It’s perhaps an
odd thing to say, but I’m really jealous of New York and more recently Los
Angeles for their alien encounters. Why don’t they ever visit Montreal? Are
they intimidated by the OLFQ? Do they have a hard time digesting melted cheese
curds or sitting out on terraces? As Canadians (because yes, we are still apart
of Canada…) are we too polite to provoke an attack? Or, this must be it, does
our heavy snowfall at a moment’s notice remind them of the planet their fleeing
from?
All of that to
say, Lagos is a new spot for alien activity. Lagos, Nigeria is definitely not
what I’d figure a setting for the next extraterrestrial encounter, but Nnedi
Okorafor makes it work. Considering that the last major time the people closest
to the shores of what is now Nigeria came in contact with “others”, slavery
happened, Lagoon is a much more
positive tale.
Okorafor puts
together a marine biologist who has a husband who’s just asking to be shot at
point blank range, a rapper with an actual real power for touching people, and
a soldier who’s about to go AWOL after attempting to break up an assault
perpetrated by his commanding officer, on a beach within minutes of the first
wave of alien arrival in the waters right off of Lagos. These three and their
new alien friend take Lagos by storm (literally at one point), and the dramatic
changes that follow cause everyone to take a good look at themselves and their
relationships with others. Mixing folk tales, a little bit of magic, and
hysteria caused by hearsay, Okorafor is brilliant.
★★★★★
Labels: 50 books in 52 weeks, lagoon, nnedi okorafor, science fiction, woc writers, women writers reading group
photo taken by the one and only ghost
