Thank you @myriad_editions for gifting me a copy of Everything Good Will Come by Sefi Atta - I thoroughly enjoyed it! It starts a year after the Biafran War in 1971, with Nigeria under military rule, when Enitan and Sheri first meet as children, and follows their lives as they grow up until 1995. I love this kind of story, and Atta blends the personal stories of the two women against the backdrop of Nigeria’s political and economical struggles very well.
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There are so many elements covered during the course of this book, as you’d expect from one dealing with decades of two lives. Particularly compelling components for me were Enitan’s strained relationship with her mother, the pressure she feels when she’s 35 and still childless, Sheri’s decision to work the system and find a sugar daddy (before it turns sour), and Enitan’s fight to prove herself as a capable lawyer in a country which used ‘feminist’ as an insult.
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I loved Atta’s use of dialogue too - I find a lot of authors struggle with speech, it often comes off stilted and awkward, whereas here you can sense the sparks between all the different characters with their angry, passionate, jealous and witty back-and-forths. She also slips some keen-eyed observations in there regarding how the rest of the world views Nigeria and how Nigerians feel about their country.
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I did think some parts were a little rough around the edges (there were some weird proofreading errors), and I think there could have been more dimension had the chapters been narrated alternately by Enitan and Sheri, rather than just Enitan, but overall it was a very rich read and made me look forward to reading more by Sefi Atta!