It’s hard to believe that this is the author’s first novel. Her writing floats off the page, into your mind, and swirls and whirls around until finally settling, but not without having done something to you first.
And that something - for me - I feel I can sum up in one word.
Resonance.
It would I suppose be useful to expand on that word.
Despite me being white and Sommy being Black.
Despite me being middle aged and Sommy being half my age.
Despite me having lived the entirety of my life in the UK and Sommy living in Nigeria and then in the US.
Despite all this, her story resonated - resonates still.
I was completely drawn in to Sommy’s meandering journey to find her sense of self.
Of seeing herself seemingly only existing in relation to others.
Of feeling somehow lacking.
Of not knowing who she is or what she wants.
In many ways this is a universal experience - we are all on our own journeys and there can be some hard lessons to learn along the way. But although a universal experience it’s also really particular to ourselves. There are some lessons we learn that we may never choose to share with anyone. But, for better or for worse they shape us.
And this is why I resonated with Sonny because, though her journey is very different to what mine has been (and I guess still is), it feels like she has been written in such a way as to embody the lived experience of many women who have come before, and of many women still to come.
A beautiful book.