419: The section of the Nigerian criminal code dealing with obtaining funds illegally. This author has taken the thread of these notorious scams and storied the lives of the people involved, as well as the families and cultures that are affected by them. A very convoluted novel, detailing not just the 419 scam, but the living conditions in the Nigerian Delta where oil companies have taken hold. I found the extent of that part of the novel overwhelming. What I did take away from the novel, is that our computer screens are only peopled with images. The actual lives ~ education, economic status, family and community structures are invisible and only in the imagination. Winston, in Lagos, Nigeria is the scammer who wove stories for his targets to buy. Winston’s goal was to get money. Laura, in Calgary, Alberta, whose father committed suicide because of being scammed, wove her own stories to contact the scammer and get money - and more - back. Two other central characters, Amini and then Nmandi, lend fabric and detail to the broader, and very intriguing, story.
“And why only one life? Why not the web of other lives
that define us? What of their indexes, their moments?”
~ Will Ferguson, 419
Title: 419
Author: Will Ferguson
Publisher: the Penguin Group
Publication Date: 2012Type: Fiction
Format: Available in Hard Cover and Soft Cover
ISBN: 978-0-670-06471-7
Type: Fiction
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