WHYTEFACE

A Black Nigerian man who suddenly turned white heads to Europe in this sequel to Blackass (2016).

Barrett’s second novel updates the story of Furo Wariboko, a Nigerian who woke up one morning to find he’s now a white man. Four years since that day, with enough cash on hand to afford a vacation and renaming himself Frank Whyte, he plots a trip to Amsterdam, Oslo, and Milan. The frustrations of the crowded city, and the discomfort his skin color causes with the locals, are good reasons to get away. But a voyage to a new continent doesn’t mean he can entirely escape Nigeria, or the racial anxiety he creates by being white and well-versed in his homeland’s culture. In Amsterdam, he revels in the freedom offered in the city’s red-light district, but in Oslo he confronts anti-Black sentiment among the locals that he’s uncertain how to respond to, and in Milan he discovers a relative who reminds him of how fragmented Nigerian society is, and how out of place he feels with the concept of home. Adding to the stress is word from his sister back home that their father is growing increasingly ill. Where Blackass was more overtly satirical and inspired by Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, the follow-up is more somber and meditative; shifting the venue to Europe allows Barrett to directly contemplate the role of colonization in the creation of Nigeria, “heterogeneous nations they had shoehorned into one colony.” The contemplative tone gives Barrett ample room to describe the European capitals along with Nigerian culture, though it means that, plotwise, the book feels fairly static; the subplot involving Furo’s father is conducted largely over text and reads like a tacked-on attempt to apply drama.

A clever satire on nationhood and race.