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Book Review: Happiness, Like Water by Chinelo Okparanta

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Happiness, Like Water by Chinelo Okparanta

  • Method of Obtaining: I received a copy of this from the publisher.
  • Published by:  Mariner Books
  • Release Date:  8.13.2013

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Here are Nigerian women at home and transplanted to the United States, building lives out of longing and hope, faith and doubt, the struggle to stay and the mandate to leave, the burden and strength of love. Here are characters faced with dangerous decisions, children slick with oil from the river, a woman in love with another despite the penalties. Here is a world marked by electricity outages, lush landscapes, folktales, buses that break down and never start up again. Here is a portrait of Nigerians that is surprising, shocking, heartrending, loving, and across social strata, dealing in every kind of change. Here are stories filled with language to make your eyes pause and your throat catch. Happiness, Like Water introduces a true talent, a young writer with a beautiful heart and a capacious imagination.

I also recommend:

  • Writings from South Africa edited by Ken Durham
  • This is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakauwila
My Review:


My love for short stories is no secret.  I have also harbored a love for literature out Africa for a few years now, specifically South Africa and Nigeria.  So when I saw that Happiness, Like Water was available for review I jumped at the opportunity.

This past semester I spent time in a class that dedicated a good chunk of our studies to the countries of Africa.  We learned about the social injustices, historical and current, about the state of the government, and about travesties that are happening every single day while we sit in comfort here in the States.  Happiness, Like Water touches on some of those themes as well, exploring everything from homosexuality to abandonment.  Each story is written beautifully and contains a different theme, even while sharing some similarities with other stories.

Mostly, what I loved most about Happiness, Like Water is how accessible it was to me, someone who knows about Nigeria only through books and internet searches.  It made me feel as if I was there.  The descriptions came to life and when I closed my eyes I could see what was being written about, and I longed to see it in person and to be there.  One of my friends, also a writer, has dual-citizenship (US and Nigeria) and he visits there and I look at his pictures, and read the writings he puts down about everything from heart-breaking scenes in the hospital to fanciful folk tales about the wall geckos, and it makes me remember that literature from everywhere needs to be explored and appreciated for its beauty and for what it teaches those of us who live blindly, day to day, without realizing or thinking about what is going on in other parts of the world.

I highly, highly recommend this book for anyone interested in exploring writing that is not only beautiful, but informative, and gripping as well.  I do not think you would be at all disappointed with this collection and I have a feeling I’ll be talking about it for quite some time to come.

Check out these articles!

NPR| Publishers Weekly | Afroblush

 


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