Read the World

The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma (2015, Nigeria) Obioma's debut novel, set in his home country of Nigeria, centres around four brothers: Ikenna, Boje, Obembe and Ben Agwu,  who live in the western town of Akure. Although they live in the Yoruba-speaking part of Nigeria, the brothers, and by extension their parents and two younger siblings, come from an Igbo family. Part of why I began this project of 'reading the world' was to learn about different countries, cultures and stories, so Obioma's description of Akure and the setting of the scene of an Igbo family living in Yorubaland Nigeria is something I found fascinating.  Through the novel's narrator, nine-year-old Ben, the fourth of the Agwu children and the youngest brother of the titular characters, Obioma is able to make the references to politics, history and culture understandable for all readers, regardless of their background and any existing knowledge they may or may not possess of Nigeria . Juggling plot l...

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia The first book I read in my quest to "Read the World" was Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, released in 2020.  Moreno-Garcia was born in Baja California, Mexico, but moved to British Columbia, Canada, in her early twenties. In Canada, she studied at the University of British Columbia and gained a Master's in science and technology studies.  Her studies, and her origin, are evident in Mexican Gothic . Although it is not Moreno-Garcia's first work (she is a prolific author of short fiction and novels with  Mexican Gothic  being her fifth) it seems her Mexican identity and her love of the sciences are happily wed in this gothic horror novel.  Through her main protagonist, pretty but brainy socialite Noemí Taboada, the reader experiences an eerie mystery concerning Noemí's cousin, Catalina, and Catalina's recent decline in health. Catalina lives on an old colonial-era estate owned by an English family, the Doyles....