Critical Praise for Becoming Abigail
• A New York Times Editor’s Choice
• A Chicago Reader Critic’s Choice
• A selection of the Essence Magazine Book Club
• A selection of the Black Expressions Book Club
“Moody, lyrical prose reminiscent of Toni Morrison’s Beloved … Though the fictional Abigail exists only on the pages of Abani’s novella, her character will seize the imagination of everyone who reads her story.”
—Essence Magazine
“Abani is a fiction writer of mature and bounteous gifts … Becoming Abigail is more compressed and interior [than GraceLand], a poetic treatment of terror and loneliness … its sharp focus on the devastation of one young woman, has a deeper kind of resonance … Abani, himself incarcerated and tortured for his writings and activism in Nigeria in the mid-’80s, writes about the body’s capacity for both ecstasy and pain with an honesty and precision rarely encountered in recent fiction … This is a powerful, harrowing work, made more so because, while much of the narrative seems to be a vortex of affliction, Abigail’s destiny is not inevitable. The small canvas suits Chris Abani.”
—Sam Lipsyte, New York Times Book Review
“Becoming Abigail, a spare yet voluptuous tale about a young Nigerian girl’s escape from prostitution is so hypnotic that it begs to be read in one sitting … Abigail is sensitive, courageous, and teetering on the brink of madness. Effortlessly gliding between past and present, Chris Abani spins a timeless story of misfortune and triumph.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“A darkly poetic investigation into the past’s deceptive hold over the present … Abani writes in dense, gorgeous prose. Abigail is not a creature of pity but inspiration.”
—The Nation
“Compelling and gorgeously written, this is a coming-of-age novella like no other. Chris Abani explores the depths of loss and exploitation with what can only be described as a knowing tenderness. An extraordinary, necessary book.”
—Cristina Garcia, author of Dreaming in Cuban
“Abani finds his place in a long line of literary refugees, from the Mexican revolutionary Ricardo Flores Magon to Bertolt Brecht and Theodor Adorno … Becoming Abigail is, not surprisingly, about memory, loss, and all the cruel disjunctions of exile. Not for a moment, though, does Abani allow himself that most tempting stupefacient of exile, nostalgia. Abani’s prose is diaphanous and poetic. His lyricism is elliptical, almost evasive … Becoming Abigail is a hard, unsparing book, cruel in its beauty, shocking in its compassion.”
—Los Angeles Times Book Review
“A lyrical yet devastating account of a young woman’s relocation to London from Nigeria … Abani’s abundant talent is clearly evident throughout, as is his willingness to be brutally honest without being grotesque. He also refrains from polemics and focuses solely on the artistic presentation of a young, tragic life, leaving interpretation to the reader.”
—Library Journal
“Abani’s voice brings perspective to every moment, turning pain into a beautiful painterly meditation on loss and aloneness.”
—Aimee Bender, author of The Girl in the Flammable Skirt
“A searing girl’s coming-of-age novella in which a troubled Nigerian teen is threatened with becoming human trade … Recalling Lucas Moodyson’s crushing Lilya4Ever, this portrait of a brutalized girl given no control over her life or body, features Abani’s lyrical prose and deft moves between short chapters.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Spare, haunting vignettes of exquisite delicacy … Never sensationalized, the continual revelations are more shocking for being quietly told, compressed into taut moments that reveal secrets of cruelty—and of love—up to the last page. Abani tells a strong young woman’s story with graphic empathy.”
—Booklist
“Abani’s writing never becomes didactic—Becoming Abigail has the elegance and lyricism of a prose poem but doesn’t soft-pedal the abuse it chronicles.”
—Chicago Reader
“Abani’s empathy for Abigail’s torn life is matched only by his honesty in portraying it. Nothing at all is held back. A harrowing piece of work.”
—Peter Orner, author of Esther Stories
“Abani writes in a fearless prose … He is able to toe that line between restraint and abundance, unfolding Abigail’s history like the raising of a bandage.”
—Time Out Chicago
Critical Praise for GraceLand
• Winner: 2005 Hemingway/PEN Prize
• Winner: 2005 Silver Medal, California Book Awards
• Winner: 2005 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award
• Finalist: 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize
• Shortlisted for the Best Book Category (Africa Region) of the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize
• 25 Best Books of 2004: Los Angeles Times
• Best Books of 2004: San Francisco Chronicle
• Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection
•New York Times Book Review Summer 2004 “Vacation Reading/ Notable Books” selection
“Extraordinary … This book works brilliantly in two ways. As a convincing and unpatronizing record of life in a poor Nigerian slum, and as a frighteningly honest insight into a world skewed by casual violence, it’s wonderful … And for all the horrors, there are sweet scenes in GraceLand too, and they’re a thousand times better for being entirely unsentimental … Lovely.”
—New York Times Book Review
“Chris Abani’s GraceLand is a richly detailed, poignant, and utterly fascinating look into another culture and how it is cross-pollinated by our own. It brings to mind the work of Ha Jin in its power and revelation of the new.”
—T. Coraghessan Boyle, author of Drop City
“Abani’s intensely visual style—and his sense of humor— convert the stuff of hopelessness into the stuff of hope.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“GraceLand amply demonstrates that Abani has the energy, ambition, and compassion to create a novel that delineates and illuminates a complicated, dynamic, deeply fractured society.”
—Los Angeles Times
“A wonderfully vivid evocation of a youth coming of age in a country unmoored from its old virtues … As for the talented Chris Abani, his imaginary Elvis is as memorable as the original.”
—Chicago Tribune
“GraceLand teems with incident, from the seedy crime dens of Maroko to the family melodramas of the Oke clan. But throughout the novel’s action, Abani keeps the reader’s gaze fixed firmly on the detailed and contradictory cast of everyday Nigerian life. Energetic and moving … Abani [is] a fluid, closely observant writer.”
—Washington Post
“Abani has written an exhilarating novel, all the more astonishing for its hard-won grace and, yes, redemption.”
—Village Voice
“Ambitious … a kind of small miracle.”