A Spell of Good Things: Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023

A Spell of Good Things.I like the fiery, fast-moving political story of present-day Nigeria.The author has narrated two parallel stories. Eniola is an ambitious poor school-going teenage boy whose low middle-income family came to the street once his father lost his job as a school teacher due to the corrupt Government policies. The other is a smart, educated, well-mannered, filthy-rich, politically well-connected medical officer, Wuraola, doing her residency in a Government medical school.It is a well-researched novel involving friendship, love, romance, bitterness and falling out, domestic abuse and violence, and school and university education. On the other end, it has intense political drama, political party rallies, bargaining, corruption, barbarism, political rivalries and revenge.No matter, what you want you have and that too thoroughly studied and in an innovative way.I give this book a five-star rating and also go for her first book, Stay With Me.ManjulDelhiIndia

Ayobami Adebayo’s debut ‘Stay with Me’ was an exhilarating read and one that I couldn’t tear my eyes off of. It was a book that made me impatient for Adebayo’s next. So, when A Spell of Good Things came out, I was sure I’d read it, Booker or not. I’ve to admit though that its selection for the longlist was a gentle nudge to this lazy reader.In contrast to Adebayo’s first offering, A Spell… burns slowly, with a flame that flickers often.In the book, Adebayo weaves the stories of two families, one steeped in wealth and the other in depravity. While one of the families boasts of a long line of doctors, the other has been forced to the streets to beg, the children pushed out of school because they can no longer afford to pay the fees.The narrative runs parallelly for the most part, painting a vivid contrast of what it’s like to revel in fortune or to be defined by its lack. A lack so severe, so complete that violence lurks in its shadow.The lives of the two families intertwine eventually—at which point the narrative picks up pace—with event after another event snowballing into one final explosion.A Spell Of Good Things suffers from the enormity of its own promise. The build-up happens over more than a hundred pages, and by the time the final blow arrives, it’s a little too late to pack a punch.

‘A Spell of Good Things’ is a fresh, fast-moving story of present-day Nigeria by a new budding author Ayobami Adebayo. Finally, we can say that she will truly lead a new generation of writers who are coming out of the clutches of the colonial mindset of the Chinua Achebe legacy.This is a very intense story of political power, ambition, high-level corruption both in civil and military regimes, love, romance and the lives of haves and have-nots.The author presented the degradation of the three most essential factors for the growth of any country- education, health and infrastructure.In education, mass laying off of teachers citing no use teaching history, Geography or other subjects which they thought were useless, stopped aiding the government and private schools, and no salaries for months. In reality, bosses and higher-ups encourage students should quit their studies and join them as their goons.In health care, we see a paucity of workforce, medicines, and investigation facilities even in tertiary care hospitals with attached medical schools. One point, I learned as a doctor about emergency care workers in Nigeria is that they never work in their official dress, but rather in day-to-day clothes, so they can easily melt into the crowd during medicos abuse and assaults.Regarding the public facilities the author has smartly conveyed the quality of roads, Government hospitals, buildings, hostels, and stinking and dangerous gutter in front of the boutique where celebrities shop.In political rivalries, we see that political allies become arch-enemies overnight and they droop so low that they can even murder them before the ink is dry on the page.There is a sharp contrast in the lives of the rich and poor. The ruined are struggling for food, clothing, and shelter and even white collared are forced to beg while the privileged class can easily afford the richest wine, richest food and richest luxury on the earth.One more point, I want to highlight is that Nigerian girls even highly educated and of reputed families are mentally primed for marriage since puberty and most of them prefer a boy from a wealthy and prestigious family. They will compromise even if they are wife-beaters.Despite the plot and its prose, this book has not made it to the Booker’s 2023, I think, it is Nigeria, not the author. They (born and brought up in Nigeria) have been deprived since the time of Chinua Achebe.Best wishes for her future endeavours.Dr Brij MohanAuthor -Second Innings

Good read

Such a good read

A evolução da autora (já uma competente narradora desde o seu romance de estreia) é palpável. A riqueza de detalhes impressiona e comove, fazendo o leitor mergulhar num universo (nigeriano) paradoxalmente estrangeiro e familiar. Melhor leitura de 2023 até aqui.

Once again, Ayobami Adebayo proves she was born to write. She has a special way of describing the human condition.

I mainly read works set in Africa and "A Spell" delivered much of what I love. The slow burn of the (often sad) storyline drew me in and I gladly stayed with the story until, out of nowhere, it ended. I was startled when I turned a 'page' in my Kindle and saw "Acknowledgements" -- I thought I'd accidentally skipped to the end of the book. Can't recall the last time I read a book that ended so unsatisfyingly.