ABOUT
THE BOOK

Elvis, a teenage Elvis impersonator, is hoping to make his way out of the ghetto. Broke, beset by floods and beatings by his alcoholic father, and with no job opportunities in sight, he is tempted by a life of crime. Thus begins his odyssey into the dangerous underworld of Lagos. Ultimately, young Elvis, drenched in reggae and jazz, and besotted with American film heroes and images, must find his way to a GraceLand of his own.

Nuanced, lyrical, and pitch perfect, Graceland is a remarkable story of a son and his father, and an examination of postcolonial Nigeria where the trappings of American culture reign supreme. Chris Abani’s fiction and poetry have been widely anthologized. Graceland is his first novel.