Blackass

A Novel

De: A. Igoni Barrett

Narrado por: Mirron Willis

Furo Wariboko, a young Nigerian, awakes the morning before a job interview to find that he's been transformed into a white man. In this condition he plunges into the bustle of Lagos to make his fortune. With his red hair, green eyes, and pale skin, it seems he's been completely changed. Well, almost. There is the matter of his family, his accent, his name. Oh, and his black ass.

Furo must quickly learn to navigate a world made unfamiliar and deal with those who would use him for their own purposes. Taken in by a young woman called Syreeta and pursued by a writer named Igoni, Furo lands his first-ever job, adopts a new name, and soon finds himself evolving in unanticipated ways.

A. Igoni Barrett's Blackass is a fierce comic satire that touches on everything from race to social media while at the same time questioning the values society places on us simply by virtue of the way we look. As he did in Love Is Power, or Something Like That, Barrett brilliantly depicts life in contemporary Nigeria and details the double-dealing and code-switching that are implicit in everyday business. But it's Furo's search for an identity - one deeper than skin - that leads to the final unraveling of his own carefully constructed story.

©2015 A. Igoni Barrett (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Narrated by Ted Wassanasong

If you could sum up Blackass in three words, what would they be?

Clever twist (on) race

What was one of the most memorable moments of Blackass?

"'Your ass is black!' Syreeta cried"

What three words best describe Mirron Willis’s performance?

Mike Judge character

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The concept.

Any additional comments?

The narrator is dry, monotone, and has the distinct voice of Mike Judge's character from King of the Hill, Ted Wassanasong. Mirron reads exclamations with the same energy and inflection as whispers, questions, etc. He's done voice work in the past that I've enjoyed, unfortunately, narrating a book does not fall into that category.

covers all voices and characters with panache!

What made the experience of listening to Blackass the most enjoyable?

Willis providing all the different voices in modern Nigeria; white privilege in Africa

Who was your favorite character and why?

Syreeta because she has compassion

What about Mirron Willis’s performance did you like?

he easily changes accents and voices

If you could rename Blackass, what would you call it?

doesn't need renaming

Decent not extraordinary

Narration was great but the story felt surface level. I wanted to explore race relations more. It was an enduring sorry but I didn't care for the main character.

Please don't waste your money!!!

As a person of Nigerian descent I and my fella book club members found the premise of this story unbelievable and quite frankly rediculous. The situation was further compounded by having a non-Nigerian narrate the story. The narrator did not have the right inflexions and tones and his narration actually annoyed me.

Again, Audibles really need to get Nigerians, and at the very least Africans to narrate novels written by Nigerians!!!!