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A review by chrxiao
Walking on Cowrie Shells: Stories by Nana Nkweti
2.0
most of these stories had some interesting ideas and interesting writing in them, but did not come together well as stories. in many, i can see what nkweti is trying to do ("the devil is a liar" is about faith and motherhood, "schoolyard cannibalism" about racism becoming internalized, "kinks" about the ambiguity of african v.s. african american identities), but the fact that i see it means she's not yet doing it. other people have (perhaps more kindly) described this collection as "experimental." indeed, nkweti is playing around with different genres and forms of storytelling. unfortunately, as a reader, i'm only interested in your writing successes, not the set of experiments as a whole.
the first story, "it takes a village some say," is the best, and also the reason i was interested in picking this up (so good job to the editor for arranging it this way for better sales). that was an interesting idea (illegal international adoption) and stylistic experiment (from the perspective of first the adoptive family, then the adoptee). i particularly liked the theme of names, i.e. the adoptive parents were told that they could call their adopted daughter anything, and indeed spend their half of the narrative calling her "our girl," and we do not learn zora's name until the very end of her own narrative. i was a little disappointed with how the plot unfolded in zora's section — i think there could have been something more interesting there, or at least more commentary on the significance of zora's sex work.
i would not really recommend any of the other stories, although there were some good writing moments within them.
nkweti has a very distinct voice, very modern and lush. most of these stories open with a bang of language (rather than a subtle crescendo). i say this in a completely neutral sense, because i both like and dislike her writing in this collection.
like: by virtue of the inherent character of her writing, many moments that would be boring under another writer are kept interesting and thrumming with energy. she is also so good at describing desire in a visceral and resonant way — i was thinking about this especially since i just read pure colour which the nyt review said heti is a great depicter of attraction, but actually i just found her horny with no payoff (title of your sex tape). meanwhile nkweti writes some genuinely moving sexy stuff.
dislike: she also has a knack for grammatically incorrect sentences that are difficult to tell if it's intentional or poor editing, which is a personal annoyance. and i think because the narratives and ideas she's interested in are already so busy, sometimes the busy voice in addition to it is too much. it's just not for me. i prefer an author to be singular and purposeful, whereas nkweti seems to be an author excited by multiplicities and experimenting without thought of success or failure.
the first story, "it takes a village some say," is the best, and also the reason i was interested in picking this up (so good job to the editor for arranging it this way for better sales). that was an interesting idea (illegal international adoption) and stylistic experiment (from the perspective of first the adoptive family, then the adoptee). i particularly liked the theme of names, i.e. the adoptive parents were told that they could call their adopted daughter anything, and indeed spend their half of the narrative calling her "our girl," and we do not learn zora's name until the very end of her own narrative. i was a little disappointed with how the plot unfolded in zora's section — i think there could have been something more interesting there, or at least more commentary on the significance of zora's sex work.
i would not really recommend any of the other stories, although there were some good writing moments within them.
nkweti has a very distinct voice, very modern and lush. most of these stories open with a bang of language (rather than a subtle crescendo). i say this in a completely neutral sense, because i both like and dislike her writing in this collection.
like: by virtue of the inherent character of her writing, many moments that would be boring under another writer are kept interesting and thrumming with energy. she is also so good at describing desire in a visceral and resonant way — i was thinking about this especially since i just read pure colour which the nyt review said heti is a great depicter of attraction, but actually i just found her horny with no payoff (title of your sex tape). meanwhile nkweti writes some genuinely moving sexy stuff.
dislike: she also has a knack for grammatically incorrect sentences that are difficult to tell if it's intentional or poor editing, which is a personal annoyance. and i think because the narratives and ideas she's interested in are already so busy, sometimes the busy voice in addition to it is too much. it's just not for me. i prefer an author to be singular and purposeful, whereas nkweti seems to be an author excited by multiplicities and experimenting without thought of success or failure.