Everything Good Will Come [Paperback]

Sefi Atta (Author)

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 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Sefi Atta was born in Lagos, Nigeria. She was educated there and in England, and also has an MFA from Antioch University, Los Angeles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 335 pages
• Publisher: Interlink Books (December 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566567041
• ISBN-13: 978-1566567046
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 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: #615,878 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

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!!!