As I was first reading this book, I thought I would be giving it a 4.5 - 5 star rating. It started out strong, clear, and intriguing and the writing was great, but something happened towards the halfway mark that made this book a little wonky and hard to get through.

I enjoyed learning a lot about the political climate and corruption in Lagos and enjoyed the bouts of humor that were present, but overall, I think that this book just wasn't for me. Based off of her character development and writing, I look forward to reading more of Onuzo's work. ( )

After reading (and loving) Chibundo Onuzo's book Sankofa last September, I immediately added her previous novel Welcome to Lagos to my reading list! This book tells the story of Chike Ameobi, an army officer who deserts his post after being ordered to kill innocent civilians. He escapes to Lagos with his junior officer, and along the way, they pick up a disparate group of runaways who are all dreaming of a different life. Once they reach Lagos, their lives takes many unexpected turns.

I really enjoyed this book. It gives a snapshot of life in Nigeria, while also weaving together the different challenges facing each character as they work together to form a new sort of family. The book addresses a number of difficult issues, but the story is told with humor and feels optimistic. And I'd be remiss not to mention the gorgeous, colorful cover! ( )

What a wonderful writer Chibundu is, who certainly seems to have researched before putting pen to paper. This book is so powerful and heart wrenching, I cried. Each of the seven main characters who are thrown together have a story to tell and boy they certainly are descriptive. I cried and felt I was so lucky to live in the country I live in.

This was one truly powerful and thought provoking novel which I know will be remembered for a very long time.
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the arc xxx ( )

What a wonderful writer Chibundu is, who certainly seems to have researched before putting pen to paper. This book is so powerful and heart wrenching, I cried. Each of the seven main characters who are thrown together have a story to tell and boy they certainly are descriptive. I cried and felt I was so lucky to live in the country I live in.

This was one truly powerful and thought provoking novel which I know will be remembered for a very long time.
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the arc xxx ( )

This story follows the path of a very unlikely group of people, each one a refugee who finds themselves in the city of Lagos. They meet through different circumstances and form a sort of family trying to survive.

The individual members of the group represent many different parts of Nigerian society: soldiers, a young militant, a city girl lost and separated from her family, a former house-wife on the run from her husband, and a very corrupt and out-of-favor politician.

Rounding out the cast of characters are an independent newspaper publisher who has returned from an education abroad, two white British journalists (one who has made an effort to understand the culture; the other utterly uninterested and indifferent), a small group of non-Nigerians who make up the journalists' crew, and a few Nigerians living in England and America.

The author did a good job of weaving all these characters into the story. While much of the story centers around the refugees before and after arriving in Lagos, it feels like the title also applies to the reader of the book as we're introduced to the various elements of Lagos and Nigerian society.

The story is told with a mix of fatalism and optimism, with an equal chance of opportunity or disaster around every corner. The book starts a little slowly as we're introduced to many of the characters, but was really good once the characters were all assembled. ( )