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A review by xwaruf
Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala
4.0
When I first planned to pick up this book I expected a story centering on Niru (one of two main characters) coming to terms with his sexuality. That was perhaps mistake number one because this story is about much more than that. Speak No Evil is really an exploration of many intersecting identities, beliefs, social issues, and dreams, so to minimize it to a book about Niru's sexuality does it an injustice.
The complexity of the issues that Speak No Evil touches on is fascinating and heartbreaking, yet at the same time there is room for growth. I finished the novel feeling like I wanted more of this good thing. There were many attributes of the novel I would have liked to read more of. For example, did Niru's father ever accept his own role? I can assume, but is that correct? Of course, hand-feeding every last detail to readers is not optimal, so I appreciate what Iweala has done in a certain way. For me, the sweet spot between being sparingly poetic yet robust wasn't there.
I struggled with the writing style of Speak No Evil. The entire novel is written in first-person, which lends itself to empathizing with Niru and Meredith; however, the flow-of-thought style seems choppy at times and makes me feel like Niru and Meredith aren't given the capacity to have complex thoughts that extend beyond simple, quick sentences. There is something lacking in that style (including quotation marks during all dialogue) that makes the characters of Niru and Meredith seem flatter than they were meant to.
With that said, Speak No Evil did make me feel for the characters at times so much that I had to set the book down and come back to it after a bit. Sometimes stories don't need to have happy endings, and this is certainly a case in point. It's hard to describe the emotion Speak No Evil leaves for the reader, but perhaps "solemnity" does it best.
The complexity of the issues that Speak No Evil touches on is fascinating and heartbreaking, yet at the same time there is room for growth. I finished the novel feeling like I wanted more of this good thing. There were many attributes of the novel I would have liked to read more of. For example, did Niru's father ever accept his own role? I can assume, but is that correct? Of course, hand-feeding every last detail to readers is not optimal, so I appreciate what Iweala has done in a certain way. For me, the sweet spot between being sparingly poetic yet robust wasn't there.
I struggled with the writing style of Speak No Evil. The entire novel is written in first-person, which lends itself to empathizing with Niru and Meredith; however, the flow-of-thought style seems choppy at times and makes me feel like Niru and Meredith aren't given the capacity to have complex thoughts that extend beyond simple, quick sentences. There is something lacking in that style (including quotation marks during all dialogue) that makes the characters of Niru and Meredith seem flatter than they were meant to.
With that said, Speak No Evil did make me feel for the characters at times so much that I had to set the book down and come back to it after a bit. Sometimes stories don't need to have happy endings, and this is certainly a case in point. It's hard to describe the emotion Speak No Evil leaves for the reader, but perhaps "solemnity" does it best.