Blackass

Blackass is a novel by Nigerian author A. Igoni Barrett. It was released in the United Kingdom and Nigeria in 2015, and 2016 in the United States. It received mixed reviews.[1][2][3]

Blackass
AuthorA. Igoni Barrett
CountryNigeria
Media typePrint (Hardcover)

Plot summary

The novel concerns Furo Wariboko, a Nigerian man, who wakes up one day to discover that he has become white.

Reception

Reviewing Blackass in the Financial Times, Jon Day wrote: "From the first sentence, Kafka’s The Metamorphosis confronts you with the inherent strangeness of the pact you make when you read fiction. Gregor Samsa has become an insect, Kafka says. Suspend your disbelief. Take it or leave it. A Igoni Barrett’s first novel — his third book — demands a similar response....to read him only as a Nigerian writer would be to do him a disservice. For Blackass is a strange, compelling novel, and Barrett has something to tell us all."[4] Writing in The Guardian, Helon Habila said: "Igoni Barrett’s greatest asset is his ability to satirise the ridiculous extents people, especially Lagosians, go to in order to appear important."[5] Claire Fallon for the Huffington Post concluded: "Blackass is a blunt, transparently written novel — the kind that makes the reader feel as though they’re standing inside the skin of the character, going about his day with him — and though the topic could easily be that of a polemic, it’s also a subtle, circumspect novel about the intersecting, sometimes mutually exclusive needs humans have for family and connection, and for status and power."[6] Aaron Bady of Okayafrica calls it "the most unapologetically Nigerian book that American publishers have published in a long time, and as the 'Afropolitan' has become an increasingly omnipresent strand of contemporary African literature, there has been a steady backlash, both against the Afropolitan as such, and against the entire category of African immigrant literature.[7]

In 2016 Blackass won the People's Literature Publishing House and the Chinese Foreign Literature Society's 21st Century Best Foreign Novel Award.[8] It was nominated for the inaugural FT/OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices Awards,[9] the 2017 PEN Open Book Award,[10] the 2015 Kitschies Golden Tentacle Award,[11] and the inaugural Nommo Award for Best Novel.[12] In 2017 it was nominated for a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in the debut fiction category.[13][14]

References
  1. Schaub, Michael (6 March 2016). "An Audacious Transformation Bogs Down In 'Blackass'". NPR. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  2. Habila, Helon (14 August 2015). "Blackass by A Igoni Barrett review – a cocktail of Kafka and comedy". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  3. Day, Jon (14 August 2015). "'Blackass', by A Igoni Barrett". Financial Times. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  4. Jon Day, "‘Blackass’, by A Igoni Barrett" (review), Financial Times, 14 August 2015.
  5. Helon Habila, "Blackass by A Igoni Barrett review – a cocktail of Kafka and comedy", The Guardian, 14 August 2015.
  6. Claire Fallon, "The Bottom Line: ‘Blackass’ By A. Igoni Barrett", HuffPost Arts and Culture, 4 March 2016.
  7. Aaron Bady, "A. Igoni Barrett’s “Blackass” And The Afropolitan Debate", Okayafrica, 10 March 2016.
  8. "年度最佳外国小说”先睹为快", Xinhua News Agency, 02 April 2017.
  9. "Emerging Voices Award Longlist Announced", OppenheimerFunds, 16 June 2015.
  10. "2017 PEN Open Book Award", PEN America, December 2016
  11. "2015 Kitschies Short List" Locus Online, 22 February 2016.
  12. "2017 Nommo Awards Shortlist", Locus Online, 4 April 2017.
  13. "Hurston Wright Foundation Announces 2017 Legacy Awards Nominations", MahoganyBooks Blog, 30 June 2017
  14. "Hurston/Wright Foundation | A. Igoni Barrett", Hurstonwright.org
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