Having emigrated from Nigeria himself as a result of the Biafran War,[1] Abani's novel touches on many issues relevant to corruption, poverty, and violence within the country.

Set in the Nigerian city of Lagos, GraceLand is the story of a teenage boy named Elvis Oke, who is trying to escape the poverty of his community.

This allows readers to observe the shifting nature of Elvis' family dynamic, which changes drastically after the death of his mother and his subsequent move to Lagos.

Many of the illegal ventures that Elvis partakes in are due to Redemption's influence, and these escapades often lead to conflict with a man known as the Colonel, a prominent and corrupt member of a brutal military regime.

Elvis’ father and the King of Beggars both play prominent roles in leading the community in protests against the corrupt government's crackdown on the impoverished residents of the slum.

Largely set in Lagos, Nigeria between the 1970s and 1980s, the story takes place at time where modernization and western culture conflict with traditional modes of thought.

The western influences in GraceLand often work in exploitative manners, such as American cigarette companies distributing their products to children in movie theaters.

Elvis continues to participate in shady activities with his friend Redemption's encouragement, which culminates in his involvement in a heinous human trafficking venture.

[3] Publishers Weekly highlighted its two-fold ability to tell the story of Elvis, and the larger issues of poverty and globalization: "Relating how an innocent child grows into a hardened young man, the novel also gives a glimpse into a world foreign to most readers-a brutal Third World country permeated by the excesses and wonders of American popular culture…The book is most powerful when it refrains from polemic and didacticism and simply follows its protagonist on his daily journey through the violent, harsh Nigerian landscape.

She also comments that "...the horrors of [Elvis' life] are never really assimilated into the book's imaginative structure, and the author's interest in showing us his little-written-about world pulls GraceLand persistently in the direction of nonfiction."