Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad

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Another amazing thing about this book was its form of storytelling. It was never consistent which worked for the book instead of against it. One story would be first person the next could be second person. Anyhow, it still involved the reader in the storyline and made me feel like I was listening to a story from a friend. Albeit vividly describing women's experience with the dating scene in Lagos, we can map the events in this collection of short stories to the Swahili saying above and in any city for that matter, and we will have the same outcome. Soko ni chafu. Firstly LGBTQ+ community is very precious, and I'm cautious with what I say. I believe my work mirrors what is going on in the society. Take from it what you will. I tell most people I'm not here to educate you, and I'm more of a timekeeper. That's what I am as a writer. I'm saying this is what is happening. As Damilare, I believe people should be who they want to be. People should learn to accept people for who they are. That's my phenomenon; that is my theory about life. When a person shows you who they are, accept them, but on the other hand, I'm not doing that in this book. I'm simply saying that this is where our society is. Read it and then take from it what you will. Then there is the ‘mummy GO’ who fabricates an alibi for her pastor husband. She is unwavering in her support publicly, while trying to grapple with the truth­ his libido hinged on a Madonna-whore complex. The protagonist of ‘International Relations’, Ohemaa, recalls being a fool for Nonso, an ex-lover and describes herself as a ‘mumu at the time’. Fortunately, she has some spine to her and expels the two men about to come to blows for her affection from her apartment. Ohemaa wants a man, but refuses to accept the misogyny they both toss her way.

Some of these women are friends, close acquaintances, and relatives. "One of the aims of my work as a creative artist is bringing human beings closer, especially women," Kuku told OkayAfrica. "Because women need to know that whatever they are going through, they are not alone. There are other people with the same thing happening to them."Making the much-appreciated transfer from oral mythology to formal literature, Kuku immortalizes the Legend of Yoruba Demons with a warning for anyone considering pairing with the men in the aggressive streets of Lagos. The myth of charming men who leave a trail of broken women, soon to be as notorious as the Transylvanian Dracula globally, is enshrined here in all its shades of debauchery and self-indulgence. And yet, in this book, we must assume there is something in the water in Lagos for the insanity of the men cuts across tribes.

I'm very intentional with my work, and I feel like, as a woman, I can only share stories about what it feels like to be a woman," Damilare Kuku said. Akin to the Grimm brothers collecting European folklore (and even perhaps watering down the horrors in the original tales), Damilare Kuku assembles the greatest mythological anecdotes we all know and love about the crazies embodied in the men of Lagos. Kuku’s debut collection of short stories is arrestingly titled Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad. Surely almost every one who reads stories about Nigeria has heard a lot — and for some, enough about the city of Lagos. But to be honest, the writers who take up Lagos as the location of their stories, make readers want to know more and more.One night, you will calmly put a knife to your husband’s penis and promise to cut it off. It will scare him so much that the next day, he will call his family members for a meeting in the house. He will not call your family members, but you will not care. There’s a story of the wife of an Afrobeats legend living her best life, another of a girl returned to the streets where she belonged, a Christian nurse who could not afford to exceed a certain body count before marriage, a mother unsuspectingly raising a mad man in her toxic home, the guy satisfied with just-the-tip, another of a match that was made in heaven, a girl who swiped right for hook-up but fell in love, and another who wants to burn down her Grandma’s house because of penis.