i was in too much of a hurry… put too much value in the “we recommend” placement on the bookshelf.. and didn’t read past the “war in nigeria” summary on the back cover… five pages in i knew this book was a mistake. twenty pages in i didn’t have anything else to read. one hundred pages in it was the pill i had to swallow. two hundred pages in i practically read it over night so i could move on. from the author: ‘you know what always amazed me?’ she would ask olanna, as if she had not told her only a day previously. ‘that civilized white folk wore nice dresses and hats and gathered to watch a white man hang a black man from a tree.’