Review: What It Means When A Man Falls From The Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah

“He does not yet wonder where she gets this, this streak of fire. He only knows that it keeps the wolves of the world at bay and he must never let it die out.”

Genre: Fiction, African Literature

Pages: 240

Rate: 3 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

‘When Enebeli Okwara sent his girl out in the world, he did not know what the world did to daughters’. The daughters, wives and mothers in Lesley Nneka Arimah’s remarkable debut collection find themselves in extraordinary situations: a woman whose mother’s ghost appears to have stepped out of a family snapshot, another who, exhausted by childlessness, resorts to fashioning a charmed infant out of human hair, a ‘grief worker’ with a miraculous ability to remove emotional pain – at a price. What unites them is the toughness of the world they inhabit, a world where the future is uncertain, opportunities are scant, and fortunes change quicker than the flick of a switch. Characterised by their vividness, immediacy and the author’s seemingly endless ability to conjure worlds at once familiar and unsettlingly different, this collection showcases the work of an extraordinarily talented writer at the start of a brilliant career.

My Take

I have put off posting this review for so long because I didn’t really enjoy the book as much as I thought I would, but everyone seems to like it. If you read my 5 Stars TBR predicton post you know I was really rooting for this book and I actually thought it would be a clean 5 stars. Basically, the book didn’t live up to the hype.

What It Means When A Man Falls From The Sky is a book of short stories that explore genuine emotions of characters, relationships between parents and their children, humour and so much more. I loved Lesley’s style of writing, it’s clear and precise and I wanted to just keep on reading beacause of that. I love how the book starts with a punch and how it invites you in.

Why didn’t I like the book? Out of all the stories, I only remember 2, The Future Looks Good and Light, which were my favorite. Most of the other stories were confusing and if I am being honest, bland. I forgot about them immediately I was finished and I never looked back. If you I take away the 2 stories I loved, I really didn’t enjoy the book.

“Some people find it easy to be good when the going is good but lack the fortitude for hardship.”

What It Means When A Man Falls From The Sky is the type of book, in my opinion, that is an acquired taste. I didn’t like the book but I know people who termed it as brilliant and others who loved it completely. You may want to read it for yourself to find out where you fall.

I would love to hear your thoughts if you have read this book, what did you think about it? Tell me down in the comments.

Happy Tuesday!