A difficult read but very sharp and interesting. It does take a while to get into but it’s worth it when you get there.

A very interesting story and perspective from an imaginary Nigeria

I love Wole Soyinka, and have loved his works ever since reading The Lion and the Jewel for school. This book, although not a play still carries the same fervour and strength of his writing. I did find the book a tad long but the pacing was great, and his prose is amazing.

Chronicles...delves into the past of African melding African folklore and tradition with a modern morality amidst a colonial legacy. Soyinka pokes fun at the traditions of Africa and Europe whilst grasping with modern day slavery, barbarism, capitalism and power. The book deserves to be read in concentrated bursts in order to become immersed in the rich storytelling, which drops you into the swirling maelstrom of African politics. A scathing indictment of the horrors made abundant by civil war, terrorism (Boko Haram) and warring political parties. However, the tone and exuberance of the characters created by Soyinka allow this book to be enjoyable if a little long.

I absolutely loved the subject matter and enjoyed the style, but I found this a very tough read - without a strong background in Nigerian history and politics, I expect many readers will struggle to fully keep up with and appreciate the complex plotting of this book.

Soyinka's language is a lot of fun to read but I think I prefer something more abstract and less dense from him.

I found the writing style of this book really difficult to get to grips with, and though the ideas are really interesting I had no urge to pick it up so I'm DNFing

Despite being interested in the history of Nigeria and its socio-economic issues, I couldn't get into this, sadly. I'm sure many other readers will thoroughly enjoy this but, as another reviewer mentioned, it left me cold. I can usually find redeeming features to enable me to write a positive review of most books, but I simply cannot in this case. Thank you for the opportunity to read it; it is always appreciated.

I’m sorry but this book did not make me happy, despite it being happy tales. I found the writing style incredibly boring and I really struggled to get through this book.

It wasn’t for me at all.

As always, my thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) as ever for the opportunity to read this.

'You see, if you inhabit a dung heap, you can still ensure that you are sitting on top of it'. That is the other perspective. It is what separates those who are called from the common herd. It sits at the heart of human desire'.

A sprawling narrative, part satirical part detective story on Nigeria, its roots and colonial past, tribalism, power, corruption, greed and the evils that plague politics and society in modern Nigeria. Soyinka is chronicler like no other with his brilliant, irony-filled voice that reminded me of Maryse Conde. For an outsider it is definitely a demanding tour de force with its meandering strands, at times it felt confusing and frustrating, but definitely rewarding in the end. Recommended for the persevering, attentive reader.

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC on exchange for an honest review.

"The judge had the temerity to sentence him for some arcane crime called 'mail fraud'. Yet the whole world knew that Divine's crime was simply that he mobilized his fellow slave descendants to demand that they be repatriated to their continent of origin and that the government of white slaveowners pay their passage home and even pay compensation for generations of enslavement. No one could obscure that truth."

Trigger warning: cannibalism, rape, violence.

The story weaves between four main characters in a non-linear timeline, outlining their histories and how they link together. The book covers cultural phenomenons, corruption, traditional Yoruba culture and explores the varying experiences fuelled by different laws in parts of the country. During the novel, he writes for one of his characters "all shit may smell different, but it still smells" and this sentiment runs true throughout the tale, with seemingly no bad deed going unnoticed or without consequence.

Wole Soyinka's scathing political satire of an imaginary Nigeria turned detective novel is absolutely breath-taking. Despite being the first novel he's released since 1973, his writing is rich and filled with description, successfully deploying multiple corresponding storylines. He gives a nice little shock twist at the end to keep the reader guessing until the very last minute, as well as little 'hooks' to engage the reader during the denser parts.It is not an easy read, but the 'chronicles' are worth persevering through to learn more about the Land of the Happiest People on Earth.

The Nobel prize winning author's plot is complex. There are a lot of characters who use multiple nicknames, there is in-depth analysis linked to specifically Nigerian history and profound moments of reflection and consideration not often seen in novels. Perhaps possible due to the size of the book, or from the years spent writing the book. Either way, it's powerful.

I can't do the book justice with a simple review, but I greatly enjoyed it and encourage others who wish to break out of their comfort zone and experience and something different to get their hands on the book.

5 ./5, I absolutely can't wait to dig into more of Soyinka's writing in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This is a biting political satire set in an imaginary Nigeria plagued by abuse and greed, much like the grim realities of the real Nigeria, from Nobel Prize winning writer and activist Wole Soyinka, a writer that rarely uses the format of the novel. I am not going to lie, I found this both an engaging and extremely challenging read, and there were times I thought I would never finish what felt like far too long a book, so it was a mixed bag overall. Framing the background of the narrative is its colonial history, slavery, and the oil industry, a source of misery and devastation that many readers will be aware of, all factors which have blighted and shaped the country into what it is. Those who oppose the corrupt and ruthless powers, like Dr Menka Kighare and Diyole Pitan-Payne, comprising the government with its practice of co-opting the opposition, the media and religion, can expect a dangerous and powerful pushback.

This is a complex, complicated, and often compulsive read, with a wide cast of characters, with a narrative that wanders, with themes that are close to Soyinka's heart, but it requires perseverance and patience from the reader. On the basis of my experience of this, I don't think that it is that much of a controversial opinion to say the ability to utilise the form of the novel is not the author's greatest strength. Nevertheless, I do want to recommend it for those interested in Africa, specifically the state of Nigeria and its people and for fans of Wole Soyinka. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

I was introduced to Wole Soyinka as a playwright at university so I was really excited to read this. An amazing tale of corruption and politics in Nigeria. You get a real sense of the country and its people. The characters are well crafted and believable. Quite an epic novel

Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People On Earth is a sprawling tale of corruption, religion, and power in Nigeria, as longtime friends discover a strange plot selling body parts. Duyole Pitan-Payne is an engineer and rising star who has just had an audience with the Prime Minister, but when his old friend Dr Menka gets in touch using their old code, something seems to be wrong. Menka is exhausted from the horrors he has seen as a surgeon, but he's just found out a new one: body parts are being stolen from the hospital for sale. Soon a story of power and corruption unravels, but the truth might be close to home.

This is a book that takes time to get into, as the opening chapters jump about in character and focus, and I wasn't sure if the narrative would settle into a particularly clear narrative, despite the length of the book. However, after a while it does focus on Dr Menka mostly, making it easier to keep track of what was going on, though there were still a few plot points (including exactly what was going on with the body parts) that I found confusing. The third person narrative voice occasionally moves from focusing on the action or flashbacks to a broader explanatory tone that satirises various political and national happenings in the book, but mostly it follows the mystery of what is going on in Menka and Pitan-Payne's lives.

Once I got into it, the story was good, a witty look at corruption and influence, though it did get a bit meandering at times due to its length (particularly a section about whether or not someone is buried in Austria or Nigeria, which went on for a long time). Some of the satire probably passed me by, especially as I don't tend to read a huge amount of political satire, but the overall narrative came together well and it had a satisfying ending that I hadn't guessed.

“It challenges the collective notion of soul. Something is broken. Beyond race. Outside colour or history. Something has cracked. Can’t be put back together.’’

A searing satirical tale (albeit one that is – like the best satire - painfully if not shockingly close to the truth) of modern Nigeria.

A book which makes no concessions to accessibility or approachability for UK (or even I think non-Nigerian) readers and so is one which demands, but in my view ultimately rewards, persistent and attentive reading both in and around the novel.

And the first novel for forty nine years (and only his third) by the firstsub-Saharan African to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Also (and I should declare an interest here) an alumni my wife’s University (Leeds) and my college – Churchill at Cambridge (more later on this).

Soyinka is better known for his plays, poetry and Memoirs and admits that novels are not his natural medium – but he has also said “it’s like I have become rather bored with saying the same thing in a particular medium and since the themes do not appear to be exhausted, they force their way through a medium in which I don’t normally operate. That enables me to be creative and inventive. The medium gave me a totally new scope, a plenum of expression which triggers off even different approaches to the same themes. Sometimes the form controls, or at least it galvanises, the emergence of themes or the story itself”.

And my impression – reinforced by the above quote – is that the author has drawn on themes and ideas he has been exploring for many years, so as to present a portrait (or of course a Chronicle) of the woes of his nation. I was in that respect reminded of Arundhati Roy – another prolific non-novel writer and activist/campaigner – and her second novel “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness” although, other than one misstep which I will return to later, I found this a much more successful book.

That comparison is reinforced in the second chapter (the chapter that basically explains the title of the book) where in the second paragraph we are told of a Ministry of Happiness set up by an impoverished state (like so much else in the book a true story).

Nigeria itself of course has been voted the happiest country on Earth – initially in a New Scientist survey but that survey was based more on subjective questioning – more objective measures of happiness have it sinking lower and lower. Perhaps more pertinent is a 2011 poll that had the country as the most optimistic as this is a book which presents the many challenges Nigerian face.

The novel takes almost as a given background: the lingering malign societal pollution left behind by the slave trade and colonialism and the twin corrupting and greed-inducing influences both of black gold (oil) and (in something of a side story involving a Indian prospector with a literal taste for it) real gold.

And the book has three characters who each symbolise one element of the state – all of which can be benign if not essential – but all of which are easily subject to this pollution and corruption: politics, media and religion. As an aside note that Soyinka is not against any of these (the novel is dedicated to three people – one a journalist, the other a politician – both assassinated) just conscious of the ways in which they can be malignly exploited.

Politics is represented in the figure of the Prime Minister (the President portrayed as a figure-head albeit one who occasionally oversteps what the Prime Minister considers to be his ceremonial bounds) – Sir Goddie Danfere, leader of the People on the Move Party (POMP) a party which thrives non-democratically in a democratic society in the time honoured fashion of incorporating its rivals (by offering them governor or other positions – an amusing side story features one such governor whose desire to follow Sir Goddie’s lead turns into allegations of plagiarism and identity theft as he anticipates and launches ideas still in trial such as Sir Goddie’s idea to brand himself Steward of the Nation), bribes/fraud, violence and by largesse to the voters including a regular supply of festivals and Honours Lists.

Media in Chief Modu Udensi Oromotaya – proprietor of The National Inquest, originator of various populist votes (for example the Common Touch Award and Yeomen of the Year Award) as well as blackmailer and propaganda artist.

Religion in the figure of Papa Divina/Teribogo – a kind of charismatic guide/prophet/spiritual leader/guru/extortionist. Starting life as something of a serially unsuccessful fraudster he finds his opportunity in religion - starting by combining the country’s two main religions with Chislam he forges in the end a kind of fiercely and exclusive ecumenical movement whose sole real god is his own interests.

Each of the pairs of the three characters (and the areas they represent) are held in a form of distrustful, warm symbiosis which the novel explores in their interactions. Acting in concert though they are parasitical on the body of Nigeria.

And it is the body of the country and more specifically the bodies of the country that lie at the heart of the book – and at the union of the other three key characters in the novel – all of who met as students while studying in England and all of whom end in conflict with the three state elements.

The heroes of the book by contrast are three other Nigerians – who met at college in England some 40 years ago where they (together with a fourth member who subsequently disappeared from University without trace) formed a pact (sealed with a code) that effectively they would return to Nigeria to give back to their country – a pact centred in particular on the aim of one of their number – a physician Dr Menka Kighare – to one day build a world class clinic in his modest rural hometown (known more for its Kola Nuts).

The real leader of the group is an electrical engineer Duyole Pitan-Payne: he provides the code, the groups name (the Gong of Four – named after a four headed Benin gong – and which later he adopts as the symbol of his growing conglomerate – Brand of the Land). At the time of the book, he has been approached by the UN (originally via a UNESCO scientist fascinated in the provenance of the Gong) to take a position in New York. To his surprise the government – with whom he is at loggerheads over his persistence in exposing the corruption at the heart of the countries endemic power failures) agree to his posting – Goldie though explains this to his advisors (shocked that he would dispense with such valuable patronage to not just a non-party member but an active irritant) via a lengthy story of a communion-wine guzzling priest (Father. Is That You?) and his desire to remove a Sexton who is a permanent irritant.

The other still around member is the accountant of the gang – Prince Badetona. Rising high up in the Civil Service and National Industry seemingly due to his ability to turn a blind eye to, if not actively participate in, money laundering and fraud – the shadowy powers decide he is surplus to requirements and despite, or possibly because of, his wife’s attempts to get him to take counsel from Papa Davina he is arrested, subject to mental torture and at the time of the book, a broken man.

But the real heart of the novel and author of its pivotal scene (and the quote which opens my review) is Dr Menka Kighare. His first scene is set in a genteel ex-colonial British club (famous for its motto Manners Maketh Man). At a reception to mark his honouring with a national award for his surgical skills in dealing with victims of suicide bombs – he is suddenly tipped over the edge by an initially jocular reference to a horrific (and – to my shock when I Googled it - real life newstory of a grisly atrocity involving ritual murder and the sale of body parts). The story (and another incident) pushed him over the edge with the various atrocities he has seen – not just Boko Haram and Suicide bombers and police killings, college fraternity and gang murders but deaths via pedophiles, massacres of beggar children and ritual killings often motivated by a superstition that young body parts have rhino horn like qualities. The incident is that he is approached via a shadowy but official group to be part of and official supplier to) what is in effect an online body-parts business (with a catalogue based around the Codex Seraphinianus) – they being convinced he will sign up due to an incident when he was a trainee where he performed a Sharia-law amputation of the arm of a goat thief.

Instead Kighare both alerts his fellow club members and contacts Duyole invoking the Gong’s long dormant mutual assistance code and they all agree to assist him in investigating and exposing the euphemistically named Human-Resource business.

From there though two explosions seemingly represent those behind HR striking back.

The first is of the hill top club – and also the author says represents his own impotent by still satsifying attempt to strike a rather blow against the worst of colonialism (something he was tempted to do when at Churchill by pushing over Winston’s bust – my own rebellion consisting of refusing to join the “Sir Winston” toasts once my Indian college friends had alerted me to his role on the sub-continent).

The second results in Duyole’s death – thereafter a very lengthy section of the novel both gets Duyole to Austria before he dies and then explores his paternal family’s rather baffling insistence on having him buried there (against the views of his wife, children, friends and colleagues) and then to obstruct his repatriation and then to downplay his burial. I must admit that is Dr Menka was baffled by this refusal, I was baffled, even at the end of the novel, for why this section was included at all let alone took up such a chunk of the novel. The answer I think is that it is biographical – relating to the aftermath of the death of Soyinka’s own friend Femi Johnson an insurance broker (and who is in fact the third person to who the novel is dedicated) as covered at length in the author’s last memoir “You Must Set Forth at Dawn” – and while I follow his desire to explore it again in fiction, I do not think the length of the fictional exploration is proportionate to its relevance to (but instead acts as a distraction from) the novel’s themes and plot.

But this for me is a rare misstep in what is otherwise a powerful and fascinating novel – one whose resonances and depth this lengthy review has I think only skimmed but in a way which I hope will help others persist through what can be, as I said at the start of my review, a daunting novel for a non-Nigerian reader but one which both reaches a resolution of some of the mysteries which run through the novel (for example the fate of the fourth college friend, the circumstances of the two explosions) while leaving the fate and future fortune of its key surviving protagonists (from both trios) open in the same way that I think the author leaves open the future fate of his country (albeit he has said – one reason why I picked my opening quote – that he cannot currently see a future for Nigeria in its current unitary form).

I need to stress that my 1-star rating is reflective of my subjective reading experience rather than a slating of this book - I simply didn't feel that I had the knowledge of Nigerian politics, religion, history and culture to be able to enter the world of this book and engage with it.

Soyinka has written something vast and meandering, that I'm guessing is satire - issues of tribalism, religion, greed for gold, politics and authoritarianism all swirl together but, honestly, I felt left outside and in the cold. I'd love to read a review from someone who really 'gets' this book, but sadly that isn't me.

Chronicles of the Happiest People on Earth is Nobel-Prize winner Woye Soyinka’s first novel since 1973, although it should be said this is only his third novel in total, and he is better known for his plays, essays and poetry.

This is a novel driven by a complex plot and rather exaggerated characters, with language that is playful at times, eloquent at others. Its political messages are explored by the creation and exposition of a fictionalised, satirical, version of Nigeria.

As such, it reminded me of Woyinka’s fellow Nobel laureate Gunter Grass, and, perhaps most of all, of Booker-of-Booker winner Sir Salman Rushdie.

As a fan of those authors, I therefore question why this novel didn’t work so well for me.

In part I think it is that my taste has evolved away from lengthy (here 450 pages, which is at least twice my maximum preferred length) and plot-and-character-driven stories, towards more compact ones, novels of ideas, and to books that stretch the novel form.

But also Soyinka’s novel lacks the imaginative and fantastical element of either of Rushdie’s or Grass’s work, or, indeed that of the recently International Booker featured Frankenstein of Baghdad, with which it shares some plot overlap, and it therefore failed to sustain my interest over its - too many - pages.

I also lacked the knowledge of Nigerian sociopolitics to appreciate the satirical elements of Soyinka’s creation, which is a failing of mine not the novel, but made it hard to keep the various plot strands and characters together - indeed a cast of characters would be a very useful addition.

Overall - a 2 star read for me, but that largely reflects my personal taste, and I would suggest other readers sample it for themselves.