I'm really torn about this book because there are some things that I really liked about it, and actually, none of the things I disliked about it were particularly the fault of the author. I thought it was well written, evocative, and conjured a clear picture of a land and a people that I have no experience with. At school I was really good friends with a boy who I believe was originally from Nigeria and moved to my school from that country, but he never really spoke about what it was like for him, we were teenagers after all and there were more pressing things to talk about (like different kinds of champagne, don't ask) but my point is that I don't know anything about the region but I felt like the book was evocative, I could see the landscape and feel the sun and watch the customs. I could even hear the musical accent in my head when the characters were speaking English and learnt a few words of Igbo. The writing wasn't an issue but I somehow did not connect with the book in any real way. For the most part I found that the author has this style where massive life changing things are given the same weight as tiny inconsequential things and as a consequence, for me, the book falls flat.

The content upset me, I'm not going to lie. It made me exceptionally angry with the mother which is wrong because I do, on an academic level, know how difficult it is to escape domestic violence relationships, especially when your partner has all the power. I'm also not a mother as I have been very clear about in all my reviews when it's relevant. However, I really struggled with how a mother can watch her children being hurt and do nothing but worse than that to accept it as normal and externally verbalise that it's your fault, not his. Also to a lesser extent that it's the children's fault.

What I'm saying is that I didn't particularly enjoy this book but I can see why others did and I would recommend it to those I think might like it.