same time, the points that worry me do not destroy the power of the novel and the force of its characters. I wish Ferguson had been more faithful to the Nigerian reality as I have seen it. But there is a deeper reality, related to family, to love, to obligation and to honesty, that this book treats. And the strength of this novel on that level cannot be questioned. (less)

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Oct 06, 2012 Debbie rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you’ve been around the Internet any length of time, no doubt you’ve received one of those Nigerian “I’ve millions in government money that needs to be smuggled out” or “please help this young girl escape her enemies” emails. These scams are called 419s. “The name comes from the section in the Nigerian Criminal Code that deals with obtaining money or goods under false pretenses.” Hence, the title of Canadian writer Will Ferguson’s latest novel, which has been short-listed for Canada’s prestigi...more If you’ve been around the Internet any length of time, no doubt you’ve received one of those Nigerian “I’ve millions in government money that needs to be smuggled out” or “please help this young girl escape her enemies” emails. These scams are called 419s. “The name comes from the section in the Nigerian Criminal Code that deals with obtaining money or goods under false pretenses.” Hence, the title of Canadian writer Will Ferguson’s latest novel, which has been short-listed for Canada’s prestigious Giller prize

Divided into four sections (Snow, Sand, Fuel, Fire), 419 opens in wintry western Canada with the apparently accidental (or perhaps homicidal) death of Henry Curtis, retired father of two grown children. After police determine that her father deliberately drove his car over a cliff to his death, Laura Curtis resolves to find out what drove her father to suicide, and left her mother with no assets. When she discovers that he was the victim of a 419 crime, she becomes obsessed with finding the author of the emails.

Meanwhile, over in Nigeria, we follow the stories of Winston, the author of those emails; Nnamdi, a boy/man from a Delta village that thrived on fishing until Shell Oil took over their land and killed the fish & more; Amina, a young woman refugee from a desert tribe; and Ironsi-Egobia, a truly monstrous crime boss in Lagos. The five story lines meet and run parallel, intertwine with, and oppose each other until the book reaches the totally unexpected (at least by me) climax that is seared into my brain.

The plot development in 419 seemed a bit uneven to me, and when Amina’s tale began, I was bewildered. But the book was always easy to read and parts of the story will never leave me. It was perhaps coincidental that I was reading at the same time The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard, in which she explains the exploitation of third world people and natural resources by large corporations. Nnamdi’s village seemed to be an almost living example. Maybe 419 wouldn’t have affected me as strongly as it did if I hadn’t been reading Stuff. But I was, and it did.

So – memorable story, a clearer understanding of third world exploitation, new knowledge about 419 schemes and what drives some people to perpetrate them, and a tragic climax; but uneven character and plot development. I rate it a 3.5 stars for the writing and an extra half for the STORY.

Will it win the Giller? I think not. Should you read it? Oh, yes, definitely. 4 stars(less)

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Sep 23, 2012 Kristel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, borrowed, fiction-adult

I really hated the opening section of this book, not for the content, but the style. It's full of irritating sentence fragments (something that doesn't bother me in general, but does in abundance) and a million and one sentences with the same structure as in the following quotation:

"The first driver: falls asleep, or has been drinking, or maybe suffers cardiac arrest, leaves the road, missing the guardrail and plunging over the side. A second driver: sees this happen, hits the brakes, comes to...more I really hated the opening section of this book, not for the content, but the style. It's full of irritating sentence fragments (something that doesn't bother me in general, but does in abundance) and a million and one sentences with the same structure as in the following quotation:

"The first driver: falls asleep, or has been drinking, or maybe suffers cardiac arrest, leaves the road, missing the guardrail and plunging over the side. A second driver: sees this happen, hits the brakes, comes to a stop, turns his or her vehicle around... and leaves the scene."

Fragment, colon, more fragments.

"Somewhere: her name."

"Into the scentless winter air: the seeping odour of radiator fluid, of gasoline."

DROVE ME MAD.

But somewhere along the line, I think when the focus shifted from North America to Nigeria (all the sections contain some of each, but to begin with its heavy on the Canadian side and later on it's heavy on the Nigerian side), it settled down into itself and those irritating quirks of the writing either disappeared or just stopped annoying me. (I think Will Ferguson stopped using them. I don't think I could or would have learned to ignore it.) Once the stylistic quirks worked themselves out, I really began to enjoy this story, to enjoy the flow of it.

419, if you don't know (as I didn't) is the number of the article in the Nigerian criminal code for scams to defraud people of money. "Dear Mr Such and Such, I'm writing on behalf of exiled Nigerian Prince So and So who is must transfer X-million dollars out of Nigeria if he is to survive. Because he is in exile, we require the help of a foreign citizen in good-standing such as yourself..."

This book weaves together the story of one such scammer in Nigeria and the family of a man in Canada who was taken in by the scam. Coming from an author like Ferguson, who I know primarily for his humour (I'd read many of his books, but only "Generica"/"Happiness" of his novels), this book felt fairly relentlessly dark, but I really did enjoy the book a lot. It's a fascinating subject and although I spent most of the book reminding myself to take anything about Nigeria with a grain of salt (I know nothing about the country, other than the prevalence of email scams coming out of it, and wouldn't take a novel as a great source of information) but it was a fascinating glimpse into one man's take on it. I think everything I've ever read that takes place in Africa either occurs during times when slaves were being captured and sold (The Book of Negroes, for example) or else in... I want to say Tanzania, but my reluctance to commit only tells you how long it's been since I read a book by M.G. Vassanji, and his books are from the perspective of an Indian-by-ancestry African-by-birth currently Canadian man to put an extra spin on it.

If you can suffer though the early pages, I think it's definitely worth the read. (less)

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Jul 06, 2012 Denise rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 11, 2012 Chuck Erion rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: canlit

That number in the title refers to the section of Nigeria’s Criminal Code dealing with fraud. And, unless you’ve been living without the internet for the past many years, you’re familiar with the scam letters from someone in Nigeria pleading for your help to get vast millions of dollars in an unclaimed legacy or whatever out of their country. Ferguson has been a prolific writer of humour, Canadian history and travel books, but this is his first foray into the thriller genre. The book opens in Ca...more

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Mar 17, 2012 Heather Pearson rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: dad

Recommended to Heather by: Bronwyn K

At times this story made me angry, it made me frustrated and it even had me wiping away a few tears. One great plot point had me jumping out of my chair and pumping my fist in the air while I yelled out encouragement to Laura, one of the driving forces of the story.

Who is Laura? She is the surviving daughter of Henry Curtis, who has fallen victim to an online scam originating in Nigeria. It appears that he has been duped into sending all of his life savings, including the re-mortgaging of his fa...more At times this story made me angry, it made me frustrated and it even had me wiping away a few tears. One great plot point had me jumping out of my chair and pumping my fist in the air while I yelled out encouragement to Laura, one of the driving forces of the story.

Who is Laura? She is the surviving daughter of Henry Curtis, who has fallen victim to an online scam originating in Nigeria. It appears that he has been duped into sending all of his life savings, including the re-mortgaging of his family home, to help procure the release of some 'fraudulently' withheld funds. I've had dozens of these emails land in my inbox asking me to please help. For some reason, Henry didn't press 'delete'. He tried to help. This help ended up with him dead on the opening page of the novel.

Author Will Ferguson doesn't just tell the story from the survivors' points of view, but also looks into the rational of the scammers. How is it that healthy young, educated people spend their time defrauding strangers when they are quite capable of finding legitimate employment. He then goes one step further and introduces the problems associated with the oil industry in Nigeria and how it has affected the health and livelihoods of huge segments of it's population. This all wraps together and leads to a very dramatic resolution to Laura's quest for revenge.

I was very much looking forward to Laura getting revenge on the 419'ers(419 is the section of the criminal code in Nigeria that deals with obtaining money or goods under false pretenses), but then Mr. Ferguson introduced the 'mafia' type influence on the scammers and I found myself questioning what I thought I knew. These young men, mostly the scammers in the story are men, are in turn the victims of other scammers. Where does this end and how high up into law enforcement do their bribes and corruption reach. Is resistance futile, will we all inevitably fall victims to one scam or another. How far will our greed carry us.

This book kept me eagerly reading, wanting to know how Laura would avenge her father's death. I enjoyed almost the entire book, the exception being Laura's final act once she had returned to her 'post-scam' life.
I would have enjoyed the entire book much more had I stopped reading at chapter 120 and left the final chapter un-read.(less)

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Oct 23, 2012 Daniel rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: canlit

I'm at a loss in how to write a review for this book. I obviously didn't get whatever the author was driving at—something I find unsettling when the book is garnering critical acclaim. What is it that I'm missing?

It felt to me like the author was trying too hard to make a story that didn't really have the legs to make it. Nigerian e-mail scams have provided office jokes for years, so this attempt at a taut political thriller on the same topic seems a few years too late in the making. Moreover, t...more

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May 24, 2012 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've always been a fan of Will Ferguson's writing, and I've definitely read quite a bit of it, from his travel writing ("Hitching Rides With Buddha") to his humourous writing ("Why I Hate Canadians") to his earlier fiction ("Happiness"). And all of those books were funny in some way. This book is not humorous in its tone, and I assume his book "Spanish Fly" is probably the same.
This book starts with an interesting idea- someone falling for one of those "I am a wealthy Nigerian diplomat" email sc...more

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Apr 02, 2013 Arlene rated it 4 of 5 stars

A car tumbles down a snowy ravine. Accident or suicide?

On the other side of the world, a young woman walks out of a sandstorm in sub-Saharan Africa. In the labyrinth of the Niger Delta, a young boy learns to survive by navigating through the gas flares and oil spills of a ruined landscape. In the seething heat of Lagos City, a criminal cartel scours the internet looking for victims.

Lives intersect, worlds collide, a family falls apart. And it all begins with a single email: “Dear Sir, I am the s...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Sandra Paire rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: africa, novel, presented-at-wordfest

Finished 419 by Will Ferguson.
Unlike some other people, I did like most characters (Laura, Winston, Amina). It is difficult to accept the credibility of the story once it moves to Nigeria. Laura's attempt to corner her 419er and to reclaim (some of) her money is not credible in so many levels. Amina's journey is also not credible. Winston is well handled ut again, some of his action are improbable.
I loved some of the descriptions of Nigeria and the issues this country (and its neighbours) are fa...more

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Dec 27, 2012 Charles rated it 4 of 5 stars

A very compelling account of the kind of internet fraud for which Nigeria is infamous, 419 starts with the suicide of the Calagary man who falls victim to it, in a car intentionally driven off a bridge. The story unfolds when his daughter Laura, a literary editor, determines to go after the responsible criminal in Nigeria. She manages to have the police fraud squad give her the recovered deleted emails from her father's computer, and identifies the man on the basis of his linguistic quirks. She...more A very compelling account of the kind of internet fraud for which Nigeria is infamous, 419 starts with the suicide of the Calagary man who falls victim to it, in a car intentionally driven off a bridge. The story unfolds when his daughter Laura, a literary editor, determines to go after the responsible criminal in Nigeria. She manages to have the police fraud squad give her the recovered deleted emails from her father's computer, and identifies the man on the basis of his linguistic quirks. She goes off to Nigeria on the pretense of delivering more money,& meets him(Winston)& pulls a 419 on him, by insisting on 1st meeting his parents, photographing them & Winston, obtaining their addresses which she emails back to herself, and then extorting from him the money he had inveigled from her father, under threat of revealing his scam & role in the suicide. There are a number of subplots-one to do with Ndami a poor village boy who is recruited into the local oil industry as a mechanic-there's a lot about how Big Oil pollutes the environment, destroys the forests, and takes the profit without any benefit to the locals in the Delta. He graduates to become an oil thief when he is laid off, by breaching pipelines & reselling the stolen oil. He then becomes a truck driver delivering stolen oil to the North of the country, making money but becoming entangled with a young pregnant refugee from the Sahel, and finally seeking his fortune in Lagos where he contacts a cousin, who is the ruthless head of a criminal gang engaged in 419, incl.being the boss of Winston. When Winston admits to him that Laura has blackmailed him into a refund, his boss gets Namdi to kill Laura in her hotel room. At the last moment he relents after she has given him her last $100 bill which he plans on using for delivering the baby. He is apprehended by the crime boss & killed by necklacing. Laura is next, but manages to elude her potential captors, and get back to Calgary. She then wires the money back to Nigeria to get Namdi's girlfriend to come to Canada, but she also pulls a 419 & keeps the money & stays in Nigeria. There is much description of the poor & their squalid living circumstances, the bribery & corruption & extortion which seems to occur at all social levels, and the difficult fight by the few honest dedicated officials who want to make things right & rstore Nigeria`s stained reputation.(less)

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Nov 26, 2012 Barbara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, giller, can-lit, crime-fiction

Two and a half stars.

Winner of the 2012 Giller Prize, 419 impresses when it takes its readers into Nigeria and details the internet scams which have emerged from that country. “419” is the “section of the Nigerian Criminal Code “that deals with obtaining money or goods under false pretenses” (111).

However the author's non-fiction roots are showing. Ferguson favours giving a lot of background information about the 419 scam over story and character development. The book had the potential to be eit...more Two and a half stars.

Winner of the 2012 Giller Prize, 419 impresses when it takes its readers into Nigeria and details the internet scams which have emerged from that country. “419” is the “section of the Nigerian Criminal Code “that deals with obtaining money or goods under false pretenses” (111).

However the author's non-fiction roots are showing. Ferguson favours giving a lot of background information about the 419 scam over story and character development. The book had the potential to be either a great crime thriller or a cultural exploration of Nigeria, but right now, it’s in no man’s land.

Even though the ending is suspenseful, it feels forced. Characters important to the final outcome aren’t fully introduced until halfway into the book. As I read the novel, I struggled to connect the seemingly random storylines. For example, the romantic interest Sergeant Brisebois has in Laura doesn’t seem to serve any literary purpose, except to reinforce the unexpected happy ending.

I also found some of the characters to be problematic. Laura and Warren represent stereotypical Westerners and I didn’t see enough growth in them to find them interesting. Amina wanders throughout Nigeria and the novel, but why? I suppose it is to flesh out Ferguson’s portrait of Nigeria, but I don’t understand how this character furthers the themes or the plot.

I did enjoy how the book described Nigeria and 419 does convey the complexity of the country. Exploring the moral murkiness of the scammers and the scammed had potential, but the novel does not go further than the politically correct response. The Nigerians justify robbing the rich because their wealth is “[b]lood money, all of it. Slaves and diamonds, gold and oil. Even chocolate. It is all stained...The crowns of British royalty glitter with blood, with rubies and emeralds wrenched out of Africa” (120-121). Even Laura, at the end, seems to do the “right thing” after harbouring a festering anger and inflicting her own retribution.

Since the book had won the Giller Prize, I had high expectations for 419. As I'm reading through the list of the other nominated books, I find that 419 doesn't match the depth of its competitors.(less)

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About Will Ferguson

Will Ferguson (born William Stener Ferguson) is a Canadian writer and novelist who is best known for his humorous observations on Canadian history and culture. His success as a writer can be attributed to an innate ability to view Canada much the same way an outsider would, as described in his debut book, the ironically named Why I Hate Canadians. Ferguson talks about this in a recent CBC radio in...more Will Ferguson (born William Stener Ferguson) is a Canadian writer and novelist who is best known for his humorous observations on Canadian history and culture. His success as a writer can be attributed to an innate ability to view Canada much the same way an outsider would, as described in his debut book, the ironically named Why I Hate Canadians. Ferguson talks about this in a recent CBC radio interview as well. Ferguson was born fourth of six children in the former trading post of Fort Vermilion, Alberta, approximately 800 km north of Edmonton. His parents split up when he was 6 during a brief interlude in Regina. At the age of 16 he quit school and moved to Saskatoon, Dauphin, and Red Deer. He then joined the Canadian government funded programs Katimavik and Canada World Youth. He studied film production and screenwriting at York University in Toronto graduating with a B.F.A. in 1990.

Ferguson joined the JET Programme in the early 1990s and lived in Kyushu, Japan, for five years teaching English. He married his wife Terumi in Kumamoto, Japan, in 1995. After coming back from Japan he experienced a severe reverse culture shock, which became the basis for his first book Why I Hate Canadians. He details his experiences hitchhiking across Japan in Hokkaido Highway Blues, later retitled Hitching Rides with Buddha.

Ferguson has won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour twice, for Generica (later renamed Happiness) in 2002 and Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw in 2005.

He currently resides in Calgary, Alberta, with his wife and two sons. His older brother, Ian Ferguson, also won the Stephen Leacock Medal, for Village of the Small Houses.

Ferguson is also an outspoken critic of the monarchy of Canada, both publicly and in his books. He is often quoted in the media when the monarchy issue is being debated, particularly from his 1997 book Why I Hate Canadians, in which he says "Royalty exists only through an act of willful ignorance on the part of their subjects. Call it a suspension of common sense." He contrasts this with profiles of Canadian secessionist and independence movements (such as the "Republic of Madawaska") in his book Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw (2004).(less)

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Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw: Travels in Search of Canada

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Quotes from 419

“As a parent, my fear is that when we die, we'll have to watch all those moments in our lives when we were short tempered with our children, all the times they needed our love and we didn't give it, all those times we were distracted or in a bad mood, and all the times we were angry or impatient. My fear is that when the time comes, I'll have to watch all those moments again. That they'll make us watch them before we can get into Heaven” — 3 people liked it

“You, I love.” — 2 people liked it

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