God's Children Are Little Broken Things, 2022, Arinze Ifeakandu ****

This novel is unlike anything I've read before. It's built on the lives of gay men in Nigeria, a subject I'd only ever encountered in fragments and whispers, never told this openly, this fully, until Arinze Ifeakandu's debut.

Structured as a collection of interlinked stories, the book moves through parents who disown their own children over their sexuality, men who marry women out of fear rather than love, and boys who are bullied, harassed, or falsely accused simply for who they are. But it's also something warmer than that list suggests: a coming-of-age portrait of gay boys and men in Nigeria, how they party, how they flirt, how they build ordinary lives inside an unforgiving world.

Ifeakandu is clearly gifted. His prose is exquisite, the kind you want to slow down for. I'll admit, though, that I sometimes lost the thread with so many characters shifting in and out of focus across stories. It asks for patience, but it rewards it too.

A few stories stayed with me long after I finished the book.

"Where the Heart Sleeps" follows Nonye, who returns home for her father's burial only to find his partner, Tochukwu, still living in the

Better Never than Late, 2019, Chika Unigwe *****

This is a collection of short stories that narrates on the lives of Nigerian immigrants in Belgium. it consists of ten short stories somehow interconnected.

The Transfiguration of Rapu: How do you cope when you have to pretend you aren't the real wife because your husband is married to another person in order to legalise his situation.

Finding Faith: My favourite of them all, though it is a sadly engaging story of loss. How do we deal with the loss of our loved ones when we are so far away from home and immersed in a different culture?

If Finding Faith is sadly engaging, the story of Agu and Prosperous is enraging. Their story occupied two chapters of the novel "Becoming Prosperous and Every One Deserves Grace". After the riot that put an end to Agu's business in Jos, he decides

Happiness, Like Water 2013, Chinelo Okparanta ****

Happiness, Like Water is a collection of ten short stories that I enjoyed, in general. 

"Happiness is like water. We're always trying to grab onto it, but it's always slipping between our fingers. And my fingers are thin. With lots of gaps in between"

The main theme of the stories is the mother-daughter relationship. Are mothers always qualified enough to dictate the course of their daughter's life? I find it somewhat worrisome that the female child should live up to her mother's heart desire, even if that means sacrificing her own happiness. At the end of the day, the main aim is to bring up girls who are decision makers, who know how to live up to their own heart content.

The stories that I really enjoyed are:

Madam's Maid & Other Stories, 2016, Ayibu Makolo ***

This  is a collection of short stories, let me say the first story, Madam's Maid is more of a novella,  and the rest Invisible, A Trip to Jamaica, The Point of View are relatively, short stories.

In Nigeria there is a widespread social approval of the use of children from poorer families as house maids. To say that these children are treated with disregard is to say the least. More often than not, they are abused and enslaved, by so doing denying them their right to be children. The worst part of the situation is that it has become an established standard of behaviour to which everyone is expected to conform. Madam's Maid is the story of a young girl who lost her father, the only breadwinner of the family, as a result her mother sent her to the city to a madam (a family friend supposedly) where she almost lost her belongingness.

Another disturbing situation about the country narrated on in the book is the reckless driving of state governors travelling in convoys. For instance, Festus Iyayi,

This House is Not for Sale, 2015, E.C. Osondu **

A year ago, I wrote about the release of this book, click here to read. I so looked forward to reading it that when I had the opportunity to purchase it, I did so without hesitating. 

However, I realized it really was not my cup of my tea. I tried forcing myself to read on but my mind keeps on whirling away. First of all, it is not a novel per se, it is a

Nights of the Creaking Bed, 2008, Toni Kan ****

Nights of the Creaking Bed is a collection of short stories by the Nigerian writer, Toni Kan. It consists of 14 short stories, one thing I find out all the stories have in common are their tragic ending, abuse and sexual content. But then again, despite the progress and development in Nigeria, sadly, issues like this are still recurrent.

The first story, same as the title of the book;

Nights of the Creaking Bed: is the story of a widow who preferred her bed to creak to loving her own children. told through the voice of one of her sons.

I enjoyed reading all of the stories, however, I'd like to comment on the ones that somewhat moved me in no order of preference.

The Passion of Pololo: A son caught his mother being unfaithful to his father, the image bothered him so much that in order to assuage the guilt, he decided to do the unthinkable. 

The Echo of Silence: is a breath of fresh air, it felt good to read about a funny situation after all the drama and the creaking of beds.

My Perfect Life: I find this story really entertaining in the sense that, generally, African women are viewed as if they do not really care about sex, love and the details. That they are only interested in being successful, carrier wise (those who can), finding a husband who cares for them and their children, it does not really matter if they love him in return. This story proves it all wrong, it rather reveals that the Nigerian woman

The Prophet of Zongo Street, 2005, Mohammed Naseehu Ali ***

I discovered Mohammed Naseehu Ali through his published story "The Manhood Test" in the  anthology "Gods and Soldiers" edited by Rob Spillman. Whose book I have since added to my TBR.

There are ten collection of short stories included in "The prophet of Zongo Street" most of the stories are mainly about people who live on this street, some few were set in the USA. However, let me talk about the ones that kept me on the edge of my seat;

Rachmaninov, yes you read well, the Russian composer and pianist. Well, that is the music in the background when an aspiring Ghanaian artist  and his date were under the effect of an overdose and everything else was in discordant; sex, hallucination, drug and

An Elegy for Easterly, 2009, Petina Gappah ***

An Elegy for Easterly is a collection of  thirteen short stories that expounds on the socioeconomic political situation of the actual and the good old days Zimbabwe.

Let me say that the stories are funny, witty and most of the time tragic. Tragic because of the corruption, inflation, despair, poverty, HIV and AIDS constantly present in every backdrop of each story. For instance the story "The Cracked, Pink Lips of Rosie's Bridegroom"  you can feel
the pressure on women to get married, Rosie is so desperate to tie the knot that she does not care that her groom is obviously down with AIDS. Everyone turned a blind eye, of course they will, let he who is not infected or has not buried a relative who died from the disease cast the first stone.

In addition, what baffles me is

Voice of America, 2009, E.C Osondu ****

"Voice of America" is a collection of eighteen short stories mainly about Nigerians, set in Nigeria and in the United States of America. Though, many Africans or people of African heritage could as well identify themselves with the stories and characters.
Generally, all the stories are of great quality, interesting and enjoyable. However, I will only try to review the ones that somehow caught my interest.

Bar Beach Show heartrendingly narrates the story of a father that took his two children to Lagos Bar Beach to witness the death by firing squad of some arm robbers. That is to show them, like the robbers, the price they'd pay if they ever go astray. However, he got the opposite effect since his son disgracefully ended up dying by firing squad.

A Letter from Home was very hilarious. It is started off like this:

"My dear son, why have you not been sending money through Western Union like other good Nigerian children in America do?"

It is in deed sad that many families and relatives would begin a letter like this to their own children abroad. Whatever happened to "Dear son, how are you and how have you been?" The fact is that this still occur today. Parents, families and relatives use their only and last resources to send their children overseas, with the hope that they will do well and in turn support them financially. Nevertheless,  more often than not, life do not always turn out as planned.

Going Back West: Dele was suppose to be studying chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology but was deported to Nigeria. His uncle, who was like a father to him tried enrolling him in the University of Lagos so that he could complete his studies. However, Dele refused and was hellbent on going back to America. It was quite interesting to read how far he went in order to return to America.

The men they married is one of my favourites. Ego married a man because she thought he was a prestigious medical doctor that works in a prominent hospital in the USA. However, when she moved in with him from Nigeria, she found out that he was only a certified nursing assistant.
Uzo lives with her husband and a step son who would not  give her peace of mind.
Ebone agreed with the idea of divorcing her husband so that he could marry an American citizen in order to legalise their situation without knowing that she was actually loosing her husband for real.

Miracles Baby: Ijeoma an intellectual young woman lives with her husband in New York City. She traveled all the way down to Nigeria on her mother-in-law's request to see a prophet who would pray for her so that she could have a child. Finally, she had, though not for too long.

An Incident at Pat's Bar was very entertaining. The story of the white foreign oil workers, the local girls and the abductors in the Niger-Delta area.

Stories like Waiting (with which he won the African Caine Prize in 2009), Jimmy Carter's Eyes and Nigerians in America were quite interesting too.

Voice of America is an entertaining, interesting and funny collection of short stories. Which mostly expounds on the cultural lag African immigrants encounter in the Western world. E. C Osondu beautifully writes with great wits and wisdom, emphasizing on the fact that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. It goes without saying that I recommend especially if you are a lover of  (African) short stories.

The Thing Around Your Neck, 2009, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie *****

I read this novel in 2009, I read it after reading Half of a Yellow Sun and Purple Hibiscus all by the same author, I already know most of her works, I was at the wait of any new work so I read this book the same year it was published. I was not disappointed. I loved it and it is my favourite, it is one of those books I would love to repeat.

This novel is a collection of 12 short stories that worth reading. The title of this book is the title of one of her short stories, most probably the most beautiful of them all? Most of the short stories talks about love, the continuous Christian-Muslim riot taking place in Nigeria, immigration, the dilemma faced by many Nigerian in the seek of  a US American visa (or any visa of the developed world), Nigerians in the diaspora, family matters.....

It is an easy read like her previous books.

I love Adichie, even though her books are fictions, they narrate the life of the Nigerian citizens at its most real. I highly recommend this book to everyone.