"Chroncles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth" by Wole Soyinka

Name: Wole Soyinka

Year Won: 1986

Read: Chroncles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth

Original Language: English

Reason: "who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence"

About: Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth follows a lot of people being strange in modern Nigeria. By strange I mean...strange. Like, dissecting human bodies for ~*reasons*~ and selling the parts. Starting new, prophetic religions. Running for public office. It's a smorgasboard of the strange and, honestly, I'm kind of there for it.

What I liked: The voice on this is amazing - and hilarious. Like, this is a genuinely funny book. It's also fun. It's written in a lovely, amusing, deeply entertaining way. (So much so that I'm like, "huh, hadn't thought the Nobel committee would go for this. Like, it's something someone might actually read for pleasure." It's really a delight.

What I Disliked: The plot veers around like a drunk driver. It is really hard to follow (assuming there is a plot, which I'm not 100% sure of - I read this on a plane, so may be a bit less able to follow nuances than usual.) This didn't really ruin the experience, but it did dampen it.

Should it have won a Nobel: I'm honestly surprised it did, because this is a *fun* book that doesn't feel at all pretentious. Is this a wonderful, new way in which the Nobel project will go? Fingers crossed.

It's also really nice having Not-Another-Norwegian (Soyinka is the first Black person to have won a Nobel prize in literature). There is the sneaking suspicion that what his book won for (this book just came out meaning he won the prize, oh, more than thirty years ago...) was a lot more pretentious and he's like, "screw it all, let's have fun!". There's also the sneaking suspicion they were like, "oh, we need a Black guy, let's find one - oh, this guy is politically active - even better!" But I'm willing to *hope* that someone genuinely enjoyed Soyinka's fun, lively voice and sense of humor. Since it would be good to read more like this.

Next Up: "Watermark" by Joseph Brodsky