“Just get on with it already,” is a mental statement I’m beginning to utter a lot these days when I read books. I started reading this book sometime towards the ending of 2024, but then I dropped it three chapters in because a lot seemed to be happening at once, and I wasn’t nearly ready for all that. Then, recently on TikTok, someone categorised this book as the funniest she’d read since the year began. I thought, “Surely, I must have been reading the wrong book,” and so I started on the book again yesterday.
The Mechanics of Yenagoa by Michael Afenifa
Ebinimi is a reputable mechanic in Yenagoa. Every car and regular vehicle owner from the capital, all the way to the interior parts of Yenagoa, know about him. He handles his mechanic shop with his three staff: Saka, Biodun and Broderick, and shares his cmpound with a Church owned by Reverend Ebizimor, who most of the people on his street revere to no ends. He has a girlfriend named Blessing. But then, Ebinimi has more than just Blessing as a lover. He is known for his sexual “appetites,” but no one really talks about it because he is generally a good guy, and dexterous at his job.
Then one day, Blessing announces that she’s pregnant, and for Ebinimi who has lived a fairly interesting life prior to this time, he is about to realize just how interesting his life can get. In all the wrong ways. According to him, when it rains, it pours. What he would soon understand, is just how unending his pour is about to be.
My Thoughts and Rating
Notice how I couldn’t distinctly give an account of events, a plot sequence or anything? Exactly. Because, you just can’t with this novel. The moment shit hits the roof (for lack of a more accurate expression), it just keeps going higher, and that too, not in a way that would allow you keep accountability of things. I’m not used to a writing style like this, so I found it moderately intriguing. However, I soon grew tired because there was always something happening not in the next chapter, but the very next page. All the time.
Someone told me just this evening that I love drama. And yeah, I’m all for that messiness. But this seemed to be the African Magic Epic type (Seek a Nigerian to explain this better), where everything seems to be happening at once and you simply can’t catch a break. I’m not a fan of African Magic Epic, so of course I wasn’t a fan of the ever-pouring onslaught of drama in this book. But it does keep a reader’s interest, doesn’t it?
Like the novel I reviewed last, you can sense the climax build up slowly. It’s not entirely apparent, but it’s there. Creeping stealthily till it eventually sneaks up on you and your eyes widen in astonishment. I appreciated that about this book. It does sustain your interest, even with how tiring it all could get. A lot of revelations, and a true testament to the fact that even though drama is popular in the big cities, it’s messier in the smaller towns because everyone knows everyone.
No, I did not have a favourite character. But I loved that everyone was given a personality and let to shine in their own way. Not something that is hard to keep up with, but Afenifa did put in the work, didn’t he? I barely cracked a smile the entirety of the book even though it was enjoyable. I know it was supposed to be funny, and I’m sure it was to a lot of people, like the lady who kept gushing about its humour on TikTok. But, the humour there isn’t my type of humour. At all.
All in all, The Mechanics of Yenagoa, is more than a decent book. I’m loving all the diversities and uniqueness that Nigerian authors and employing in their work, and I applaud just how amazingly we keep thriving with our fictional pieces. A decent 3.9/5 for me. An ideal weekend delight by all counts.
Jhymi🖤
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Hmm, the book is nice from your review. Nigerian authors are really trying.
As for drama, count me in 😁. I'm all for everything dramatic 😁
I was just looking for a new book to read and magically I read this post.
Sending you an Ecency curation vote!
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