A fresh bildungsroman rich in complex relationships, from familial to intimate.
A young Nigerian woman’s graduate school sojourn in Iowa affects things with family and friends on two continents—but mainly changes her relationship to herself.
Somkelechukwu, known as Sommy, studied to be an English teacher at home in Lagos, but her restless ambitions lead to her winning a scholarship to the fictional James Crowley University in Iowa for a master’s in literature. Readers understand early on that Sommy’s brother, Mezie, has made a suicide attempt; his refusal to speak or write to her makes a bittersweet harmony with her own awkward attempts to acculturate. Although her roommate, a fellow Nigerian named Bayo, clearly adores her, Sommy falls for Bryan, who is biracial, as well as smart, handsome, funny, and rich. She’s thrilled when he agrees to take a summer trip to meet her family and search for the Nigerian father he never knew. While the narrative includes a few wonderful set pieces, such as a trip to Illashe Beach, a visit to a school friend at her office, and a family thanksgiving service and party carefully orchestrated by Sommy’s mother, Okonkwo brings readers back to Sommy and her actions, rather than allowing the newly expanded cast of characters to take over. The issue of Mezie’s moods shows some important differences in how cultures deal with mental illness, and Sommy takes up painting, which helps her cope with depression. Some scenes, particularly those with Bryan, feel slightly flat and overlong; he may find fault with Sommy’s mistakes and behaviors, but he comes off as selfish, making a few of his own actions seem very odd. Might he be using Sommy the same way he accuses others of using her? It’s difficult to tell, but it’s a small cavil about a book that promises strong future work from its author.
A fresh bildungsroman rich in complex relationships, from familial to intimate.Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9781639734108
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.
A falsely accused Black man goes into hiding in this masterful novella by Wright (1908-1960), finally published in full.
Written in 1941 and '42, between Wright’s classics Native Son and Black Boy, this short novel concerns Fred Daniels, a modest laborer who’s arrested by police officers and bullied into signing a false confession that he killed the residents of a house near where he was working. In a brief unsupervised moment, he escapes through a manhole and goes into hiding in a sewer. A series of allegorical, surrealistic set pieces ensues as Fred explores the nether reaches of a church, a real estate firm, and a jewelry store. Each stop is an opportunity for Wright to explore themes of hope, greed, and exploitation; the real estate firm, Wright notes, “collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent from poor colored folks.” But Fred’s deepening existential crisis and growing distance from society keep the scenes from feeling like potted commentaries. As he wallpapers his underground warren with cash, mocking and invalidating the currency, he registers a surrealistic but engrossing protest against divisive social norms. The novel, rejected by Wright’s publisher, has only appeared as a substantially truncated short story until now, without the opening setup and with a different ending. Wright's take on racial injustice seems to have unsettled his publisher: A note reveals that an editor found reading about Fred’s treatment by the police “unbearable.” That may explain why Wright, in an essay included here, says its focus on race is “rather muted,” emphasizing broader existential themes. Regardless, as an afterword by Wright’s grandson Malcolm attests, the story now serves as an allegory both of Wright (he moved to France, an “exile beyond the reach of Jim Crow and American bigotry”) and American life. Today, it resonates deeply as a story about race and the struggle to envision a different, better world.
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-59853-676-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Library of America
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
BOOK TO SCREEN
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