"Lagoon" by Nnedi Okorafor (BR)

[Gabi]

Here is the place for everybody to discuss Nnedi Okorafor's "Lagoon".

Please state page or chapter for all to follow along and hide all spoilers in spoiler tags.

Let's visit Lagos!

[Gabi]

Thoughts on Act I:

(view spoiler)[So far the story is a pretty common Aliens-Visit-Earth story with emphasis on the people from Lagos. I like the fact that it is not the US as usual, but Nigeria where the aliens chose to land. And I like how Okorafor brings in all those quite different people in often crazy situations. My highlight so far is the moribund attempt at kidnapping the alien. What I also like is the way the story is not told quite linear, but sometimes overlapping. Let's hope for a bit more SF elements in the next act.

Oh … and I have problems to understand the Pidgin English parts. Not insofar that I couldn't follow the story, but about half of the sentences I don't get the meaning of. (hide spoiler)]

[Anna]

Gabi, I read Lagoon last year, and I kicked myself when I finished the book and I think there was a glossary at the back? Unless I'm remembering it wrong and I hoped there would be? In any case, check!

[Jemppu]

Anna wrote: "Gabi, I read Lagoon last year, and I kicked myself when I finished the book and I think there was a glossary at the back? Unless I'm remembering it wrong and I hoped there would be? In any case, ch..."

Agh! This is something ebooks are not good for: flipping through the pages to notice things like this. Had this happen couple times.

[Gabi]

Anna wrote: "Gabi, I read Lagoon last year, and I kicked myself when I finished the book and I think there was a glossary at the back? Unless I'm remembering it wrong and I hoped there would be? In any case, ch..."

Thanks a bunch, Anna, there is indeed! Yet with ebook it is so uncomfortable to browse that I will just look it over once and hope the information stays until the next dialogue.

[Rachel]

Yes I was going to mention the glossary! Luckily I have a tree book so it’s much easier. Those pidgin English sections are a bit of a challenge!

[Rachel]

Also I loved the prologue!!! I wonder if we will get that POV again.
Interesting way to use POVs so far. I wonder if some won’t continue, or if all the side POVs will matter by the end??

[Gabi]

Rachel wrote: "Also I loved the prologue!!! I wonder if we will get that POV again.
Interesting way to use POVs so far. I wonder if some won’t continue, or if all the side POVs will matter by the end??"


Oh yes, the prologue was terrific! I hope there will be more of that.

[Rachel]

Ok I finished - now I need to assemble my thoughts...

[Dawn F]

Just finished it! I think I may be a little in love with Nnedi Okorafor.

Wonderfully refreshing to read SF that isn’t Western European focused! I loved the inclusion of Pidgin English which surprisingly wasn’t that difficult, once you got the hang of it and remembered a few words. I love books that makes me investigate new cultures and languages so that was a big bonus for me with this book.

In more specific terms of the story... (view spoiler)[ It wasn’t perhaps the most original story, but I loved her very direct style (which reminded me of Octavia E Butler and also Nemisin), and especially her mix of the fantastic and the realistic. A good mix of SFF/magical realism (I’m sure we could slab more sub genres on it but I’ll stop there haha).

Also, the idea of the cosmic spider! <3

I gave it four out of five stars, and the only reason I didn’t give it five is that I’d have liked this idea of positive change that the aliens came with, or represents, to have been more specific. Things are going to be better, okay, but how? What was that new technology they brought with them? So many questions!

But as the spider said by the end, it’s time to weave new stories, so I guess it’s up to the reader to imagine the rest. (hide spoiler)]

[Rachel]

It’s funny I had a harder time with the Pdgin that I generally do - I frequently have an easier time with completely made up words! Maybe that’s it - hard to think ‘it’ when I see ‘am’

[Gabi]

Dawn wrote: "Just finished it! I think I may be a little in love with Nnedi Okorafor..."

Exactly my feelings, Dawn! Her writing is so vivid, so authentic - I realise that I just don't care, if the story itself is nothing new, cause Okorafor makes everything her own. I've seen that most of her books are YA, but I will read them nevertheless, cause I just love being in her mythical world.

And (view spoiler)[the spider deity is just so cool, indeed! (hide spoiler)]

[Gabi]

Rachel wrote: "It’s funny I had a harder time with the Pdgin that I generally do - I frequently have an easier time with completely made up words! Maybe that’s it - hard to think ‘it’ when I see ‘am’"

Me, too! Other than in Midnight Robber (the only other book with Pidgin I read so far), I couldn't translate half of the sentences here (and of course I didn't realise that there was vocabulary at the end until Anna mentioned it)

[Anna]

Gabi, Who Fears Death is definitely not YA! Binti and Lagoon are the most scifi of her works (that I've read), and also the most alien. The Book of Phoenix (prequel to Who Fears Death, but written after) is essentially a superhero story, so likely not going to be your favorite.

[Gabi]

Anna wrote: "Gabi, Who Fears Death is definitely not YA! Binti and Lagoon are the most scifi of her works (that I've read), and also the most alien. The Book of Phoenix (prequel t..."

Allison warned me about WFD, so this was to be my next read of her - out of pure curiosity.
And now I'm also curious, how a superhero story of her will work. I will just go into it with low expectations ;) - so I can only be positively surprised ;) . Should those two books be read in chronological order?

[Anna]

I read WFD first, and I'm happy I did, because I didn't love Phoenix nearly as much. But up to you! :)

[Sarah, The Unsettled]

Super far behind on all my buddy reads this month but I’m finally starting this (hope no one minds the necroposting!). Agreeing with others I loved the prologue. I’m curious to see more of that POV.

[Sarah, The Unsettled]

Okay- as promised I’ve returned to necropost.

I finished this tonight and really enjoyed it despite the fact that it took me a month to read. The pidgin English difficulty persisted all the way through.. even with the glossary.

(view spoiler)[Things I loved: The setting. This felt to me like a love letter to Lagos more than anything else. All the characters calling it home and saying Home couldn’t be anywhere else no matter how far advanced other places might be.

The aliens as a positive influence rather than a negative one.

All the inclusion of African/Nigerian folklore and religion. When Mami Wata showed up towards the ending to take Father Oke away... the Bone Collector... Anansi. It didn’t feel forced ever and just felt so natural to the story. I relished every single moment one of these characters appeared.

The animal perspectives. It was so neat to see how the aliens affected the world as a whole instead of just the humans. I thought it was a nice touch. Especially thee bat who collides with the “owl”.

Things that didn’t quite work for me: I didn’t really love some of the action scenes toward the end. I felt like I was constantly missing something. Adaora’s transition to mermaid towards the end. One second she’s on the boat, poisoned by the water, the next she’s in he water as a mermaid, the boys are in bubbles.. I know they are aliens but how did we get here precisely?

The narrative didn’t feel incredibly cohesive to me. It was very chaotic and I’m not sure all viewpoints contributed equally to bettering the story. If we were to really break it down: aliens land, three strangers unite to take the ambassador to their leader.

And as Dawn mentioned I wish more was told about the technology and how precisely they planned to change the world. (hide spoiler)]

[Rachel]

Yeah I had a harder time with this pidgin than I usually do - I feel this one must be particularly difficult or something?

[Sarah, The Unsettled]

To be fair, the last pidgin English I read was written by Michael Crichton, and I’m not sure how deep his experience goes with it. If you read the acknowledgements it sounds like Okorafor had a consultant who actually spoke it. Crichton also handily has the character say something in pidgin English, had someone answer in pidgin English, and had the first character revert to plain English. So the context clues there helped a lot.

[Gabi]

I only read pidgin English with Nalo Hopkinson's Midnight Robber and that was very easy to understand compared to the one used in Lagoon.

[Wen]

I’m in chapter 19 and pidgin English is so hard. And thanks, Anna! There’s a glossary at the back!