A desperate doctor commits murder to appease his wife. A drug-dealing family comes undone following a police raid.
A young foreign-educated graduate, brimming with patriotic zest, returns to Nigeria to help rebuild her country, but quickly becomes disillusioned as the hassle and unpredictability of Lagos overwhelm her. And in jaunty, pointed observations, “Two-Way Streets” collects and reflects on the motifs of typical Lagos living.
The stories in this anthology take on the beautiful, clustered Lagos with aplomb and all-knowing authority, the characters’ lives coming together to weave a rich tapestry of a city that is at once startling in its grime and entertaining in its glory.
My Review of International Sisi Eko & Other Stories.
This book is a collection of sixteen beautiful stories about Lagos, written by residents of Lagos.
Lagos is so many things to different people, but one fact is that it is interestingly chaotic and fun at the same time.
In I fixed it, a young doctor and husband is being swayed by the lustful pleasures he enjoys with a nurse colleague. What started as a mere crush would turn out to be the greatest plot twist to his life's story.
When he starts cheating on his wife with the nurse, everything changes. He becomes an embodiment of complaints. No he does not want sex tonight.
Yes, he is tired and needs sleep. His poor wife who is flung into the dark, cries her eyes sore, thinking she's the problem. And when she confronts her husband, he says, "you have our children to look after. I don't starve you of money. What else do you want?"
This goes a long way to reveal what patriarchs think marriage is all about, a job where the woman takes care of the children and gets paid for being gagged with mistreatments and infidelity.
Of course why should the woman complain? If she's never starved of money, she should be content with whatever love and care her husband dangles on her face.
A lot of men have this mindset which is supposed to be thrown into the garbage already. You owe your wife a lot more than just paying her off for being a pushover.
A wife is supposed to be her husband's partner not an employee who gets paid for rendering some sort of home keeping services.
Dr. Stanford doesn't know what burning in hell feels like, till he impregnates his married colleague, Theresa.
And I'm not hurling the blame only on Stanford, but also on Theresa who abandons her family to sleep with a married man. They both deserve what comes to them after making a fool out of their prospective partners.
In Lucky, a young man, Okorie, would defile his family to get married to the love of his life, Orie. But when childlessness pokes them in the eye after years of marriage, they begin to find solutions in every where possible.
They finally find a solution, and give birth to their son, Lucky. But Lucky isn't the kind of son anyone would want to have. And they will continue to seek for solutions even after getting all they've always wanted.
It's only in Lagos that an angel will appear to a holier-than-thou Christian lady, and ask to be sheltered in her 'JEHOVAH NISSI SUPER STORES.'
Gabriel in Egbeda exposes the hypocrisy of the self-acclaimed Christians who would make themselves void of any aesthetic ornament, and dress in flowing gowns, only to be the definition of 'inhumane.'
Adio, a self-righteous Christian would rather call the police on a man that only seeks shelter in her shop. So much for owning a JEHOVAH NISSI SUPER STORES.
The thin line between shows that nearly everyone in Lagos is mad. The average Lagosian is a wèrè, a lunatic, who is always read to cross that thin line which separates normality and abnormality and descend on you like an insane lion.
How can the driver of a danfo alight, leave his passengers on the bus to go fight with another bus driver?
Two face is one of the stories I enjoyed. It shows that amidst the madness, amidst the chaos, there's something that binds Lagosians together, and that is entertainment, and in this case, music.
This is a story where people literally cuss and fight for spaces on a BRT. Commuters shove and spit at each other and maneuver queues, but once 'African Queen' by Tuface comes on, there is a mini orchestra.
Everyone suddenly forgets the squabbles and bustle and curses, and join in singing the evergreen song. Amidst the hustle and bustle and madness of Lagos, music serves as a soothing balm, which calms the nerves of every enraged Lagosian.
My Chip-toothed Angel shows that you have to shine your eyes jn Lagos, else, you'll enter 'one chance.'
And by one chance, I mean you can be duped or kidnapped or killed. Everyone in Lagos is always apprehensive at all times, and whether you're standing on the bus stop, or commuting to school or work, you must be careful.
Else, you fall prey to the bad guys. The guys that would charm you and take your jewelries, the guys that would pose as drivers and passengers, yet take you to an unknown destination.
A little girl will narrowly escape death, when the woman in 'red' saves her from meeting her doom by 'one chance' driver and passengers.
Those Etceteras is a story about an oyinbo woman who desperately wants to experience Lagos at dawn, and who would refuse to heed all warnings about staying out till late at night.
The new Oba of Lagos is dead and needs humans to accompany him to the great beyond. Everyone and thing warn this woman to not leave at night, but her love for adventure will block her ears. She must experience Lagos at night, honest.
International Sisi Eko, the title of this book is a story about a patriotic Nigerian who comes home from Houston for her National Youth Sevice Corps.
Determined, she promises to right all the wrongs of the country and what better way to achieve that than serve in Lagos, and live in Ojodu Berger among the ordinary Lagosians? Everyone calls her Sisi because of her foreign accent and prim and proper lifestyle.
She dreams of becoming the first female president in Nigeria and decides to take it a step at a time.
But does she think Lagos will just fold its arms and watch her cause an upheaval and an imbalance to the modus operandi of the city? Does she think determination is all it takes to win Lagos over?
A whole Lagos, the city for both the living and the dead, the sane and the insane... She'll find out soon enough that in Lagos, it's either you beat them, or join them. And since it's nearly impossible to beat them, you're left with only one option. And it's not beating them.
I enjoyed reading these stories, how they take us by the hand and on a journey to Lagos. The land of wealth and entertainment, of sanity and insanity, of chaos and happiness, of charm and grime.
Have you read the book? What do you think about it? Please share your thoughts with me in the comment section.
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