Chibundu Onuzo
Author of Sankofa
About the Author
Image credit: bellanaja
Works by Chibundu Onuzo
Associated Works
New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent (2019) — Contributor — 91 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Onuzo, Imachibundu Oluwadara
- Birthdate
- 1991
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- Nigeria
- Birthplace
- Lagos, Nigeria
- Places of residence
- Lagos, Nigeria
London, England, UK - Education
- King's College London (BA) (history)
University College London (MA) (social policy)
King's College London (PhD) (in progress) - Occupations
- student
- Awards and honors
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (2018)
- Short biography
- Imachibundu Oluwadara "Chibundu" Onuzo (born 1991) is a Nigerian novelist, Her first novel, The Spider King's Daughter, won a Betty Trask Award, was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize, and was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Etisalat Prize for Literature.[1]
Chibundu Onuzo was born in Nigeria in 1991, the youngest of four children, of parents who are doctors, and grew up there in Lagos.[2][3]
Onuzo has a bachelor's degree in history from King's College London,[4][1] and a master's degree in public policy from University College London.[5] As of 2017, she is studying for a PhD at King's College London
Members
Reviews
This is a good book. Told in simple fashion, I repeatedly found myself predicting simple outcomes for the characters and the tale, and/or the plot, and repeatedly found myself wrongfooted! While there IS an underlying simplicity in the tale, the characters and the telling have their own sophistication.
So, interesting and engaging characters surviving, and doing some good, in a tough environment. I learned a little about Nigeria, Lagos and surviving.
I'm looking forward to reading this author's other works.… (more)
So, interesting and engaging characters surviving, and doing some good, in a tough environment. I learned a little about Nigeria, Lagos and surviving.
I'm looking forward to reading this author's other works.… (more)
audio fiction (9 hrs) - 40-something mixed Black/white British woman looks into the identity of the father she's never met after the death of her mother; complications arise when it turns out that the charming student her mother used to know became a revolutionary and eventually a president/dictator. Takes place in London and a fictional country in west Africa.
Beautifully written, very readable (narration is excellent) and it was so easy to get pulled into this story.
Beautifully written, very readable (narration is excellent) and it was so easy to get pulled into this story.
#ReadAroundTheWorld. #Nigeria
The Spider King’s Daughter is a contemporary YA romance and murder mystery, set in Lagos, by Nigerian author Chibundu Onuzo. The book won the Betty Trask Award (2013), was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize and longlisted for the Desmond Elliot Prize and the Etisalat Prize for Literature. Onuzo began this book when she was 17 years old and it was published when she was only 21.
The story was engrossing for at least the first two thirds but gets a bit wobbly towards the end. It begins with the unlikely romance between Abike Johnson, daughter of a wealthy mafia-style businessman, and a street hawker known as Runner G. The story begins with ice-cream and dates and shows vividly the contrast between extremes of poverty and wealth in Nigeria. The focus then shifts onto a murder and revenge, and becomes much more taken up with scheming, corruption and sinister politics.
This was an enjoyable worthwhile read but the ending was clunky, abrupt and somewhat unsatisfying. Abike seemed to have some character development during the story, at least she seemed to take some baby steps away from her spoiled princess image, but seemed to regress again at the end. Runner G began as a likeable and honourable character but seems to make some very bad choices and move in a disappointing direction. I would be interested in reading another of her books. The audionarration by Clifford Samuel and Nneka Okoye was excellent with smooth transitions between the two characters’ points of view.… (more)
The Spider King’s Daughter is a contemporary YA romance and murder mystery, set in Lagos, by Nigerian author Chibundu Onuzo. The book won the Betty Trask Award (2013), was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize and longlisted for the Desmond Elliot Prize and the Etisalat Prize for Literature. Onuzo began this book when she was 17 years old and it was published when she was only 21.
The story was engrossing for at least the first two thirds but gets a bit wobbly towards the end. It begins with the unlikely romance between Abike Johnson, daughter of a wealthy mafia-style businessman, and a street hawker known as Runner G. The story begins with ice-cream and dates and shows vividly the contrast between extremes of poverty and wealth in Nigeria. The focus then shifts onto a murder and revenge, and becomes much more taken up with scheming, corruption and sinister politics.
This was an enjoyable worthwhile read but the ending was clunky, abrupt and somewhat unsatisfying. Abike seemed to have some character development during the story, at least she seemed to take some baby steps away from her spoiled princess image, but seemed to regress again at the end. Runner G began as a likeable and honourable character but seems to make some very bad choices and move in a disappointing direction. I would be interested in reading another of her books. The audionarration by Clifford Samuel and Nneka Okoye was excellent with smooth transitions between the two characters’ points of view.… (more)
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Statistics
- Works
- 3
- Also by
- 4
- Members
- 765
- Popularity
- #33,261
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 50
- ISBNs
- 34
- Languages
- 4
Abike and Runner G never really fit together, she was a mean girl who was rude and demanding to those who worked for her and while he is rather naive, the more he is around her the more her character is exposed to him. He starts to pull away from her and then revelations from the past threaten their relationship and both of them must decide where their loyalties lie.
The strength of The Spider King’s Daughter for me was in the descriptions of life in Nigeria, the food and the culture as well as how the class system works. It was highly unusual that the two main characters lives collided in such a way but this is far from a traditional love story as it slowly takes a darker turn and ends on a shocking note. The novel unfolds in two voices, that of Abike and Runner G. Unfortunately I often had difficulty figuring out who was speaking and had to go back and reread sections in order keep the story straight.… (more)