Book Review: Blackass By Igoni Barrett

Imagine waking up one morning to find yourself transformed overnight. Not just any transformation, but one that changes your identity completely. What if you went to bed as one person and woke up as another- a different gender, a different height and a different skin tone. Years ago, I remember watching an American movie where the main character woke up in different bodies everyday. My memories are flawed and I don't remember the title of that movie. This is exactly what happens in Igoni Barrett’s masterpiece, Blackass. In this novel, the protagonist, Furo, experiences a funny and somewhat interesting reality: he goes to sleep as a black man and wakes up to find himself fully transformed into a white man. Not just any ordinary white person, but a fully transformed one with green eyes and blond hair. This book is about Furo’s experiences as he explores the cosmopolitan city of Lagos as a White man.

I’m in my final year and one of the courses I’m taking is titled Nigerian Literature. Over the past 2 months, I’ve been reading more Nigerian books, which explains why my book reviews have been solely based on Nigerian books. Interestingly, this will be my first time reading Igoni Barrett’s works and I have fallen in love with his writing style- after my final year exams, I plan to read his other works to see if they are as good as this one. Adrian Igoni Barrett is a Nigerian short story writer and novelist. He has won a few short story awards, including the 2005 BBC World Service short story competition.

Furo Wariboko, the protagonist, is a university graduate, who like many other youths, is on the verge of giving up and after applying for many jobs. Furo’s life changes completely on the day of his interview when he goes to bed as a black person and wakes up as a white man with green eyes and blonde hair. However, his accent still remains. Furo Wariboko lives with his parents and younger sister, but seeing his new transformation, he leaves the house for the interview without anyone noticing him. On the street, no one recognizes him- the people with whom he’d lived his life with, played with, borrowed money, couldn’t recognize him. A completely different person.

Furo arrives at the interview center very late and sees more than 40 people are line for the same job. One would expect that the fact that Furo came very late to the interview center, he should be dismissed. The irony? Of all the more qualified applicants, Furo gets the job simply because of one reason. He is white. As the narrative progresses, the author introduces new characters who influence Furo’s life. Will Furo transform back to a black person? Will he return back to his family who have been looking for him ever since he left the house for the interview? Read this book to find out.

Blackass by Igoni Barrett takes us on a profound exploration of identity and the dysfunctional nature of society. The fact that Furo, a white man who arrives late to an interview and doesn't even qualify for the job, exposes the dysfunctional nature of society. The company, a book-selling business, is looking for someone with not only the qualifications but also experience with books. However, the only book Furo has read is Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. That alone should disqualify him; instead, he gets the job over more qualified applicants.

While analyzing this book in class, one question that was on the lips of almost everyone was; how did Furo wake up as a white man? This book isn’t magical in any way. So, what happened? After rubbing heads together, we couldn’t come to a reasonable conclusion as to why he woke up as a white person, but one thing is for sure, the author uses this strategy to expose the dysfunctional nature of the society, telling us how Nigerians are corrupt and can be sidelined even in their own country.

I totally enjoyed reading this book- it deserves a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I recommend it to all book lovers.

Thanks for reading.