A beautiful, heart-rending collection of stories written some in the first person or second person narrative, linked by love, family, happiness, trauma and every spicy detail of human life particularly as a Nigerian.
This is a collection of 12 stories that touch quite a lot of themes but centres on the feeling, Pain. Chimeka is an amazing writer, his wordplay is smooth, he leaves you wanting more, some stories were intertwined and there were lessons to learn.
The stories were also named after songs which according to Chimeka inspired him to write, the book is accompanied by a playlist you can listen to on Spotify, that’s genius I must say and I so love music.
The first story, Lost stars focused on the final acceptance of love and eternal loss.
Music was about family drama masked with music as a coping mechanism. Loving one despite their failures. We see a man who leaves his wife for another and is pardoned because everyone feels ‘his eyes go well because his new woman is beautiful’
In Hurt, we meet Dami, a self-destructive man ,with a life full of love, hate and the regrets of lost time.
Song for someone: Ukela living with so much pain, finding love and finally learning to let go.
In the city broke my heart, our sad reality in Nigeria, this book was written before the #Endsars protest which occurred in Nigeria, October 2020, which hoped to stop the activities of unjust police officers practice but to date, there is no significant change. We meet Officer Eneche who feels he is haunted in his dreams due to all the wrongs he has committed, we see his deeds and I wonder why he is surprised he is being haunted?
In I put a spell on you, we meet cheating husbands and wives whonise superstitious charms to keep their men, quite a funny tale.
I’d die without you, another sad one, grief, pain and the aftermath of wrong choices. Made me feel like this was a foretelling of one of Nigeria’s leading actresses, Adesua Etomi Wellington experience in the past year.
In Beautiful war, we meet the truthful cheating husband😂, the irony. His road to acceptance and forgiveness, the thought that men will always be men so we shouldn’t expect them to not cheat.
In River, we see confraternities, mistaken identity, death and grief.
Love’s Divine and Desperado, Tekwashi, a drunk on the road to sobriety, challenges of men who are sexually defiled as minors and the emotional impact, this was a really good one
Finally, You suppose know, my second favourite story, the type of love I want to experience and live.
These stories were written uniquely, it was written to see things from different perspectives as men and women. Each story had its unique points, easy to understand, you fall in love with the characters despite the short scenes.
You would love this book, I attended a book reading session with the author at Bookville world bookshop in Port-Harcourt. A sweet and interesting discussion, healthy debate and an awesome day.
I got my copy autographed too and picked some books..
Hopefully, I get to go out more and share the deets! Buy this book, you won’t regret it. You can pick one from Roving Heights, Buy books in Port-Harcourt or any other book shop!
Till next time!
The Readers Hut 