After unknowingly paying 45USD (!!) Nairobi Airport, for this book there was a lot of pressure riding on it.

I felt the two plot lines took a while to get going but the story came to life in the second half with a gripping finale. The intricate relationships between the characters was a real highlight of this book.

Slow to start but it picked up well and became a race to the end.

Overall 3.5

I started this book while moving and when I started out slow I thought it was myself, but the book takes some time to kick off. I wanted to like it more, but I felt like the ending was unfinished and I wanted more. I thought the book did touch on important social topics, and I think I’d recommend it with a trigger warning for interpersonal violence to people who are interested in reading about Nigerian/West African culture.

I had seen this book floating around on my Social Media feed towards the end of last year but since I had like 1000 other books on my #tbrlist, I ignored it. That is until I saw a copy of it at the 'Copenhagen Main Library' over the Christmas break when I was like, "Ok God, I hear you, I'm going to read it". Also, it had been longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023 & that is always a sign of how good a book is.

I really did my best to try & love this book but unfortunately, I was disappointed. The writing is impeccable, something that the writer is clearly good at as she weaves in the effects of wealth, power, love, politics & corruption in modern Nigeria, on the characters in the book. But the storyline just didn’t do it for me. We are introduced to the 2 main characters in the book who are living 2 totally different lives but from the get go, we already have a feeling that their lives will intertwine at one point in time. I feel like the writer took us on a never-ending 'merry go round' of life situations that became repetitive at some point. And finally, when the main characters actually do meet, everything just feels rushed

It should say enough that despite the fact that I had more time to read than ever due to a broken wrist it still took me nearly a month to finish. Halfway through I considered it to throw it into the DNF bucket, but did not due to the reviews on Goodreads and the promise of a strong ending. The ending is stringer, but not strong IMO

The book is a tragic story but also very bitty. With that I mean that I do not feel it flows It does not hook, it does not speak. Too many storylines deviating and not fully rotating back. Two stories that occasionally meet and at the end are connecting without knowing the people fully realising why (that is actually part of the bittersweet tragedy)
Some parts are good but those little pearls are hidden amongst the debris of what could have been great

The good parts are often preceded by rather flat parts; For instance where the writer is soul-searching Wuraola Initially it is flat, the writer seems disconnected from the person Toward the end the scenes where Wuraola is mourning her friend and finally standing up for herself are wonderfully tearjerkingly beautiful.
The Wuraola parts about domestic violence are technically beautiful One can see she has researched it, but the actual story feels mechanical almost literally following the textbooks

The story of Eniola is sad and it clearly illustrated how ‘easy’ it is to slip into a life one does not seek due to circumstances and disappointment. Ultimately his father is the one I resent in the book. He is the depressed body in the corner and represents the victim of policy , the disappointment of those that thought they had made the right steps up in society. His mother’s plight is started well but remains unfinished. She only stands up to her husband once and in a minor way yet she is the backbone. She and her choices are instrumental in the choices Eniola makes, though she made her choices with the best intend as did Eniola, as did his father.

These two stories connect and don’t connect The meet at the end in an apocalyptic string of violence and loss. And yet they don’t meet. The story remains separate like two ships in a harbour tied together, but never heading for the same journey when sailing. It makes the book feel disjointed and for me uninteresting in the end.