An Unusual Grief - Libroj.org

Poŝlibro, 240 paĝoj

Lingvo: English

Eldonita de Cassava Republuc Press.

(1 recenzo)

How do you get to know your daughter when she is dead? This is the question which takes a mother on a journey of self-discovery.

When her daughter Yinka dies, Mojisola is finally forced to stop running away from the difficulties in their relationship, and also come to terms with Yinka the woman. Mojisola’s grief leads her on a journey of self-discovery, as she moves into her daughter’s apartment and begins to unearth the life Yinka had built for herself there, away from her family. Through stepping into Yinka’s shoes, Mojisola comes to a better understanding not only of her estranged daughter, but also herself, as she learns to carve a place for herself in the world beyond the labels of wife and mother. A bold and unflinching tale of one women’s unconventional approach to life and loss.

1 eldono

Stephanie Jane recenzis An Unusual Grief de Yewande Omotoso

Deep and dark

5 steloj

An Unusual Grief turned out to not be the wryly humorous novel I had expected, based on having read Yewande Omotoso's previous novel The Woman Next Door, although it does have its lighter moments. Instead, Omotoso deeply explores how a mother, Mojisola, is traumatised by the death of her estranged daughter, Yinka, and how, in trying to search for both a explanation for her death and to recreate a connection, Mojisola discovers not only Yinka but herself too. Despite such potentially depressing subject matter, I found An Unusual Grief to be a very readable novel and quite the page-turner too.

Mojisola is a fascinating woman to spend time with. Taught to repress herself since fairly early childhood, it is not until overwhelming grief shatters her habitual closed demeanour that she realises just how much of her personality is made up of learned behaviours rather than being her true self. Perhaps …

An Unusual Grief turned out to not be the wryly humorous novel I had expected, based on having read Yewande Omotoso's previous novel The Woman Next Door, although it does have its lighter moments. Instead, Omotoso deeply explores how a mother, Mojisola, is traumatised by the death of her estranged daughter, Yinka, and how, in trying to search for both a explanation for her death and to recreate a connection, Mojisola discovers not only Yinka but herself too. Despite such potentially depressing subject matter, I found An Unusual Grief to be a very readable novel and quite the page-turner too.

Mojisola is a fascinating woman to spend time with. Taught to repress herself since fairly early childhood, it is not until overwhelming grief shatters her habitual closed demeanour that she realises just how much of her personality is made up of learned behaviours rather than being her true self. Perhaps never having thought before about her own ability to choose, the distance between herself and Yinka seemed partly driven by suppressed jealousy at the younger woman's freedom. An Unusual Grief does include several adult scenes as Mojisola embraces a darker path. I did occasionally wonder at the ease with which she accepted so many new experiences, but Omotoso understands her character so well that Mojisola's emotional journey always felt authentic an genuine - even while watching from my reader's perspective bordered on voyeuristic!

Mojisola is one of a number of strongly defined characters I liked. Prickly Zelda often made me chuckle as I - and Mojisola - saw through her stratagems to gain gossip, and I loved to despise Mojisola's inept and selfish husband, Titus, who I found to be a truly exasperating person. Women from Mojisola's past also put in appearances and I was impressed by how Omotoso handled scenes from different time periods. Seeing how Mojisola's childhood and youth led to the adult woman she became really helped me to understand her motivations and I appreciated the subtle links between mother and daughter too.

An Unusual Grief didn't feel like anything I had read before. Omotoso tackles themes around bereavement obviously, but also explores ideas about personal identity and how much of the person we project to others is what they want to see from us rather than who we really are. This was a thought-provoking, shocking and, ultimately, intensely satisfying novel to read.