Prince of Monkeys

February 25, 2019
Ehirim’s dense and incisive debut throws a harsh spotlight on a diverse group of friends as they come of age in politically corrupt and economically divided Nigeria during the late 20th century. Set in Lagos, Nigeria, and stretching from 1985 to 1998, the story follows the lives of three boys—nicknamed Pastor’s son, Mendaus, and Maradona—who are preteen as the novel begins. Their friend, Ihechi, narrates; he’s a directionless student who likes playing soccer, watching movies with Mendaus’s beautiful older cousin Zeenat, and going to the Afrobeat mecca Afrika Shrine. But when Zeenat is killed during an antigovernment riot in 1992, the tragedy sends ripples through the group, prompting Ihechi’s mother to send him to live with his aunt far from the turmoil. Over the next six years, the teenagers mature and adopt leadership positions on different sides of political party lines—a reality that tests their friendship, as well as their belief in their country and faith in themselves. An abrupt end involving an infamous prostitution ring and an immoral general adds an ill-fated, gruesome twist to the otherwise idea-driven narrative. Ehirim writes with a heavy hand, using stilted metaphors and catchphrase parables that sometimes detract from the narrative flow. Still, the novel is a vivid, astute portrait of Nigeria—and its people—in the throes of upheaval.

February 15, 2019
Nigerian writer Ehirim's audacious debut novel follows a teenager's quest for self-definition in a country in search of itself.In a prologue set in 1992, the narrator, Ihechi, and his friends run into the famed Afrobeat musician Fela Kuti, who proceeds to get the foursome--which includes Mendaus, a pretentious bookworm; his stepsister, Zeenat, who doubles as Ihechi's love interest; and a young Christian known only as Pastor's son--drunk to the point of threatening a police officer. Ehirim then moves back to 1985 as he retraces the steps leading up to that fateful event, which encapsulates the generational and class intersections propelling the novel. Most of the adults here are fixed in their worldviews. Their children, too young to understand the circumstances that have led their parents to be so rigid, socialize with one another though they come from different backgrounds and differentiate themselves through pop culture. Zeenat communicates through movies, Pastor's son through Scripture, and Mendaus through books. Ihechi, however, is constantly seeking meaning and remains distant due to his banker father's business relationship with the government and his mother's religious fanaticism. These poles gesture toward what Ihechi sees as the underpinnings of Nigerian society: corruption and traditionalism. Fela, a musician who encouraged traditional African lifestyles and religions while being arrested hundreds of times for criticizing the Nigerian government, develops into the perfect centerpiece to represent both the cross-cultural appeal of music and Ihechi's emotional confusion as a child. The next time the foursome sees Fela, a military crackdown leaves Zeenat dead; Mendaus radicalized; and Ihechi's mother fearful for her son's impressionable spirit. She sends him away to live with his uncle and cousins, Pentecostals who look down on him--though it turns out that Ihechi's cousin Tessy is sneaking out at night to work in a brothel. Through her connections, Ihechi winds up working for a major general in Nigeria's army, setting the stage for a confrontation with his childhood friends that forces him to reckon with what both he and his country have become.Told in beautifully evocative prose, a panoramic novel showing that the price of growing beyond one's origins might be steeper than anticipated.

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Starred review from March 1, 2019
Early on in Ehirim's remarkable debut novel, the narrator, Ilhechi, lays bare the need to share his story: I have an even greater conviction that the past, still and unmoving, reflects our selves in our clearest forms. Indeed, the perceptive reader might be able to tease out a taste of the man Ilhechi will become right from his childhood in Omole, a small town in Nigeria. Ilhechi's early years are mostly ordinary, marked with inertia and an exuberant eagerness to adopt the path of least resistance. Ilhechi's friend, Mendaus, stands out in sharp contrast as a young man filled with idealism garnered from an extensive reading of the classics. But how will these principles hold up when the friends try to make their way in Lagos, where corruption still rules less than 20 years after the end of the Nigerian civil war and power is easily won but fickle? Ilhechi enjoys a brush with authority made through back alleyways and confronts his worst weaknesses as a result. There might be one coincidence too many that weaves the plot together, but Ehirim eloquently succeeds in driving home the steep costs of complacency, which, as Ilhechi learns, can even equal cowardice.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)