Skip to main content

REVIEW: HAPPINESS, LIKE WATER

Author: Chinelo Okparanta

Genre: Short Story/Anthology

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Year of Publication: 2013

Number of Pages: 196

SUMMARY
In these exquisite stories, Chinelo Okparanta introduces us to families burdened equally by the past and the future. Here, we meet a childless couple with very different desires, a college professor comforting a troubled student, a mother seeking refuge from an abusive husband, and a young woman waiting to join her lover abroad. High expectations consume them. Nigeria defines them.

'Her clear, elegant use of language and exploration of family life, migration and love are refreshing and distinctive.'- Diva

'Happiness is like water,' she says.'We're always trying to grab onto it, but it's always slipping between our fingers.' page 144

MY VERDICT
I'm obsessed with short stories now, even though they leave me aching for more. I love how they prompt me to conjour up crazy conclusions about what became of the characters. It's a bitter-sweet feeling being left with conclusions that aren't quite enough to you.

 So Happiness, like Water....Hmmm an interesting read, really interesting with a title so opposite from it's content. The book is a collection of ten short stories: On Ohaeto Street, Wahala!, Fairness, Story,Story!, Runs Girl, America, Shelter, Grace, Designs and Tumours and Butterflies. Each story had completely different plots, but their characters had similar backgrounds (Most of them being Nigerian) I noticed Okparanta found a way of including Port Harcourt in almost every single story. I'm guessing it's because Port Harcourt is her birthplace, so it's only natural for her to feel connected to it.

 In general, it gave me mixed feelings after each story and I love books that toy with my emotions (odd, yes i know). I awarded it four and a half stars, because although  it's a lovely debut with moving stories, I still felt like it didn't deserve all my stars.
You can purchase the book here .

PS: Check out my Favourite Quotes Page xx

Comments

  1. Demilade 25 July 2016 at 17:04

    Really want to read this. xx
    cocobellablog.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Olaa Bobade17 September 2016 at 01:13

    Going through your blog and I can barely find a book I've read. I've not even read most of them. Lol. So much for thinking I am a bibliophile
    Laitanbee Blog

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE FULANI CREATION STORY

    Right from the moment Mr.Salami -my social studies teacher in year 8- taught us about religion and what different ethnic groups in Nigeria believe the true creation story is ;according to their norms and traditional orientation. I took a  particular interest in one story , which was The Fulani peoples' story.      I guess my reason was because it was so different from all the other stories. I was captivated by how they incorporated different elements of life ; how it was presented in  poem form ,but it isn't a poem lol. Let me spare you the detail . Here is a brief history of the Fulanis , for those who aren't too familiar with who they are and what part of Nigeria they hail from. Fulani, people of Africa numbering about 7 million and dispersed in varying, often sizable, concentrations throughout the grassland areas of West Africa from Senegal and Guinea to Nigeria , Cameroon, and Chad. Their Fulfulde language is closely relate...
9 comments
Read more

REVIEW: A COWRIE OF HOPE

Author : Binwell Sinyangwe My Rating : 3 Stars Genre : Fiction/ Literature Year Published : 2000 ISBN : 9780435912024 Number of Pages : 152 Date Read : 03/12/2017 SUMMARY 'These were the nineties,' reflects the narrator of A Cowrie of Hope , and for the young widow Nasula they are years of relentless economic hardship and privation. She dreams of a better life for her beautiful daughter, Sula, free from poverty and independent of marriage. But when Nasula finds herself unable to pay for Sula's education, her hopes seem to have been extinguished - until a friend advises her to go to Lusaka and sell her last sack of highly sought-after Mbala beans. Nasula makes the journey, but in the city she finds herself exposed to new, and predatory, dangers. MY THOUGHTS The author's writing style was pretty basic. The plot was kind of predictable, nothing mind-blowing, but pretty decent. I especially loved how the story gave me Joys of Motherhood vibes....
Post a Comment
Read more

REVIEW: THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR

Author : Yewande Omotoso My Rating : 5 Stars Genre : Fiction Year Published : 2016 ISBN : 978-978-54604-2-1 Date Read : 18/01/2018 SUMMARY Hortensia and Marion are next door neighbours in a charming, bougainvillea-laden Cape Town suburb. One is black, one white. Both are successful women with impressive careers behind them. Both have recently been widowed. Both are in their eighties. And both are sworn enemies, sharing hedge and hostility pruned with zeal. But one day an unforeseen event forces the women together. Could long-held mutual loathing transform into friendship? Love thy neighbour? Easier said than done. MY THOUGHTS   The story is centered around Hortensia James and Marion Agostino; two women who appear different on the outside, but who have quite a number of startling similarities. The first thing, other than all the mini instagram reviews I read of this book, that drew me to it was the fact that the protagonists were elderly. I recall th...
6 comments
Read more