"David Mogo Godhunter" by Suyi Davies Okungbowa (BR)

[DivaDiane]

After a very near miss for David Mogo Godhunter over in the Amazin' Eights Challenge (diversity!), a few of us (Mike, Caillen and me) have decided to buddy read it anyway.

You can start discussion anytime if you've already read it, but we will most likely not start ourselves until September 22nd. Please use spoiler tags and note where in the book you are (or if finished!) outside of the tags.

[Gabi]

I own it as ebook version. Depending on how far behind I will be in my eye-reading end September I would try to join in.

[DivaDiane]

Cool, Gabi!

[Melanie, the neutral party]

Same as Gabi. I will *try* to join in, but it will depend on my eye-reading speed.

[Silvana]

Interesting book, hope you folks enjoy it!

[Lost Planet Airman]

I have started it! I have a paperback copy from the library system, with a beautiful cover in red and gold.

This may be slow going. The author writes well, but there are three challenging trends developing:
-- a lot of terms and ideas that are very culturally specific, and Lagos is half a world away, almost literally, from my culture;
-- the author is creating an atmosphere of mystery and uncertainty (which I like) by not providing complete frameworks around these cross-cultural ideas (which I am neutral about -- I should have better prepared for a leap out of my cultural comfort-zone).
-- there is the implication of a density of new (to me) ideas, which means my grasp of the material may have already peaked.

So, I think I am going to keep a journal on this story, and see if I can pull the parts together as I go!

[Midiain]

"Culturally specific" makes me even more excited to read this book. A journal is a great idea and would help with unfamiliar Yoruba words that some of the reviews complain about.

I've read a couple of mysteries set in Accra, Ghana and I wonder if there are any parallels between the two, huge cities (although Lagos is much larger and, obviously, a different country) with such culturally and linguistically diverse populations, and the lingering impact of colonization.

I think the challenge for me, as a white American, is to appreciate and learn from the book without being... I can't remember the term... culture tourist? Culture vulture? Anybody know what I mean?

[Midiain]

http://naijalingo.com/

That's a Nigerian pidgin translator that's been very helpful as most of the dialect seems to be that instead of Yoruba.

A few of the words I noticed in the book:

Isale Eko - Lagos Island
harmattan - a dusty wind that blows from Dec. to Feb.
wetin - what
gats - got to/have to
chop - to eat
wahala - problem or trouble
no wahala - no problem
una - you guys
e - he/she
am - him/her
ba - isn't it
sharply/sharp sharp - quickly
abeg - please
dey - "to be" verb
na so - I agree or true
don - done/to have completed something
commot - leave or remove
kain - kind of
shey - is or it is