Happy Wednesday everyone! Woah. How has your year been so far? I hope that it has been great. I also hope and pray that the rest of the year will be brimming with good news, positive energy, and blessings. I also hope that everyone will be happy and healthy, in body, mind, and spirit.

Wednesdays also mean WWW Wednesday updates. WWW Wednesday is a bookish meme hosted originally by SAM@TAKING ON A WORLD OF WORDS. The mechanics for WWW Wednesday are quite simple, you just have to answer three questions:

  1. What are you currently reading?
  2. What have you finished reading?
  3. What will you read next?
www-wednesdays
What are you currently reading?

In March, I read exclusively the works of female writers in commemoration of Women’s History Month. It was a delightful experience that took me to various parts of the world. However, I realized that I still have quite a lot of works of female writers I want to read. With this, I decided to extend this venture this April. My current read is Jessica George’s Maame, a book that was part of my 2023 Books I Look Forward To List. Unfortunately, I was not able to obtain a copy of the book before the year ended, hence, my belated reading of the book. The story is narrated by Maddie Wright. She was in her late twenties and was living in London with her father who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease. She was left to care for him as her mother stayed most of the time in Ghana to look after the family business while her brother had long left the family home. Maddie, meanwhile, was having some sort of quarter-life (identity) crisis. This is a readable book and Maddie’s adulting concerns are relatable. I hope George sustains my interest until the end of the book.

What have you finished reading?

When I said my foray into the works took me to different parts of the world, this was what I meant. The first of three books I read in the past week, Buchi Emecheta’s The Bride Price was the first book I read this year that took me to Africa; I have already been to Asia and the Americas. The Bride Price is my second novel by the Nigerian writer. It was in 2021 when I first encountered Emecheta through The Joys of Motherhood which was part of my African literature month. I liked the book even though I didn’t have any iota about who Emecheta was back then.

Nearly three years later, I have read my second Emecheta novel. At the heart of the story was Aku-nna who was the only daughter born to Ezekiel and Ma Blackie. She has a brother, Nna-nndo. They were the portrait of a perfect family except that Ezekiel was slowly dying, unbeknownst to his family. When he suddenly passed away, his wife and children moved from Lagos to the countryside, particularly to Ezekiel’s family’s domain. It was because following his death, Ezekiel’s brother now takes responsibility for his wife and children, as per tradition; Ma Blackie is now the wife of Ezekiel’s brother. Meanwhile, Aku-nna was blossoming in her adolescence. Although just in her mid-teens, she was ripe for marrying. The man or boy who must marry her, however, has to pay the Bride Price. The Bride Price explores the same theme as The Joys of Motherhood, with emphasis on how Nigerian women had very little constitution over their lives. Aku-nna, on the other hand, was tenacious about pursuing the same path society has paved for her. This resulted in a compelling read about Nigerian culture, its people, and the power of love.

My next read was again set in the former capital of Nigeria. It was in 2022 when I first encountered Eloghosa Osunde during one of my not-so-random trips to the bookstore. Their – apparently they are non-binary as they used the pronouns they and their in their personal website – debut novel, Vagabonds! immediately grabbed my attention the first time I encountered it. Although I was reluctant at first, I relented and bought the book because my curiosity was too great to be quelled. Two years later, I have finally read the book.

The novel opens with the various definitions of the word vagabond, from the dictionary definition to how it is defined in the context of Nigerian society. One thing was obvious, vagabonds pertain to those who go against the tide; they are also essentially outsiders. Sure enough, Vagabonds! is a polyphonic novel populated by various characters who were, in their own way, going against the standards put on them by society. The titular vagabonds are all queer, pushed into the darkness because of Nigeria’s religious corruption and homophobic legislation. The queerness of the characters is forcefully suppressed lest they find themselves the objects of ridicule. Guiding the readers is the mercurial presence of Tatafó, one of the underlings of Èkó, the presiding spirit of Lagos. Apart from its deep probe into the politics of gender, the novel was also an homage to Lagos and the life that thrives underneath the tumult. It did take me some time to immerse myself into the story but once I was able to find my footing, I was riveted.

From Africa, I made a quick detour to Asia with Kyung-Sook Shin’s I’ll Be Right There. This is my fourth novel by the Korean writer whom I first encountered in 2016 when her novel, Please Look After Mom was ubiquitous. It was an instant sensation upon its release in South Korea in 2009. Its English translation which won her the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize essentially elevated Shin to global recognition. In light of this victory, several of her novels have been made available to anglophone readers, including I’ll Be Right There which is also part of my 2024 Beat the Backlist Challenge.

I’ll Be Right There opens in the present. Jung Yoon, the novel’s heroine, receives a call from Myungsuh, a friend (and former boyfriend) she has not heard from in eight years. Their professor, Yoon was dying. This prompted a trip down memory lane, back to when Yoon was still in university. It was the 1980s. South Korea and the streets were overflowing with protesters. The country was unraveling in light of the dictatorship. References were made about this pandemonium and the characters would even find themselves part of these protests. However, most of these happen in the background as it seems that Shin was going after a different route. Despite the uncertain times, life still goes on. For Jung Yoon, it was her budding friendship with Myungsuh and Miru that became the center of her university life, coupled with Professor Yoon and his poetry. In a way, it was Jung Yoon’s coming-of-age story as these experiences shape who she is. There is a subdued perhaps somber voice that hovers above the narrative; considering that death followed Jung Yoon, I guess this is unsurprising. But the voice somehow was familiar, a voice I encountered in her other novels such as Violets and more recently, I Went to See my Father.

What will you read next?