A dozen rollicking, riotous stories comprise Damilare Kuku's debut, Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad, already a bestseller in her native Nigeria. Indeed, most of these men are angry or insane (or both), but women figure out how to get even. Kuku writes with a casual intimacy as if sharing secrets and (by)passing gossip. Women skillfully reclaim control from undeserving partners. In "Cuck-Up," a man's lazy greed gets unmasked to his entire judgmental family. A woman refuses to settle for possessive men--of any color--in "International Relations." In "Ọ̀dẹ̀-Pus Complex," a weak man and his controlling mother get dumped. Liars and cheaters inevitably become losers: a woman deftly, finally discards her lothario husband in "First Times"; the wives of gay men hatch their own plans in "Beard Gang"; and a childless wife ditches her deceptive spouse in "A Lover's Vendetta." Stories narrated by male protagonists turn confessional: "The Gigolo from Isale Eko" reveals the worst--and hints at the best--of men; "I Knew You" presents a self-induced miserably lonely man.
Convoluted relationships here are many, as are plenty of steamy conjugal encounters. Kuku favors second-person narration, underscoring a sense of complicity between writer and readers--sometimes in warning ("you will calmly put a knife to your husband's penis and promise to cut it off") and other times in triumph ("You walked out"). First-person seems reserved mostly for men, as if acknowledging their agency in creating their own disappointments and destruction. Kuku's unflinching insight and irresistible charm promises profundity--and (mad) laughter. --Terry Hong