Book Review: Who Fears Death, by Nnedi Okorafor
I don't think I've ever reviewed books on here, but this one is something special. Here, let me put the name down again.
Who Fears Death, by Nnedi Okorafor.
Stop right now. Don't go reading other reviews before you read mine. You'll think "this cannot be fun to read; I won't enjoy it at all - it's one of those things you're supposed to read Because It Will Be Good For You." That is not the case. I want to tell you first and foremost that this is a very readable book. I couldn't put it down - not because I was horrified, but because I needed to see what happened next. Onyesonwu is an incredible character, and so are her friends and the people she encounters along the way. The worldbuilding is tantalizing, though her young adult books are the ones that really elaborate on it. (I suspect that Who Fears Death is set considerably earlier than her YA books.)
Okorafor deals with subject matter that would be crushing in other hands, and she does it - well, she does it the way that I think people really do deal with such terrible things, namely: they keep going, because they're still alive. The fact that Onyesonwu undergoes female genital mutilation is not the point of the story;* the weaponized rape of Onyesonwu's mother and other Okeke women as part of a genocidal campaign is not the point of the story, though it is vital to it. It is a bildungsroman set in post-apocalyptic Africa. And it's a bildungsroman the likes of which you've never seen.
* Apparently Okorafor has been criticized for presenting FGM too sympathetically, which is ridiculous. Her views on it are perfectly clear; what she does is also show how real people who love their family and love their community could think such a horrible thing was a good idea. And that's important too, because it's important to understand those people in order to change their minds.
HERE are the first two chapters.
Who Fears Death, by Nnedi Okorafor.
Stop right now. Don't go reading other reviews before you read mine. You'll think "this cannot be fun to read; I won't enjoy it at all - it's one of those things you're supposed to read Because It Will Be Good For You." That is not the case. I want to tell you first and foremost that this is a very readable book. I couldn't put it down - not because I was horrified, but because I needed to see what happened next. Onyesonwu is an incredible character, and so are her friends and the people she encounters along the way. The worldbuilding is tantalizing, though her young adult books are the ones that really elaborate on it. (I suspect that Who Fears Death is set considerably earlier than her YA books.)
Okorafor deals with subject matter that would be crushing in other hands, and she does it - well, she does it the way that I think people really do deal with such terrible things, namely: they keep going, because they're still alive. The fact that Onyesonwu undergoes female genital mutilation is not the point of the story;* the weaponized rape of Onyesonwu's mother and other Okeke women as part of a genocidal campaign is not the point of the story, though it is vital to it. It is a bildungsroman set in post-apocalyptic Africa. And it's a bildungsroman the likes of which you've never seen.
* Apparently Okorafor has been criticized for presenting FGM too sympathetically, which is ridiculous. Her views on it are perfectly clear; what she does is also show how real people who love their family and love their community could think such a horrible thing was a good idea. And that's important too, because it's important to understand those people in order to change their minds.
HERE are the first two chapters.