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419: A Novel [Hardcover]

Will Ferguson
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 32.00
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Book Description

Mar 27 2012

Winner of the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Amazon.ca Editors' Pick: Best Books of 2012

From internationally bestselling travel writer Will Ferguson, author of Happiness™ and Spanish Fly, comes a novel both epic in its sweep and intimate in its portrayal of human endurance. A car tumbles through darkness down a snowy ravine. A woman without a name walks out of a dust storm in sub-Saharan Africa. And in the seething heat of Lagos City, a criminal cartel scours the Internet, looking for victims.

Lives intersect. Worlds collide. And it all begins with a single email: “Dear Sir, I am the daughter of a Nigerian diplomat, and I need your help…

Will Ferguson takes readers deep into the labyrinth of lies that is 419, the world’s most insidious Internet scam.

When Laura Curtis, a lonely editor in a cold northern city, discovers that her father has died because of one such swindle, she sets out to track down—and corner—her father’s killer. It is a dangerous game she’s playing, however, and the stakes are higher than she can ever imagine. Woven into Laura’s journey is a mysterious woman from the African Sahel with scars etched into her skin and a young man who finds himself caught up in a web of violence and deceit.

And running through it, a dying father’s final words: “You, I love.


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Review

"This book shimmers. Tautly paced and vividly drawn, 419 captures the reader in a net of desire and deceit drawn tight by the interconnections of humanity in the twenty-first century." - Vincent Lam, author of Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures

About the Author

Travel writer and novelist Will Ferguson is the author of several award-winning memoirs, including Beyond Belfast, about a 560-mile walk across Northern Ireland in the rain; Hitching Rides With Buddha, about an end-to-end journey across Japan by thumb; and most recently the humour collection Canadian Pie, which includes his travels from Yukon to PEI.

Ferguson's novels include Happiness™, a satire set in the world of self-help publishing, and Spanish Fly, a coming-of-age tale of con men and call girls set amid the jazz clubs of the Great Depression. His work, which has been published in more than twenty languages around the world, has been nominated for both an IMPAC Dublin Award and a Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and he is a three-time winner of the Leacock Medal.

www.willferguson.com


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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
67 of 68 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Dear Sir.... April 30 2012
By Luanne Ollivier #1 HALL OF FAME TOP 10 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
When I think of Canadian author Will Ferguson, it is his travel memoirs that immediately spring to mind. That and his rich sense of humour (He has won The Leacock Medal for Humour numerous times.)

419 takes us in a completely different direction....

We've all received them. In fact Barrister Salvadore Gallarto sent me one this morning. Can I help him with repatriating 8.5 million euros? It's a simple matter really. I'm sure that every reader has had one of these land in our inbox. And we promptly trash them. But what if you didn't?

Laura Curtis is heartbroken when her elderly father Henry is killed in an auto accident. But on further investigation, it appears he deliberately left the road. Why would he do such a thing? Further digging by the local Calgary police on his computer uncovers the truth - he had become embroiled in a 419 scam...."I can help...." (419 is the Nigerian criminal code for "obtaining money or goods under false pretenses.)

On the other side of the world in Nigeria, we follow the story of Winston - a 419 scammer. And Amina - a young pregnant woman walking her way across the country, escaping from something. And Nnamdi, a young man from the depths of the Niger Delta.

In the beginning, I wondered how these disparate stories would tie together, but Ferguson deftly weaves an absolutely riveting plot. The criminal underbelly of Nigeria is presented in all of it's seediness. But really, it is the story of Nnamdi that captured me the most. His story is given the most page space and he is the character I felt I 'knew' the most. The effect of the oil industry on a country and its' people is disheartening. The death of her father changes Laura as well. She becomes single minded, after years of staying safely within the confines of the small world she has created. She decides to go to Nigeria and find the man responsible for her father's death. I didn't feel I really got to know Laura and found her sudden about face to be a bit of a stretch.

419 is many things - a mystery, a thriller and a social commentary. I turned the final page with a sense of sadness. Varying degrees, but for most of the characters. Ferguson's tale of the story behind one of these schemes brings a very human face to what most see as a simple nuisance entry handled by a quick tap on the delete button.

An unusual, introspective and recommended read.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By Rodge TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
Will Ferguson may be known for works that feature humour and may otherwise be interpreted as lighthearted, maybe lightweight. 419 is none of these.

Starting with a "what if" scenario . . . What if someone actually responds to and tries to help one of these people in a Nigerian e-mail scam? From there we get a tour of both ends of the scenario in a well-researched, gripping read that incorporates its knowledge seamlessly into a well-constructed narrative. This is a book that will surprise you, teach you and make you think. It will make you sad.

But it gets us in touch with something that is real, that is part of the world we live in, and for that we can be grateful. And we can safely conclude that Will Ferguson is not only a humour writer, he is a simply a great writer.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and Informative Oct 4 2012
By Kevin MacLellan TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Everyone gets them. You know, those pesky spams with a Nigerian address promising you a good return if only you will allow funds to be deposited into your account. The spam speaks in terms of desperation and the urgent need to help someone in Nigeria unlock a family wealth. Will Fergusan takes us on the ride where someone (the sucker that is born every day) actually follows through with a response to the spam. He opens the book with a thrill ride and accident in Canada. It is the investigation of the accident that leads his family to travel to Nigeria. It is an opportunity for a look into the life of "normal" life in Nigeria and get into the down and dirty of corruption at many levels. What makes the 419 criminal? Theft can be theft of resources, theft of property, or the transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor.

The book is informative as a travelog to a place one would not normally thinks as a vacation hot spot. Nigeria is a poor country, rich in resources but poor in real management for the people. 419 refers to the Nigerian criminal code dealing with theft. I suspect Will Fergusan is referring to the Big Oil and the Nigerian government itself as the criminals. Everyone else is a victim. Great, easy read and recommended.
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Most recent customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars A good book that could have been a whole lot better.
I would never have finished this book if, while looking for a summary, I hadn’t come across a review in the “Globe and Mail.” T.F. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Len
5.0 out of 5 stars Gėnial!
I absolutely loved this book! It addressed a subject I knew very little about, and same with the Nigerian culture. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Pichtoune
5.0 out of 5 stars Both entertaining and informative
Will Ferguson is an very good writer (in terms of style and word choice). Although initially I was a bit disappointed because of a rather slow start, I soon got caught up in the... Read more
Published 3 days ago by Shannon Moeser
5.0 out of 5 stars A remarkable work and story
Wow, what a level of research and fact-finding it must have taken to put this book together. I will never again look at emails and surveys in the same light. Read more
Published 7 days ago by JEK
3.0 out of 5 stars slow start
A lot of unnecessary detail in some sections mostly at the beginning of the book. Very good frm the middle to the end. Worth reading but be patient.
Published 12 days ago by avid reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent but disturbing read
I was pleasantly surprised that with a complete change in what I expected from Will Ferguson, I enjoyed the book so much. Read more
Published 16 days ago by Laurel
4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing
I really really enjoyed this book. It's told in 4 parts, and I like this style when authors use it, providing the author is able to bring everything together in the end, and the... Read more
Published 16 days ago by Novel Girl
5.0 out of 5 stars 419 is a must read!
419 has to be the best novel I've read in years. Use of language, chapter structure, interweaving stories are superb. Read more
Published 28 days ago by Stephen Thompson
4.0 out of 5 stars Good story
Very detailed African story with dialect and all. Felt like it was true and real,with a great twist of plot at the end.
Published 1 month ago by lud
4.0 out of 5 stars Calgary
The Calgary references in this book were great if you grew up in Calgary like me.
ai alwalys wondered about thèse emails and why paeople get caught by them.
Published 1 month ago by rusty
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