Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Creatures of Passage

‘Creatures of Passage’ by Morowa Yejide is a gripping novel that utilizes folklore and fabulism to explore one family’s struggles.
Nephthys drives an old Plymouth Belvedere around town, picking up people that need to go somewhere and ferrying them to their destination. Feeling lost ever since her twin brother was killed, she has drifted away from her family, her niece Amber who can see visions of people’s deaths and Amber’s son Dash, who has begun seeing visions of a man down by the river. When Amber sees a vision of Dash’s death, their three stories begin to intertwine back together.
Yejide utilizes folklore and fabulism to explore the very real struggles of one family and the ebbs and flows of familial relationships. The story winds between different characters so that we get time with all of them as we begin to understand more about how they relate to one another and the world at large. On top of the main characters, we also follow Osiris, Nephthys’ twin brother as he moves through a murky afterlife as well as the antagonist of the novel. Yejide’s lyrical prose as well as the distinct characters that populate this story make this a memorable and affecting tale as we also learn how the characters have impacted their wider community. This book deals with a lot of difficult subjects and there is a very large trigger warning for child abuse. Some of this book was very hard to read but all of the pieces come together to tell the full story of this community and this specific family. Harrowing, heartbreaking, and heartwarming all in one, ‘Creatures of Passage’ is an excellent novel that showcases the real talent of Yejide. I am fascinated to see what she writes next.

Content Warnings

peachani's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

gracemacdonald94's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

What a gorgeous book. Some of the themes make it a really tough read, so I took my time with it. But overall it is a beautiful and thoughtful book with a hard earned ending.

Content Warnings

chaoticmissadventures's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Highly original, incredibly well written. This is exactly what I love about the Women's Prize long list, the books are vastly different, and things that I often had not seen around.
This is less about Nephthys and her taxi then it is about multiple points of view surrounding the death of Nephthys brother Osiris, and a local pedophile and his victims.
The story rolls through the community, with characters floating in and out, it is difficult to keep track of the time periods - which is intentional, to keep the feel of hauntings and magic. It is a quick read, with a dark undertone.

Content Warnings

2treads's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

With Creatures of Passage comes a story that explores what can be born and borne of grief, the power it has to both cripple and galvanize us, how the acceptance can lead to a path that is healing and transformative.

Yejidé's writing is heavy, heady, nuanced with feeling and meaning. She seamlessly interweaves the after with the now, connecting life and death via the spirit world, which she writes with such richness that the reader is immersed.

I love books that mesh the spirituality of Black existence into their prose, the meaning and bonds of family, the pain that comes with bottled up emotions and situations not spoken about, and the healing and triumph that begins when we open ourselves to the magic and currents of being.

The dualities of our presence, the ties that physically, emotionally, and spiritually run through communities and homes, the loss of innocence, the hardening of hearts in order to avoid shattering realities course through this story, but with a gentleness that deflects harm.

Yejidé has written characters that burrow into your mind and soul because they all carry hurt and loss within, they all have cares. She has entwined reality with the mystical, making it easy to believe that each is never far from the other and all we have to do is believe.

Content Warnings

More...