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A Spell of Good Things
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
23 posts | 18 read | 13 to read
Aybmi Adby, the Womens Prize shortlisted author of Stay With Me, unveils a dazzling story of modern Nigeria and two families caught in the riptides of wealth, power, romantic obsession and political corruption. Eniola is tall for his age, a boy who looks like a man. His father has lost his job, so Eniola spends his days running errands for the local tailor, collecting newspapers and begging, dreaming of a big future. Wuraola is a golden girl, the perfect child of a wealthy family. Now an exhausted young doctor in her first year of practice, she is beloved by Kunle, the volatile son of family friends. When a local politician takes an interest in Eniola and sudden violence shatters a family party, Wuraola and Eniolas lives become intertwined. In this breathtaking novel, Aybmi Adby shines her light on Nigeria, on the gaping divide between the haves and the have-nots, and the shared humanity that lives in between.
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review
Evita
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
Pickpick

3.5 out of 5

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AnneCecilie
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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Mehso-so

I‘m not sure how I feel about this book, but feel that so-so fits best. I started before going on vacation, but had some trouble getting into the story (that might have been my vacation mood). When I started reading it again once I got back, I still found it hard to get into the story, but if I read a lot at the time I get into it.

A book about two families, one rich and one poor, and how their actions effect each other.

TheAromaofBooks Great progress!!! 7mo
67 likes2 comments
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AnneCecilie
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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#BookReport

Not one of my better reading weeks. I guess that is what happens when your away on vacation.

I‘ve just read a little bit of this one

Tamra I find I read much less on vacation than I anticipate! 7mo
Cinfhen What did you think about this #Booker ?? 7mo
AnneCecilie @Tamra @Cinfhen I went to NYC and when I travel to cities, I never expect to do any reading at all. I do bring a book, but don‘t expect to do any reading in it. It‘s more there in case the plane is insanely late or something. (edited) 7mo
AnneCecilie @Cinfhen I have some issues. I started it some days before my vacation and didn‘t get far in, but that might have been my vacation mood. But I find it hard to get into every time I put it down for too long, so hope to finish it today. 7mo
58 likes5 comments
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Deblovestoread
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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Pickpick

#TBRTatot #BookerLongList

#SummersEndReadathon Book 5 of 20

This was slow to start but picked up after 50 pages or so. Told from two perspectives: one a family barely making it day to day and the other a family with wealth and education in Nigeria. The title suggests hope to me but there is very little to be found in these pages. 3.5 🌟

TheSpineView Great job! 7mo
57 likes1 comment
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Graywacke
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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Pickpick

Opens as a quilt of Nigerian life that crawls along with problems and subtleties, and for 2 hours of audio time I was kind of bored, but then it came alive for me. Suddenly i somehow became invested these characters and their families and problems. The book escalates more, becoming a satisfying and striking novel. #booker2023

Graywacke One of the awkward lessons of this book for me was a different understanding of the title. A spell is "a state or period of enchantment", which, by definition, comes to an end. So this optimistic sounding title is actually very bitter. 7mo
50 likes1 comment
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Deblovestoread
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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#TBRTarot

Been trying to pick this back up and the tarot card has added incentive.

CBee Glad you‘ll get to try again! 😊 7mo
46 likes1 comment
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TheKidUpstairs
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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Pickpick

An effective and affecting story of two people on different ends of Nigerian society: a school boy whose family is struggling to pay for food, rent, and school fees, and a young trainee doctor from a wealthy family trying to find out what she wants from a life full of societal and familial expectations. This one started slow, but the characters are so fully and genuinely realized that they drew me in. Cont'd...

TheKidUpstairs Hardships and trauma are balanced with small moments of friendship and joy for much of the book until everything crashes together and barrels towards the ultimate and sadly inevitable gut punch of a conclusion. In true #BookerLonglist fashion, there are no happy endings to be found here. But this is definitely one that will sit with me for a long time after finishing it. 7mo
BarbaraBB Great review! I am glad you enjoyed it so much. I read mixed reviews but yours makes me hopeful! 7mo
squirrelbrain Great review! 7mo
70 likes4 comments
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andrew61
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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Pickpick

1st #booker2023 was a brilliant novel so hope it will make the shortlist. Set in Nigeria it tells the story of 2 people whose lives differ. Eniola a teenage boy whose father is made redundant + life falls apart as his family struggle to pay bills, + wuraola is a junior Dr and daughter of a prosperous family but abt to marry a man who may not be right for her. The storytelling is absorbing and characters one's who I didn't want to leave at the end.

52 likes1 stack add
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Graywacke
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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My latest audiobook, on different economic worlds in Nigeria. Started slow and plain, for like 2 hours, but then it picked up. I‘m really into it now, about half way through. #booker2023

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TheKidUpstairs
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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Tifé rolled her eyes as she speared a piece of catfish. “Who told you there's a special feeling? She did not acquire a new finger. She's just wearing a ring on one of her old fingers.“

I love Tifé and wish there was more of her in this book!

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squirrelbrain
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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Pickpick

Another Booker longlister (#6/13) that I wasn‘t particularly looking forward to. I grew a bit jaded with African literature being about poverty, the mistreatment of women or civil war. (Generalising much, me?!)

Whilst this book was really all about those first two things, I found it quite readable as it had a dark humour running through it (a bit reminiscent of My Sister, The Serial Killer).

But then the ending happened and I hated that bit.

TheKidUpstairs Your review intrigues me! I delayed my hold on this one for another week. After a spell of Booker books, then reading In Memoriam, I needed to read something light before I could dive back in. 7mo
squirrelbrain It certainly wasn‘t a light read @TheKidUpstairs 😬 Also, just amended my post as I had my list of 3 things in the wrong order 🤦‍♀️; the book is about poverty and the mistreatment of women *not* civil war. 7mo
BookwormM I liked this one when I read it but can‘t remember it now 🤣🤣 7mo
See All 10 Comments
vlwelser 💯 re: the ending. 7mo
BarbaraBB I know what you mean about African literature and feel a bit the same towards it. Glad it ended up being a pick. I‘ll get to this one soon! 7mo
Caroline2 Yep I know what ya mean about African literature. Im taking a break and I‘m gonna skip this one. 👍 7mo
batsy I get what you mean about African literature. Similarly this is why I also avoid Asian literature (the dominant tone is sad+wistful, it's always a heartfelt family saga with metaphorical & maybe literal "ghosts", some form of fruit tree, sadness & yearning through generations, etc. and it's all become a cliché). But so intrigued by your comparison to My Sister, the Serial Killer so will put this on the list. 7mo
squirrelbrain @batsy, that‘s so true about Asian literature too; I hadn‘t thought about that ‘genre‘ that way before. 7mo
BarbaraBB @batsy Your description of Asian literature makes me chuckle (some form of fruit tree😂) but also perfectly fits the general Latin American novel 😀🤷🏻‍♀️ 7mo
batsy @BarbaraBB Haha! Yes! There was a discussion on twitter years back the mangofication of South Asian fiction. But you're right, Lat Am fiction seem to be having the same issue. The more "genre" based novels seem to doing interesting things. 7mo
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JenP
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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Pickpick

Reading this for our Booker panel. I didn‘t love it honestly but I gave it a “pick” because I think it was overall a good book. I felt disconnected from the characters which is odd for me bc I typically love Nigerian literature and often have strong emotional reactions to these types of books/content. Reading it through the lens of our Booker panel, it was a solid meh for me. Full review when we post our panel reviews

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ClairesReads
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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Mehso-so

I found it difficult to connect to this novel. The inconsistent pacing made it difficult for me to really ‘get into the story‘. In a story littered with misfortune and trauma, only one of the characters sparked my empathy. I felt this was a story that was doing many things I‘d read before, but not quite as well? It was saved by the blockbuster vibes of the final section but even this felt a little convenient as a ‘bringing things together‘ for me.

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emmaturi
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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Pickpick

This was a fantastic book, set in Nigeria, two young people, one poor and the other well off. The course of their lives change over weeks. It has politics, corruption, class, and family relationships.

36 likes1 stack add
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emmaturi
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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I am really enjoying this book, only about halfway through it.

28 likes1 stack add
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Sophronisba
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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Pickpick

An absorbing, brutal novel about Nigeria. Hard to read at times but worth the effort. The characters felt real and I grew quite attached to some of them; Wuraola especially has my heart.

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janeycanuck
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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Pickpick

This really grew on me as I read more and more. Early on, I thought it might be a DNF because I was finding the one story line to be really slow. But the compelling story turned out to be SUPER compelling and the boring one turned out to be quite good. And they wove together in a very intriguing way.

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Cazxxx
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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Mehso-so

For some reason I just couldn‘t connect to this book at all, when I put it down I wasn‘t to keen on picking it up again. I have been sick the last couple of weeks so I think this may be a me thing rather than anything to do with the book. I only finished it as it was due back to the library or I would‘ve left it for another time which would‘ve been better
Can‘t fault anything the author did but it was probably the wrong time to read this

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BookwormM
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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Pickpick

#Netgalley #ARC #ASpellOfGoodThings

One word review – Ouch

Who would like this? I would recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about Nigeria and enjoys an in-depth exploration of family life. I would not recommend this to anyone who needs a happy ending.

Full review here https://thereadersroom.org/2023/03/12/a-spell-of-good-things-by-ayobami-adebayo/

BarbaraBB Another one that sounds tough! 8mo
47 likes1 comment
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BoleyBooks
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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blurb
nitalibrarian
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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I'm a Saturday Librarian.😁 I'm cataloging this cart of books coming out on Tuesday.

LaraReads Exciting! 🤗 14mo
ChaoticMissAdventures If I have an ARC I haven't gotten to of 14mo
31 likes2 comments
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vlwelser
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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Pickpick

This was a slow burn but it is really very good. This follows 2 families from very different circumstances in modern Nigeria. One narrator is training to be a doctor while the other is struggling to even pay school fees. And they all get caught up in politics.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Pub date is 2/7/23
#ARC #Netgalley

Megabooks Oooo! Stacked! 14mo
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 14mo
42 likes1 stack add2 comments
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BoleyBooks
A Spell of Good Things | Ayobami Adebayo
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Tackle the TBR 🤓📚
#boleybooks #aspellofgoodthings #ayobamiadebayo #bookbeast #netgalley #bookbuds
What are you reading? 😊

vlwelser This book, actually. 💛 1y
BoleyBooks @vlwelser - I wanted to like this one more than I actually did. I hope it was better for you. 😊 14mo
42 likes2 stack adds2 comments