Menu
Next in the queue
73
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
94/100Critics
53/100Scholars
Author:
Dipo Faloyin
Publisher:
W. W. Norton & Company
Date:
September 6, 2022
A stereotype-busting portrait of contemporary Africa in all its splendid diversity, by one of its leading new writers.
What The Reviewers Say
Faloyin is a smart, often scathingly funny writer.
... a stereotype Faloyin is bent on examining and demolishing, a task he carries out with verve.
The chief flaw of the book is exactly the one it’s titled for: that Africa is not a country and one manuscript can never be anything but superficial when criss-crossing a continent. Though it comes to 351 pages, covering so much ground means Faloyin inevitably falls into the same holes – of failing to provide context – that he is criticising...Faloyin is aware of this, beginning with disclaimers, including that he is not 'generically African', he’s Nigerian, and the book reflects his viewpoint as such. His writing is at its strongest when he describes either his relatives, or Lagos – Nigeria’s economic capital and the city of his birth.
With clarity and incisive wit, journalist Faloyin explores the origins of the 54 countries of Africa and invites readers to look beyond the stereotypes that remain at the forefront of the rest of the world’s portrayals of the continent.
