Book Review: I Do Not Come To You By Chance

Guess what time it is!!

Book review time! I should really get a hang on posting more often.

‘I Do Not Come To You By Chance’ by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani.

Adaobi is a novelist, journalist, essayist, and humorist. She’s based in Abuja, Nigeria and is the first contemporary African writer to launch a global career while fully based in her home county. I Do Not Come To You By Chance is her debut novel which won her the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book (Africa).

I Do Not Come To You By Chance is a contemporary story set in Nigeria highlighting the reality of email scams and wire fraud. It tells the story of Kingsley Ibe, a young Nigerian graduate whose intelligence and exceptional degree has earned him no place in the pool of Nigeria’s employed. Following several rejections and his family’s abject poverty, Kingsley sees that his father’s high degrees and English travel cannot put food on the table. Shortly after his death, Kingsley seeks out his mother’s brother who is popular for his fraudulent money making ventures, massive wealth and larger than life attitude – “Cash Daddy”.

Under Cash Daddy’s wings, Kingsley’s career as a successful email scammer makes the mark. Like his Uncle, Kingsley could now afford to fend for his siblings and widowed mother as the first son. But there is more than meets the eye in the dark world wide web. From the disappearance of a colleague to Cash Daddy’s political ambitions, Kingsley realizes the fatal world of online scammers.

Adaobi is a fantastic writer. I enjoyed how this story was told from all perspectives. The ambitious email scammer. The greedy western mugu and the disapproving mother. Adoabi gives us a peek into the world of fraudsters with the right amount of humor to keep you turning each page. It shows the reality of Nigeria’s insatiable culture of materialism where money actually stops nonsense. A great debut for Adaobi!