Futility by Nuzo Onoh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Honestly, this is one of the weirdest books I’ve EVER read, and I read a lot of strange stuff; a lot of extreme stuff. Futility has left it’s mark on me, that’s for sure.
I was instantly attracted to this cover. Look at it!
I loved the Nigerian setting, and the two MCs, Chia and Claire, were about as fascinating as you’re going to get. You’re in their heads, and it’s frankly, not a fun place to be, but I could not stop.
The writing is so unapologetic. There’s no censoring what these two, I’ll be honest, pretty horrible human beings were thinking all the time. Onoh was really in your face with it, and I respect that.
I’m not saying these ladies didn’t have their reasons, or motivations, for being the way they were, but yeah, pretty much zero redeeming qualities.
There were also elements, that helped drive the plot, that I was so surprised by; that I wasn’t expecting. Without giving too much away, it’s a kind of folkloric element that I felt really pulled all the aspects of the story together. Without sounding too old, it was very cool.
This is the first I’ve ever read from Nuzo Onoh, but it’s not going to be the last. I would recommend this for fans of Weird Fiction, particularly of the graphic variety. I would caution others that it’s very strange and quite detailed in its gorier bits. Tread with caution.