A review by wordsofclover
Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli

challenging emotional sad medium-paced
  • 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? It's complicated

5.0

I received this book from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 
 
This book is going to stay with me for a long time. 
 
We follow Eve in the days and months following her husband’s unexpected death. As Eve loses herself in grief, her familyy try to help her as best they can and she also has to deal with her horrible mother in law who seems determined to make her feel guilty for the loss of her son. 
 
Not only is this just a beautifully written book that left me in an emotional heap, I just don’t think I’ve read a book that captured the confusing, overwhelming feeling of grief and the not so linear process of getting over the loss of someone. Not only that but we also have a secondary element to Q’s death in this book as he died by suicide. We follow Eve’s confusion and guilt over the clear mental health crisis Q was suffering from that he had apparently completely hidden from her as well as the anger that eventually surfaces over such a death, and the repetition of the guilt for feeling the anger - and then also the anger at others for being angry at Q. It was a whole cycle that was very real and very full of feeling. 
 
The importance of family and friends is beautiful in this - Eve comes from a Nigerian-English family and we see time and time again how the presence of her parents and her brother, and the staunch protector in her older sister brings Eve peace even if she doesn’t quite realize it. Eve feels frustrated that her family think she needs to ‘get over’ Q’s death quicker than she ever could but what they really want is a flicker of their old Eve back and how afraid they are of losing her as well. Not to mention they are also dealing with grief too as they loved Q as well. 
 
Eve’s mother in law is potentially one of the worst characters I’ve ever read - she doesn’t really have any redemption but I don’t think she deserved one anyway. Every time her name came up, I boiled with rage on Eve’s behalf. And also felt anger at Q for allowing his mother to be this way to Eve for their entire relationship. 
 
I like that this book didn’t tie up Q’s death in a neat bow. It was tragic, awful and may have been preventable if he had been able to communicate better about how he felt. There was no note because sometimes there isn’t. The story was still full of questions by the end that could never be answered because Q wasn’t here anymore. 
 
This book is a raw gut punch of emotion and absolutely amazing. 
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