julessssss's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
this is a novel about trauma, family, friends, myth/spirituality, history, and healing - especially about healing, even if that healing takes time (and a lot of it) or support from those around you
it is heavy in some ways, but light in other distinct ways - would definitely recommend
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Rape, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Homophobia, Addiction, and Alcoholism
ce_read's review against another edition
Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Fatphobia, Grief, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Outing, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Vomit, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Child death, Dysphoria, and Car accident
Minor: Animal death
headinthepages's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
I absolutely loved the characters and the way their stories intertwined. I loved their complex relationships with each other and themselves, and the secondary characters were brilliant.
Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Drug use, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gun violence, Homophobia, Medical content, Miscarriage, Vomit, Sexual content, and Suicide
saphfics's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, and Mental illness
Moderate: Sexual content, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Addiction, Death of parent, and Drug use
Minor: Lesbophobia, Alcoholism, and Religious bigotry
rachellle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
The way each character's POV was written put together an intriguing story switching between past and present and exploring their connectedness/separation. I was absolutely impressed especially with Taiye's chapters; starting in the present and moving back in her life to her experiences with isolation, grief, yearning. Her character was so well fleshed out and all her relationships brought out more of her personality (and her queerness was presented so beautifully).
Before I knew it I'd reached the last part. The release of all the family's grief, anger, sadness, and guilt was a great resolution. The underlying discomfort in the house was resolved after years and separation and months of avoidance. I was completely absorbed in the hearbreak and intimacy each character's POV provided. I can't wait to see what else the authors releases.
Graphic: Rape
Minor: Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, and Religious bigotry
tina94's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Miscarriage, Rape, Gun violence, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Addiction, Homophobia, Alcohol, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Suicide and Body shaming
nodogsonthemoon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual content
Moderate: Abandonment, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Homophobia, and Outing
sephyhallow's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship
now_booking's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The premise of this novel is that Kambirinachi, mother of Taiye and Kehinde, is an Ogbanje, who has struggled since birth to stay tethered to the world as a human being. Perhaps it is as a result of this, that her life has been assaulted by tragedy at every turn, her “kin” or other-worldly spirits using the experiences to taunt her back to the spirit world. Because of this, Kambirinachi is a somewhat unavailable mother to Taiye and Kehinde, despite her best intentions, leaving them vulnerable to a devastation that finally tears the family apart. Now for the first time in years the family is gathered again in Lagos and this might be their one chance to discover if healing is possible.
I liked this book and I can tell why so many people love it. The writing and use of language is lovely and evocative, the experiences are realistic and recognizable to the Nigerian experience. The author captured the swallowed pain and silence of a family who has gone through trauma so well and as for the way she writes about food, it’s absolutely delicious and visceral- you smell the smells and taste her words. The story is told by 3 different narrators telling the story interchangeably from both past and future. It’s a testament to the author’s skill that it’s pretty straightforward to keep the story straight. And even more testament to the author’s brilliance how she pieces together the commonality of the protagonists’ experiences around butter, honey, pig or bread. How she jigsaw puzzle fits overlapping experiences at different times to fit into a solid whole without rehashing old tales we already know. In this way, the author crafted a cohesive story that was well put together in spite of all moving parts of different protagonists, different character perspectives , and different timelines.
For me, this wavered between 3 stars and 5 stars. The food for certain, was the 5 stars. Every single time food was on the page, every time the author mentioned a high quality butter, or a high grade lard, or mentioned roasting spices in rich coconut oil, or talked about Nigerian raw honey in such luxurious language, or described the decadance of the pig and the spicy heat of suya or talked about the varieties of bread and the yeasty doughy texture of Nigerian bread! How can anyone not grade this 5 stars for the food alone! The author’s love and admiration for food came out to shine in this book and that was my favourite part of this novel. The author would mire you in trauma and grief and then comfort feed you so your belly would be as full as your heart and the reading less painful for that.
For me, the 3-star rating hovered through large swathes of the middle of the book. This starts off so well and so strongly. The first 20% of the book, I was consumed by the story, entranced by the characters. But then it kind of became very much Taiye’s story, which was fine. I liked Taiye. But I kept wanting more. I wanted more of a balance in the stories. If this was Taiye’s book, that would be fine, but we got just enough of Kehinde and Kambirinachi that I felt like surely, they deserved as much care and intention as Taiye got. I feel like we dwelled A LOT in Taiye’s varied expressions of trauma but only sort of skimmed the surface of Kehinde and to a lesser extent, Kambirinachi. And sure it could just be that Kambirinachi lived so much in her head that there wasn’t much story for her out of it that couldn’t be captured in “her kin was calling her,” and fine, maybe Kehinde, was just a million times more boring and straight-laced than Taiye and had no friends or story to carry more plot with her, maybe that’s why this felt a lot like a book about Taiye’s self-destruction stemming from family trauma, rather than a book about all 3, where I was actively curious about all 3. There’s a point in the novel where Taiye says she’s tired of her own BS and at that point in the novel, perhaps that was intentioned by the author, because I was pretty sick of Taiye as well by then. I mean at that point I had gotten the point of why she was self-destructive, how it manifested and why. And it was a repeatedly destructive cycle that kind of dragged around in the middle portion of the book. And with having 3 protagonists, I don’t think this was a book that needed to drag at all, given how quickly (and somewhat rushed) the ending was. If this was to be a story about healing, for me it needed a little more time on the pages to marinate. More steps, more coverage, more scenes. That part of the story felt a little last gasp to me and I would have liked to see more build towards the resolution, it was kind of a smash-bang, one-and-done sort of drive to the finish that felt kind of inconsistent with the indulgence with which the rest of the story had been told.
This is only the second book I’ve read featuring an Ogbanje woman and the psychological, mental and emotional traumas associated with that existence. In that sense, this is similar to Freshwater (by Akwaeke Emezi) but that’s about where the similarities end. Both books are about Ogbanje but this book deserves its own separate moment because its approach and sensibility and style are pretty different even if the themes are quite similar. This book examines generational trauma, abandonment, child abuse, difficult mother-daughter relationships, sexuality, sexual assault and abuse, homophobia (and indeed internalized homophobia), fatphobia (along with eating disorders), religion, love, trauma, family and loss in the most heartbreaking ways. If there is any trauma you have that could be triggering, tread carefully in approaching this book. It is beautifully written but would be unrelentingly sad if not that the author always pops up with the most delicious food so that your eyes can feast your sorrows away, at least till you have to eat the next wave of pain with the characters.
I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a really meaningful and heartbreaking story of mothers and daughters and spirits, with a Nigerian queer protagonist and lots and lots of yummy food. There are even loose recipes in the prose if that sweetens the pot (it should, they’re worth checking out). Prepare your heart for breakage, but definitely check this out.
Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Outing, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
Moderate: Chronic illness, Gun violence, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Alcoholism
oliverlang's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
There are very detailed descriptions of animal slaughter with the intent to eat which I wish were less graphic and sometimes I felt some aspects of the magical-realism could have been done without.
Also seemed like there were niche words shoehorned in there that the author just really wanted to use but was unsure of how to use them in a sentence?
Other than those few things, I did really enjoy this beautifully queer book and I'll miss reading it and seeing the relationships unfold.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit