As a typical Nigerian girl, I expected more drama from Wahala by Nikki May than I got. The novel presents a decent amount, but when I hear Wahala, I'm thinking, yam pepper scatter scatter.
Wahala literally means trouble, so you can't blame me if my imagination runs wild after hearing that.
The plot
The novel revolves around three mixed-race female friends of Nigerian descent. Simi, Ronke and Boo (short for Bukola) meet at the University of Bristol in the UK; they click and remain best friends till well into their thirties.
Simi has the golden lifestyle and a never-ending honeymoon phase with her husband, but she lives with a crippling imposter syndrome that no one knows about and a secret that could destroy her marriage.
Ronke constantly searches for a perfect man like her father in every Nigerian guy but only seems to pick the bad eggs.
Boo is married with a kid (a life Ronke would kill for), but she wakes up every morning unfulfilled with the conviction that something is wrong with her life.
Their threesome dynamic is suddenly complicated when the group is infiltrated by glamorous Isobel, who seems to have only the best intentions for the ladies. It's almost too late when they realise the damage she has done in their lives and their friendship.
My Two-Cents
I might sound cynical, but I never trusted Isobel in the first place. Aside from the unspoken rule that nothing good comes from adding a fourth member to a female group of three, Isobel seemed too good to be true. She was too chirpy and eager to be included in their friend group. Also, her past just seemed fishy. I figured she was wahala when she started trying so hard to hang out with each girl, pretending to be a listening ear to their problems and then giving them lousy advice, unbefitting a woman in her thirties.
One issue I have with Wahala by Nikki May, like most books written by Nigerians in the diaspora, is a lack of authenticity. I want to make a snide comment about the abbreviation of Bukola, but I can't even find it in me to come up with something. It was very unoriginal, but on the other hand, it fits the character as she was anything but a Bukola.
This is the same vibe I got from very un-Nigerian acts like , consuming different species of Nigerian food like a course meal in one sitting.
A few pages into the novel, I was low-key disturbed when one the characters ordered a plate of pounded yam and egusi soup after a helping of jollof rice. No, we don't do that here.
After recovering from the shock of seeing my culture misrepresented, I began to sense a little bit of colourism from the characterisation. Four ladies with Nigerian heritage, all of whom just happened to be light-skinned, doesn't seem very inclusive.
I was also puzzled at how they all had Nigerian fathers who they either didn't get along with or had abandoned them. Nigerian men were given quite a bad rap in the novel.
There was also subtle body-shaming, particularly towards Ronke, but it didn't strike me as much as the colourism.
Overall, Wahala by Nikki May is an engaging book. My other sentiments aside, I really enjoyed it. I honestly got chills towards the ending, and now, I'm wary of anyone that tries to be prematurely chummy with me.
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