A Particular Kind of Black Man

Tope Folarin’s short stories have twice been nominated for the Caine Prize, and this is his debut novel. If the question of whether someone who was born and raised in America can claim a Nigerian identity is to be answered by the depth of his insights into the first-generation immigrant psyche, the answer is yes. This is the coming-of-age story of Tunde Akinola and his family, in Utah and then Dallas. Tunde is alienated – by his white neighbours, his peers, and most disturbingly by his mother, who battles mental illness and diasporic unhappiness that compel her to return to Nigeria. His father is a proud Yoruba man who clings to the American entrepreneurial dream, trying his best against all odds, and mostly managing to outrun a depression that seems to be snapping at his heels. There are no simple resolutions, but we witness Tunde excavating the depths of his emotions as he tries to be “a particular type of black man”. A staggeringly good and occasionally devastating read.