Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria

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Noo Saro Wiwa was brought up in England, but every summer she was dragged back to Nigeria a country she viewed as an annoying parallel universe where she had to relinquish all her creature comforts and sense of individuality Then her father, activist Ken Saro Wiwa, was murdered there, and she didn t return for 10 years.Recently, she decided to rediscover and come to terms with the country her father loved She travelled from the exuberant chaos of Lagos to the calm beauty of the eastern mountains from the eccentricity of a Nigerian dog show to the empty Transwonderland Amusement Park Nigeria s decrepit and deserted answer to Disneyland She explored Nigerian christianity, delved into its history of slavery, examined the corrupting effect of oil, investigated Nollywood She found the country as exasperating as ever, and frequently despaired at the corruption and inefficiency she encountered.But she also discovered that it was far beautiful and varied than she had ever imagined, and she was seduced by its thick tropical rainforest and ancient palaces and monuments Most engagingly of all, she introduces us to the people she meets and gives us hilarious insights into the Nigerian character its passion, wit, and ingenuity. Free Read [ Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria ] Author [ Noo Saro-Wiwa ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr Memoir meets travelogue meets popculture It s ok, nothing memorable The only thing I really got from this book was that the general fraudulency and crookedness of Nigeria where the begging letter scam is a whole semi legitimate business is being replaced by the utter corruption and cruelty of the Islamic movement sweeping the country It is opposed only by evangelical Christians and that means whatever it is like now it s going to get bloodier and as always with any of these recent Islamic Memoir meets travelogue meets popculture It s ok, nothing memorable The only thing I really got from this book was that the general fraudulency and crookedness of Nigeria where the be...I imagined this would bear some similarity to Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina s Some Day I Will Write About This Place, but there is nothing parallel here to Wainaina s sardonic critique of neo colonial representations of his country and continent There isn t time for it I fear that this, the white liberal clamour to be educated by the Other , was what prevented me from connecting with Saro Wiwa quickly it took me about 200 pages to warm up to her,or less as she started to write I imagined this would bear some similarity to Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina s Some Day I Will Write About This Place, but there is nothing parallel here to Wainaina s sardonic critique of neo colonial representations of his country and continent There isn t time for it I fear that this...I loved this book It was everything I wanted and expected.It took me to all the places in Nigeria that I haven t been able to go and it was from a point of view I could really relate to that of an outsider, an insider and neither Noo properly pronounced Naw has written a very rare and insightful book that shows sides of Nigeria that are not explored enough And this book has moments that were funny as hell my favorite was when a woman shouted, You re crazy at a danfo driver that I loved this book It was everything I wanted and expected.It took me to all the places in Nigeria that I haven t been able to go and it was from a point of view I could really relate to that of an outsider, an insider and neither Noo properly pronounced Naw has written a very rare and insightful book that shows sides of Nigeria that are not explored enough And this book has moments that were funny as hell my favorite was when a woman shouted, You re crazy at a danfo driver that dr...I thoroughly enjoyed this, somewhat to my surprise, since I am often impatient with travelogue segments in fiction But then, a nonfiction travel book succeeds if it informs and entertains the reader with information about a place, while fictional travels all too often serve as cover for lack of plot And this book both informs and entertains Saro Wiwa is Nigerian by birth, but was raised and currently lives in England After years of avoiding her home country, following uncomfortable childhood I thoroughly enjoyed this, somewhat to my surprise, since I am often impatient with travelogue segments in fiction But then, a nonfiction travel book succeeds if it informs and entertains the reader with information about a place, while fictional travels all too often serve as cover for lack of plot And this book both informs and entertains Saro Wiwa is Nigerian by birth, but was raised and currently lives in England After years of avoiding her home country, following uncomfortable childhood experiences and her activist father s murder at the hands of one of several dictatorships, she took several months to travel around Nigeria and reacquaint herself with the country This insider outsider perspe...Author who s first name is pronounced gnaw travels through several regions of Nigeria in an attempt to determine how much she fits in there, having lived in England almost her entire life, except for extended summer visits back home as a child Other readers have criticized the book for her flying visits from city to city, which I found to be the point the country is so diverse that nowhere except perhaps Lagos is particularly typically Nigerian Final chapter in her hometown of Author who s first name is pronounced gnaw travels through several regions of Nigeria in an attempt to determine how much she fits in there, having lived in England almost her entire life, except for extended summer visits back home as a ch...i read this rather impulsively as soon as I found out about it I ve read a lot of Nigerian literature over the past few years and I have done quite a bit of nonfiction reading of Nigeria too Nigeria is one of those beguilingly complex countries that i don t ever want to stop learning about and someday i would like to be able to visit it But in the meantime, Saro Wiwa s book was a good stand in for that trip that may never happen, taking me to a lot of the areas that i have read and learned i read this rather impulsively as soon as I found out about it I ve read a lot of Nigerian literature over the past few years and I have done quite a bit of nonfiction reading of Nigeria too Nigeria is one of those beguilingly complex countries that i don t ever want to stop learning about and someday i would like to be able to visit it But in the meantime, Saro Wiwa s book was a good stand in for that trip that may never happen, taking me to a lot of the areas that i have read and learned about Her book wasthan just...My thoughts I really enjoyed this book it is part travelogue, part memoir, part history lesson, part commentary written in an engaging thoughtful informative manner I have read several books on Nigeria but most of the books concentrated on one region or a specific conflict regarding a specific event or a specific ethnic group But this book gave me a great introduction to Nigeria as a who...Reading Noo Saro Wiwa s account of her travels in Nigeria, Looking For Transwonderland pub Granta , it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the current wave of Islamist terror gripping the country s north was inevitable, if not overdue.That a hopelessly corrupt and wholly uncontrollable nation of upwards of one hundred and si...I am enjoying an education on a country I know very little about I was wishing for a map of Nigeria in the book Have a map handy Also, I found many pics online of the various sites and cities The book is decent but Nigeria doesn t seem like a very nice place It points out how Nigeria used to be an educated, progressive country but has since become plagued with a religious ideological fervor where environmental degradation and poverty rule Nigeria has recently become the largest I am enjoying an education on a country I know very little about I was wishing for a map of Nigeria in the book Have a map handy Also, I found many pics online of the various sites and cities The book is decent but Nigeria doesn t seem like a very nice place It points out how Nigeria used to be an educated, progressive country but has since become plagued with a religious ideological fervor where environmental degradation a...Saro Wiwa is not a spectacular writer but she is a great travelling companion and when she comes to the end of her strange journey you want her to just keep on writing about wherever she goes next I do wish there had been a map included, here s a good one if you want to see where she went

Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria
  • English
  • 06 April 2019
  • Paperback
  • 311 pages
  • 1847080308
  • Noo Saro-Wiwa
  • Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria