Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion
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Lagoon
Buddy Reads: Current & Upcoming
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Stacey's & Jenny's Informal Buddy Read for Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor Starting August 16, 2020
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Well. That starts with a bang. Just finished the first chapter, am about to open a beer and sit on the sofa with this book and dive in, so to speak.I do like the way this author develops characters. I hope it is done well in this one too!
It is fun. I'm several chapters in. I'm listening and the narrators are really great. I'm so curious as to the aliens, how many, why, what do the want?
Right? Little bits of maybe metal working together to shape change?So cool.
Are you still enjoying? I'm in Chapter 29 and a bit confused. I can't tell how to feel about the aliens and we finally see more than just Ayodele. Father Oke makes me laugh and cringe. It is kind of strange that I feel like there is so much going on yet I know so little.
I'm not quite that far yet. I got distracted by wanting to finish a different book last night. So far Father Oke makes me want to slap him.
How is it coming? I just finished. I'm not sure what to think. Overall I enjoyed it. I feel like I may need to reread as listening to the pidgin was more difficult than expected.I definitely liked Ayudole and Adoura (sorry if I misspell, I listened). Some of the others were harder to understand. Very strange but in a good way.
I have a few more chapters to go, and then I will comment more.Overall I agree with you, and your spelling is not far off!!!
Jenny wrote: "I have a few more chapters to go, and then I will comment more.Overall I agree with you, and your spelling is not far off!!!"
I looked it up but harder to remember when you didn't read it multiple times. Otherwise I would be way off.
Alright then. Finished last night, and wanted another hundred pages, alas. I found this book fascinating, and almost great. The character development could have been greater- we got a taste of them, but no one was fully realized. I wanted to be behind the curtain of the alien/human interactions and negotiations.
It seemed to me that the aliens provided the means to make living creatures the best version of themselves, and provided the best environment for creatures to flourish, without judgement, and without direction. Like in the opening scene, that fish wanted to be bigger and gold and mighty, etc, and the water was cleared of the oil spill and made pure.
The three humans (our heroes) were already special in some way although they didn't know it, and were "given" abilities, right? Were they tagged at birth or early age by the mysterious "I am the one pulling all the strings" narrator revealed at the end?
What do the aliens get out of this? I think that is what I missed in the first reading of this. If their motivation was revealed, I missed it.
The pidgin English was no easier to read than it probably was to listen to.
Overall, I was intrigued enough to want more. Did you interpret the action in the same way I did? Did I miss something?
Glad you recommended this one.
I agree. Lots of questions. I would have loved the ending, assuming we had a better idea of what the aliens were/wanted. They wanted a home and there was some mention somewhere about how they all lived together/intermingled I think. I would definitely have liked more info on some of the characters, especially Agu and Anthony. Some of the other characters at the end as well. The president for one, he seemed a disappointment until he was healed. Was he really a good person who needed help or did they change him? Or will he go back to normal.
I will go back and listen again. I also found somewhere where the author defined a few of the pidgin English phrases which would have been helpful. I remember reading similar works and thinking it would be easier to hear it. Now I know it doesn't really help as it is so fast and some of the phrases are not easily translated.
Apparently this was a stand alone but I would love to have a second with more info.
There is a pidgin glossary at the end of the book. I could try to screenshot it for you if you want. I was reading on my kindle, but I can pull it up on my computer. Let me know.
That might be nice. Let me know when you are ready for another book. I peaked at the first few pages of the second book of the Obelisk Gate and I'm intrigued. It starts with the missing daughter.
I also really started reading Blonde Roots. Very different and interesting. I'm not sure I'll get used to the term wiggers though.
Synopsis
When a massive object crashes into the ocean off the coast of Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous and legendary city, three people wandering along Bar Beach (Adaora, the marine biologist- Anthony, the rapper famous throughout Africa- Agu, the troubled soldier) find themselves running a race against time to save the country they love and the world itself… from itself.
Told from multiple points of view and crisscrossing narratives, combining everything from superhero comics to Nigerian mythology to tie together a story about a city consuming itself.
‘There was no time to flee. No time to turn. No time to shriek. And there was no pain. It was like being thrown into the stars.’