Sorry for the later blog, but there is a really good reason for the later post. I was finishing my last book so that I could write a book review on it today. This book was….well….not my favourite. However, I’ll go into detail in the blog. So, with that being said, let’s dive into my review on 419, written by Will Ferguson. Disclaimer, this is my own opinion. If you read this book and think differently from my opinion, that’s okay. These are my own thoughts, opinions, and are not going to be the same as everyone else.
what is 419 about?
This is hard to explain. Let me elaborate. 419 refers to people who obtain money through scams, mainly from Nigeria. You know the ones. Emails stating that they are a prince, they need to send you money for safe keeping, and then they get all your money. However, there was such a small portion of the book, in my opinion, that talked about 419ers. There was a huge portion of the book that covered oil being discovered in Nigeria and how people came to get the oil and gas and how it affected the local tribes in the area. Then, there was a story line that followed this random girl from an area called the Sahel, that was just walking across Nigeria. I’m still not sure what her story had to do with anything else in the book.
What i liked
Honestly – not much. I want to say nothing. The book was just not enjoyable. There was one part, at the very end of the book, where I was invested in two of the characters. This, unfortunately, was very short lived. I can’t elaborate any more without giving away spoilers, because it was the way the book ended. I just really didn’t like this book. 419 just didn’t make it for me.
What i did not like about 419
Where do I begin? In my opinion, the book was all over the place, almost like the author couldn’t decide where to go with it. The characters personalities of some of the characters were all over the place. The story lines were random, all over the place, and often had parts of the story that left me wondering what the point of it was. Like I mentioned earlier, there was a random girl just walking. The story didn’t say why she started walking, where she was trying to go, or much about her. The way she ends up tied into the other story lines seems random and, in my opinion, pointless. They seemed to give her a random purpose at one point, but it was so small.
Final thoughts
I apologise to Will Ferguson, but I really didn’t enjoy this book. I kept waiting for it to get good, to grip my interest, but it didn’t. The story line was all over the place, some of the characters didn’t seem to have a purpose, and the ending had me wanting to scream at one of the characters. I did not expect a happy ending. The way one of the story lines ended had me sad, but then I would have been unhappy with a happy ending for that character. It fit with the story and though sad, was not disappointing, if that makes sense. 419 clearly was a great read for some people. 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize Jury Citation called this book Genius. The cover says National Bestseller. It got 4 stars on GoodReads. I’m glad some people liked this book, but it was not for me.
Maybe I misunderstood the genius of the book, or the heart behind the author and the way he wrote this book. It could certainly be a factor. But, I am glad to be done with the book and hope that my next book is more enjoyable.
Maybe you misunderstood the genius… or maybe he was trying too hard to be smart!
It could be either way. There clearly were people who liked this book, but unfortunately, I was not one of them.