GraceLand — Chris Abani

A teenage Elvis impersonator navigates the Lagos ghetto in this “searing chronicle of a young man's coming of age in Nigeria during the late 1970s” (Publishers Weekly).

Elvis Oke dreams of escaping the sprawling, swampy, cacophonous city of Lagos, Nigeria. Beset by poverty, floods, and beatings by his alcoholic father, he ekes out a living by impersonating his famous namesake. But soon he is tempted by a life of crime. Thus begins his odyssey into the dangerous underworld of Lagos, guided by his friend Redemption and accompanied by a restless hybrid of voices including The King of Beggars, Sunday, Innocent and Comfort.

Ultimately, young Elvis, drenched in reggae and jazz, and besotted with American film heroes and images, must find his way to a GraceLand of his own. In this lyrical and nuanced debut novel, Nigerian poet Chris Abani shares a remarkable story of a son and his father, and an examination of postcolonial Nigeria where the trappings of American culture reign supreme.

“A richly detailed, poignant, and utterly fascinating look into another culture and how it is cross-pollinated by our own. It brings to mind the work of Ha Jin in its power and revelation of the new.” -- T. Coraghessan Boyle