Fine boys made me feel something...

but you shouldn’t always trust a pretty face.

Image by @chisoooooom x @sherantsaboutbooks

When I first picked up Fine Boys by Eghosa Imasuen, the kid in me got all excited when I discovered that it was partly set in Warri, one of the cities I grew up in. Seeing the characters go through familiar streets and landmarks made it feel even more alive. Imasuen spared nothing in replicating the time and place period—from the music to slang to politics and technology, he transports you to these cities in the early 90s.

Set both in Benin and Warri City, Fine Boys is a coming-of-age story that explores campus life at the University of Benin. We follow Ewaen, who is the eldest child of three, as he navigates friendships, peer pressure and parental expectations.

Imasuen expertly paints the campus lifestyle- from hostel drama to being a broke college student, to hanging out at parking lots gisting and gossiping with friends while failing to prepare for exams with the semi-confidence of ‘last last you’ll be fine’. But beyond that, we see how Ewaen’s friendships either grow or blossom when threatened with the pressure of being a ‘fine boy’ ie. succumbing to the cultism culture.

Coinciding with a fragile political era combed with labour strikes and student riots, are the constant fights, squabbles and domestic violence within Ewaen’s home, so much so that school is the only escape he has.

While I did enjoy the novel, a big issue I had was the sheer amount of characters. There were way too many unnecessary characters who did nothing to drive the plot, and there was a constant introduction of yet another character the reader did not have enough time or experience with to care about.

I would be midway through a page trying to figure out who this character was again. The author failed to give sufficient opportunity to connect properly with the abundance of characters in the story. It was one of those instances I felt less would have been more.

I do still think it’s a gorgeous book and I’m happy to be discovering more Nigerian novels set outside Lagos!