Everything Good Will Come [Hardcover]

Sefi Atta (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 2004

Everything Good Will Come introduces an important new voice in contemporary fiction. With insight and a lyrical wisdom, Nigerian-born Sefi Atta has written a powerful and eloquent story set in her African homeland. It is 1971, and Nigeria is under military rule-- though the politics of the state matter less than those of her home to Enitan Taiwo, an eleven-year-old girl tired of waiting for school to start. Will her mother, who has become deeply religious since the death of Enitan's brother, allow her friendship with the new girl next door, Sheri Bakare? This novel charts the fate of these two Nigerian girls, one who is prepared to manipulate the traditional system and one who attempts to defy it. Written in the voice of Enitan, against the backdrop of political turmoil in Nigeria, Everything Good Will Come is Enitan's story; one of a fiercely intelligent, strong young woman living in a culture that still insists on feminine submission.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This lively first novel breaks new ground with a close-up, honest story of a contemporary Yoruba woman's coming-of-age in Lagos. Nigerian-born author Atta now lives in the U.S., and she offers a hilarious if angry take on the Western view of dark, noble, savage Africa "with snakes and vines and ooga--booga dialect." Yet with all the fast talk, this is a heartfelt drama of family, friendship, and community, especially among women. Enitan Taiwo always knows how privileged she is in her lawyer father's home. She sees the poverty and knows about the brutal military dictatorship. But it is not until politics invades her own family that she defies her kind husband and moves from bystander to activist. Never reverential, Enitan's first-person narrative reveals the dynamic diversity within the city, the differences across class, generation, gender, faith, language, tradition, and individual character. Differences, yes, but sometimes connections, too. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"[A] book of spirit and an inspiration for anyone who has ever been in opposition to societal or cultural norms." -- Kathleen Cain, Bloomsbury Review

Finalist, Multicultural Fiction, Independent Publisher Book Awards --

"Atta's achievement in this novel is impressive in many ways. Thematically, her work is wide-ranging and yet powerfully focused, the different areas of concern drawn together so that they inform each other."--Chris Dunton, The Sunday Independent

"Reading Everything Good Will Come, you can feel the dust and the sun. This award-winning novel is an iridescent introduction to a fascinating nation."--Tom Templeton, The Observer Magazine

"Again and again Atta's writing tugs at the heart, at the conscience. At the same time, reflecting the resilience of the Lagosians whose lives she explores..."--Sunday Independent, South Africa

"This is a courageous story about friendship and self-discovery, it is a rallying cry to women to speak out in a world that tries to muzzle them." --Helen Habila, author of Waiting for an Angel

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Interlink Pub Group (October 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566565707
• ISBN-13: 978-1566565707
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #398,499 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A warm intriguing tale, January 13, 2005

By 

Ojay (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Everything Good Will Come (Hardcover)

Sefi Atta's first book is the story of two Nigerian girls and follows them as they grow up. Next door neighbours,in an affluent neighbourhood by the Lagos lagoon,Enitan and Sheri become fast friends.

Yet their growing up is overshadowed by the death of Enitan's brother which drives her mother to a "white-garment" church where the priests perform rituals and speak what sounds to a young Enitan like gibberish. Sheri, growing up in a polygamous home faces her own troubles, negotiating her way through the world, her budding beauty, both blessing and curse.

Sefi Atta deftly and engagingly takes us through the lives of these two girls against a backdrop of political instability, military coups, and male chauvinism in an African society caught between Western and traditional values.

If you enjoy a good story, well told, or are interested in contemporary African writing, or the lives and friendships of
women, then you must get this book

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything Good is Here, November 17, 2004

By 

gayle brandeis (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Everything Good Will Come (Hardcover)

In Everything Good Will Come, Sefi Atta has crafted a beautiful and important novel. We follow the main character, Enitan, as she comes into her own power and joy under the brutal political and social climate in Lagos. This book brims with gorgeous and vivid detail; it reminds the reader how a single voice, claimed and raised, has the power to change the world.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I tried to read slowly so that it wouldn't end., August 27, 2006

By 

Oyego (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Everything Good Will Come (Hardcover)

In panoramic colors, Sefi Atta has writen a novel full of life and excitement. Innocent, jaded, happy, sad, amusing, serious, alive and pulsing with the many rhythms of the Lagos that we have grown to love-hate, this story is not just the story of Enitan and the many characters in the novel, it is the story of middle-class Lagosians of every assortment. It is fiction, it is real.

You will experience the odyssey that life in postcolonial Nigeria is for many. However, at the core of the novel is a tone that rings universal. Every reader, regardless of cultural background, will recognize familiar themes that will stir the heart and animate the soul!

The particular edition I read had many typos. I am guessing this was editorial carelessness on the part of the publishers. Thankfully the novel was so good that, overall, such flaws seemed inconsequent.

Excellent!!!