Description

** AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVELIST AND BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR 2023 **
** SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO BOOK AWARDS 2023: DEBUT FICTION **

‘A voice unlike any other’ OBSERVER
‘I fell in love immediately’ MAX PORTER
‘A writer of imagination and flair’ ECONOMIST
‘Smart, subversive, funny, heartbreaking’ KAMILA SHAMSIE
‘Buoro’s writing deserves to inspire a generation of superheroes’ THE TIMES

Fifteen-year-old Andrew Aziza lives in Kontagora, Nigeria, where his days are spent about town with his
friends, grappling with his fantasies about white girls (especially blondes) and wondering who his father is. When he’s not in church, at school or attempting to form ‘Africa’s first superheroes’, he obsesses over mathematical theorems, ideas of Black power and HXVX: the Curse of Africa.

Sure enough, Andy soon falls for the first white girl he lays eyes on. But multiple crises are looming, set to
shake the foundations of everything he knows and loves…

‘This is extraordinary, driven by a gloriously eccentric central character. It is utterly compelling, not shy about posing difficult questions for the reader’ 2023 NERO PRIZE JUDGES

Publisher Review

This is extraordinary, driven by a gloriously eccentric central character. It is utterly compelling, not shy about posing difficult questions for the reader * 2023 Nero Book Prize Judges * The pleasure here is as much in the journey as the destination, with sex, terrorism and, er, catechisms in the mix. Buoro has energy to burn — Independent Craft and verve abound in this tragicomic coming-of-age debut fuelled by the lapel-grabbing voice of its 15-year-old narrator, Andy . . . Both sweet and sour, it offers a family story, a thwarted romance and a story of friendship * Daily Mail * A smart and incisive coming-of-age tragicomedy * i * The vivid immediacy of Buoro’s prose is transporting, his similes as alive as the scenes he paints . . . [Buoro’s] writing deserves to inspire a generation of superheroes * The Times * This ticks all the boxes of a literary blockbuster . . . Buoro commits to representing diversity within Blackness, the way Toni Morrison does . . . You wouldn’t be wrong to read the book as satire of a certain kind of Black aspiration, or as an allegory of Africa and the western imperialist project. Or you could read it as itself, without abstracting its particularities: the story of a boy doing his best under the assault of powerful western influences and illusions * Guardian * An assured debut . . . [Buoro] brings Andy’s world to life with such immediacy * Independent * Buoro is a writer of imagination and flair . . . His sentences are mad, boisterous, incantatory – and, in a continent where rhythm is as common as praying, quite singular. The prose on any page could only be his. And Andy Africa is an unforgettable character … Contemporary African literature is rich in coming-of-age stories. For its sheer energy, The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa is among the best * Economist * An exhilarating, tragicomic novel that questions what it means to come of age in Nigeria today . . . A voice unlike any other * Observer * Beautiful, intelligent and heart-wrenching — NoViolet Bulawayo, author of GLORY and WE NEED NEW NAMES A barnstorming, heartbreaking debut . . . Tackling the perils of carving out a unique identity in a world of carnage and confusion, in the shadow of colonialism, this assured, engaging book, will make you fall in love with teenager Andy Aziza, and will undoubtedly make a star of Stephen Buoro * Harper’s Bazaar, Highlights for 2023 * This novel exudes a wonderfully vivid sense of place and leads the reader inside the head of its teenage hero . . . It’s a narrative of depth that also manages to be instantly engaging — Ian Rankin I fell in love with this novel immediately. [It has] hilarious energy, a satirical but also wildly ambitious philosophical framework … It’s eccentric, profound, timely, specific but it also has global concerns and a really, really brilliant central character — Max Porter Fascinating; unashamedly, brilliantly intelligent. It grapples with ideas around maths, Afrofuturism, biblical myth . . . profound philosophical stuff, but fundamentally it’s a really playful, pleasurable book about young boy who’s falling madly in love, and has a difficult, intense, loving relationship with his mother — Sarah Perry Stephen Buoro’s wonderful The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa is filled with lovable, memorable characters. You’ll meet a young man pining over a fantasy; his fierce mother who tries to shield him as best she can; a friend who confides; and others who just want happiness. This novel is at once funny and heartbreaking. Most importantly, it’s honest — De’Shawn Charles Winslow, author of DECENT PEOPLE and IN THE WEST MILLS A blazing debut – smart, subversive, funny, heartbreaking. I’m already impatient for Buoro’s next book — Kamila Shamsie Hilarious and heartbreaking and full of surprises, Stephen Buoro’s debut novel puts us inside the head of the titular teenager, a charming, nervous Nigerian kid who is curious about the world but convinced that he lives on a cursed continent. It’s a fun and harrowing place to be * The Philadelphia Inquirer *