No One Dies Yet

(4.5)

No One Dies Yet by Kobby Ben Ben is a weird, chaotic, raunchy, and at times surreal, perhaps a little auto fictional literary thriller. In essence, I have no idea what I’ve just read, but my gosh, was it good.

Elton, Vincent, and Scott arrive from America in Ghana during the Year of Return in 2019. They plan to visit preserved sites from the transatlantic slave route, and to explore the country's underground queer scene. But this novel really isn't about them. Their activities are narrated by their two combative guides: Kobby, their way into Accra's privileged queer circles; and Nana, the voice of tradition and religious principle.

It’s the relationship between Kobby and Nana that I loved the most. To me they felt like a representation of two modes of Ghanaian masculinity at odds with but also, in some ways, co-existing with each other. Kobby is gentle and caring towards Nana who is convinced that Kobby is Anansi but still - initially - cares for him. It’s a heartbreaking relationship but can, at times, be deeply poignant. There’s a beautiful moment when both Kobby and Nana separately go in search of chickens for a spiritual ceremony that had me laughing and crying at the same time. I will say no more about it but know that the symbolism and foreshadowing in this book runs deep. 

NODY is heavy on social critique, which is well delivered but might not resonate with everyone. The book explores themes of sexuality, colonial violence, race, African spirituality, transnationalism, and much more. It's packed full of commentary on repatriation, offering a perspective that people from Western Black diaspora countries might not have fully considered. If you're considering joining the repatriation movement, this might be a great place to start!

However, NODY isn't solely a social critique. It's also completely unhinged, dark, graphic, and often funny. It’s undoubtedly  a crime thriller and is brutal in its matter-of-fact delivery of the more violent sections. This delivery consistently caught me off guard and left me unprepared for what lay ahead. I didn't know how to feel throughout much of the book which created a pretty tantalising and unique reading experience. I’m still not sure what happened in the end. 

Ben Bens’ writing style is immersive and refreshingly original whilst also being reminiscent of the 1980’s American novels he critically references in the book. Benn Benn also pulls no punches in his critique of Western publishing houses. It's a very clever, very meta book.  

His style is also intentionally chaotic, which I found appealing, but some readers might become frustrated due to the occasional stream-of-consciousness passages that can be slightly confusing. Because of this, I would categorise NODY deeply within the literary fiction genre. It's definitely not a light read.

Fundamentally, NODY is the kind of book people study. It’s dark, frank, sharp-witted, and reflective. It immediately struck me as a classic and will undoubtedly linger in my thoughts for a while to come.

Thank you to Netgalley and Europa Editions (UK) Ltd for this ARC Copy

Wow. Such a rollercoaster. This book is told (mostly) from the perspective of Kobby and Nana, both contemporary Ghaniains. The former represents the liberal and western-leaning Ghana, while the latter represents the more traditional part of that society. The story unfolds during 2019, the Year of Return, when the government of Ghana encourages blacks who live in e.g,, US and Europe to come visit Ghana and connect to their roots. The story centres 3 friends who come from the US, and meet both Kobby and Nana, and spend 2 weeks with them.

The book tackles multiple topics. First and foremost, it's about the tension between black Africans and the descendants of black slaves living outside of Africa. This is the central theme, and governs much of the tension in the book. Secondly, it's about the gay experience in Ghana, and how local gays survive and thrive (or not). Thirdly, it's about psychological suffering and inner deamons, and what it takes to exercise them (or at least keep them at bay). Finally, it's a thriller with murder(s) at its core.

The story is immensely powerful. Its use of language is superb - with the narratives of Kobby and Nana written in the first person, and genuinely coming across as being written by different people. The emotional tension and the psychological depth are spectacular. The story of Kobby in particular is mesmerising - he is such a complex and multifaceted personality that finding out more about him feels like its own kind of thriller. I also loved the intensely personal characterisation of the politics at the core of the book, which helped me see what it might feel like living in the midst of the tension between the local population and the "returnees".

I have to also comment on the fantastic depiction of gay life and culture in this book. It's probably the best I've ever read, in any novel, from any country. It comes across as genuine, authentic, warm, nuanced, complex, and intimate. It's not contrived, "over-acted", or over-dramatised.

The only flaw I saw in this book is probably the final chapter, which tells the story post 2019. Frankly, it would have been a better book without it. It felt like a 5 limb - it had a different vibe, rhythm, and style. It also felt faintly post-apocalyptic, but not in a great way.

Highly recommend it to anyone interested in Africa, the black experience, being gay in Africa (or elsewhere), relationship between men, trying to find oneself, impact of colonialism on contemporary culture, etc. One of the most powerful and intense books I read in a long time. I feel like Kobby will stay with me for a long time.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

No One Dies Yet is a genre-defying literary novel about three Americans visiting Ghana and the two very different tour guides who work to show them a complex place and the foreigners' strange position in the country. It is 2019 and Elton, Vincent, and Scott have come to Ghana for the Year of Return. The two narrators, Kobby and Nana, are their tour guides: Kobby, a writer and Instragram book reviewer who might be able to show them the underground queer scene, and Nana, who wants to protect the travellers from the dangers he sees with his religious beliefs and sense of tradition.

This is an epic and experimental book, told through two narrators who paint very different pictures of what happens, and whose tense relationship forms a weird centre to the narrative. There's an awful lot packed into the story, from biting critique of a range of people and actions to literary fiction jokes about what African literature that becomes popular in the US and UK has to be and who should read it. The main looming event is murder, teased from the start, but it isn't as simple as a murder story, and there's some fascinating layers to what goes on, particularly around queerness and survival. Woven throughout is Ghanian history and ideas of who tells it and what they engage with, and the book doesn't have any easy answers to its questions. Then there's the characters and their own experiences: of queerness, of race, and how they view the world.

It feels a bit meta to be writing an online review of a book that is by and about an online book reviewer, but the book also has some jokes about that world mixed in, with plenty of dark humour amongst the issues it explores. It is a book trying to subvert your ideas about what it is, whilst also questioning why you had those ideas in the first place.