Scan barcode
onemorepagecrew's review
4.5
Lucky Girl by Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu was such a captivating read, I was in Soila’s corner from the start and felt like she was my friend until the end. If you enjoy coming-of-age stories that weave in familial and cultural expectations balanced against personal desires, then this is an excellent choice.
The story follows Soila, born and raised in Kenya, as she embarks on college in New York City. She navigates friendships, romantic relationships, and her career while trying to heal from the loss of her father and uncovering new information about her family. It’s her journey of personal identity and how she sees herself, and how others see her, in both Kenya and the U.S.
I found myself attached to Soila and her best friend from NYC, Leticia, feeling very into their journeys. I got mildly attached to her romantic interests and her family, but never fully sank into those characters. For me, part four (the last part) was a little rushed compared to the first three parts, but overall the story and where it landed felt good.
If you enjoy coming-of-age and immigration stories that weave in cross-cultural relationships and navigating parental expectations, this should be on your TBR.
Thank you so much to Dial Press and NetGalley, I was so thankful for the advanced copy - I appreciate you!
Content warnings: grief, racism, dementia, September 11th (first-hand perspective)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent
goatsrsexy's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Lucky girl is about Soila, who grows up very privileged but extremely sheltered in Kenya, and moves to America for school to get some freedom from her overbearing mother.
She struggles a lot at first to understand the African American experience and relationship to blackness and racism because it's so different from her own African experience. I really admired the way that although she had a hard time understanding where her friends were coming from, she quickly recognized that there were things she didn't understand and that she needed to put in effort to learn and view things through different lenses and let go of her own biases and misconceptions. She struggles with this throughout the book but you can also see her making huge progress with it. As a white Canadian, the difference between the African immigrant and African American experience isn't something I've ever given much thought to and it was super eye opening for me. I definitely feel that I gained a greater understanding of both cultures through Soila.
Soilas struggle with her mother's expectations was portrayed so well, it was so difficult for me to see her hurting herself and giving up things that were important to her in order to make her mother happy, but I was able to understand where she was coming from even though there was a lot I would have done differently. I loved the people in her life. Her aunts, grandma, friends and partners were all so loving and supportive and they all added so many different things to her life.
Lucky Girl deals with so many things in such a short book; racism and colourism, terrorism, sexual assault, grief, and a lot more than that too. It deals with a lot of heavy subjects and I definitely shed a few tears while reading, but it was also such a beautiful and hopeful story I honestly feel privileged to had read it. I can't believe this is the author's debut novel, I definitely can't wait to read more from her in the future. Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy!
She struggles a lot at first to understand the African American experience and relationship to blackness and racism because it's so different from her own African experience. I really admired the way that although she had a hard time understanding where her friends were coming from, she quickly recognized that there were things she didn't understand and that she needed to put in effort to learn and view things through different lenses and let go of her own biases and misconceptions. She struggles with this throughout the book but you can also see her making huge progress with it. As a white Canadian, the difference between the African immigrant and African American experience isn't something I've ever given much thought to and it was super eye opening for me. I definitely feel that I gained a greater understanding of both cultures through Soila.
Soilas struggle with her mother's expectations was portrayed so well, it was so difficult for me to see her hurting herself and giving up things that were important to her in order to make her mother happy, but I was able to understand where she was coming from even though there was a lot I would have done differently. I loved the people in her life. Her aunts, grandma, friends and partners were all so loving and supportive and they all added so many different things to her life.
Lucky Girl deals with so many things in such a short book; racism and colourism, terrorism, sexual assault, grief, and a lot more than that too. It deals with a lot of heavy subjects and I definitely shed a few tears while reading, but it was also such a beautiful and hopeful story I honestly feel privileged to had read it. I can't believe this is the author's debut novel, I definitely can't wait to read more from her in the future. Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Racism and Sexual assault
Minor: Suicide
lauramcsherry's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Lucky Girl
4.5 ⭐️
I am so glad I got to read this story. Lucky Girl is a beautiful story about a Woman from Kenya finding her own way. She navigates through college in New York, relationships, racism as an African in America, grief, and caring for a terminally ill parent. There is so much in this story.
Though this book at some very deep topics, I thought it was handled with such grace. Soila’s bravery as so navigates her relationship with her mother at the end was inspiring.
Thank you to @netgalley for this ARC.
randombookswithmj's review
3.25
This novel by debut author Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu reads like the story of Muchemi-Ndiritu’s life. It is the story of a black Kenyan woman, Soila, grappling with the demands of a strict and distant mother. At the same time the woman is also dealing with what it means to be a black African immigrant in the USA vs being white or a black slave descendant.
The book covers so many themes such as family, race, friendship, mental health, abuse just to name a few. It gives the reader a clear picture of the difficulties that even a wealthy Kenyan woman faces in her homeland and that even wealthy Black American’s both recent immigrants, their descendants, and the descendants of slaves face.
Definitely a book worth picking up and reading.
Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse for my advanced readers copy of this book.
kirstengrier's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
becmurr57's review
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
5.0
An advance copy of a debut novel. Thank you Dial Press & Net Galley.
Solia is a girl raised in a fully female home in Kenya- it is her mother's home & her grandmother & her 3 aunts all live there. But Soila's mom rules the home, her sisters & of course Soila. They live a privileged life, and have a strong work ethic & own a family business. As Solia became an adolescent she knew this was not the life she wanted for her future. Her mother was overbearing, strongly opinionated & Solia felt no true love from her, no hugs, no tender moments.
Solia decides to apply to colleges in the US, unbeknownst to her mother & after much back & forth, her mother agrees to allow her to go to school in the states.
Once Solia gets the the US, finds her way at school & makes a few friends, we see struggles she has with being an African, vs what she sees or thinks of African Americans. She has never seen racism, doesn't grasp some of the issues that Black Americans have, especially young black men & people living in poverty.
She takes a job she doesn't like, can't share what her life is with her mom, has relationship issues. Most of Solia's struggles come from trying to please her mom- her mom wants total control- job, church, men, & as Solia gets older she gets hurt & angry with her mom.
There's relationships, friendships, guilt & some life events along the way.
Through it all, Soila tries to be the dutiful daughter, until she always can't.
I really felt for her- guilt placed on anyone is an awful thing.
I really enjoyed this book!
Solia is a girl raised in a fully female home in Kenya- it is her mother's home & her grandmother & her 3 aunts all live there. But Soila's mom rules the home, her sisters & of course Soila. They live a privileged life, and have a strong work ethic & own a family business. As Solia became an adolescent she knew this was not the life she wanted for her future. Her mother was overbearing, strongly opinionated & Solia felt no true love from her, no hugs, no tender moments.
Solia decides to apply to colleges in the US, unbeknownst to her mother & after much back & forth, her mother agrees to allow her to go to school in the states.
Once Solia gets the the US, finds her way at school & makes a few friends, we see struggles she has with being an African, vs what she sees or thinks of African Americans. She has never seen racism, doesn't grasp some of the issues that Black Americans have, especially young black men & people living in poverty.
She takes a job she doesn't like, can't share what her life is with her mom, has relationship issues. Most of Solia's struggles come from trying to please her mom- her mom wants total control- job, church, men, & as Solia gets older she gets hurt & angry with her mom.
There's relationships, friendships, guilt & some life events along the way.
Through it all, Soila tries to be the dutiful daughter, until she always can't.
I really felt for her- guilt placed on anyone is an awful thing.
I really enjoyed this book!
zedohee's review
3.0
Lucky Girl is good; with a little more finesse it could have been great.
The topic of an immigrant in a new country, navigating a big city and reconciling their old identity with the new life they’re trying to build isn’t especially new or fresh and I didn’t really expect Lucky Girl to break the mold. I did, though, expect a story that spans decades, about a privileged Kenyan girl embarking on a journey of self discovery and stepping into her own in America to be more intriguing, fun and captivating than it was.
The story begins when Soila is a child. Familial secrets are exposed and her mother’s ever tightening grip on her personhood only becomes more unbearable as she ages. By the time she graduates high-school, she’s ready not just to leave home, but the country. Within two years she’s moved to America and enrolled in college. These years pass by quickly; Soila graduates, gets a job and to me, this was when the book finally picked up. Before this, it read like the diary of an especially naive child, invoking one too many cliches for my liking. Once Soila entered young adulthood, I felt that Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu’s writing hit its stride. She focused less on plainly stating the differences between Kenya and America and rather, gave Soila varied, rich experiences that truly challenged her. She also asked meaningful and complex questions of the audience, making me question my own beliefs.
To me, Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu’s writing isn’t particularly lyrical or evocative, but instead, blunt. Direct. This is in-line with a lot of African literature but Lucky Girl in all its simplicity read as more YA than adult lit.
This juvenile slant was especially present within the romantic relationships, which feel underwhelmingly superficial. Soila is understandably conservative, but also pretty bland. I didn’t quite buy the main romance and that her love interest would be so taken by her.
Also, I could’ve done without the extensive focus on minutiae and irrelevant facts. In trying to display how out of her depth Soila was in her new world, the author rehashed tired, dated ideas that only bogged the book down in their repetition.
Her strengths are in the side characters. Other than maybe her aunt Tanei, none of them have larger than life personalities and for this book that worked. They came off as real and complex, with diverse beliefs and values. I really enjoyed reading about her four aunts and experiencing their growth alongside Soila. Honestly, half the time I cared far more for them than Soila herself. She just wasn’t a captivating character to me. Neither were her friends, who paled in comparison to her family and sometimes came off like stereotypes. Which, given Soila’s upbringing, opinion of America, African Americans and white Americans, tracked. Still, her early interactions with her best friend Leticia, were very stereotypical and dismissive and they didn’t immediately click or have any real spark, so I didn’t get why Leticia continued to reach out when Soila wasn’t all that nice or particularly charming. As time went on though, the girls bonded more organically and I was really sold on and enjoyed the friendship. They cared deeply for each other and had so much fun together, I wish their friendship had been explored more.
It’s a long journey but Soila eventually understands that her upbringing and beliefs are only that: hers. The world is a bigger and more complicated place than she imagined and expected and she tries to accept that. A lot of the conversations Soila had about black life in America and racism were exhausting and repetitive and after the third ‘but I don’t get it’ convo I was over Soila’s ignorance. She never quite seemed to grasp the severity of the situation. But this positioning and mindset is realistic. I’ve met many Soila’s and had tons of conversations with members of own family who simply don’t believe that racism is as bleak as ‘those abroad’ make it out to be. To them, it is an issue that is, at the least, slightly bothersome and at the most, ancient history. Like Soila, the idea that racism is a systemic issue that is entrenched in all areas of society simply goes over their heads because their lived experiences with colonialism and internalized racism differ and greatly color their outlook.
This book is exactly what it says on the tin and I while I wish it was a little more lively or complex, going in expecting more is probably why I had as many issues with it as I did. Not everyone is vivacious or outgoing and it’s only fair that their stories are told too. I’d recommend it to readers who like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novels, people who would like to read about a Kenyan woman’s immigrant experience and older millennial/gen x African women who want to read about familiar experiences.
*ARC provided by NetGalley
The topic of an immigrant in a new country, navigating a big city and reconciling their old identity with the new life they’re trying to build isn’t especially new or fresh and I didn’t really expect Lucky Girl to break the mold. I did, though, expect a story that spans decades, about a privileged Kenyan girl embarking on a journey of self discovery and stepping into her own in America to be more intriguing, fun and captivating than it was.
The story begins when Soila is a child. Familial secrets are exposed and her mother’s ever tightening grip on her personhood only becomes more unbearable as she ages. By the time she graduates high-school, she’s ready not just to leave home, but the country. Within two years she’s moved to America and enrolled in college. These years pass by quickly; Soila graduates, gets a job and to me, this was when the book finally picked up. Before this, it read like the diary of an especially naive child, invoking one too many cliches for my liking. Once Soila entered young adulthood, I felt that Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu’s writing hit its stride. She focused less on plainly stating the differences between Kenya and America and rather, gave Soila varied, rich experiences that truly challenged her. She also asked meaningful and complex questions of the audience, making me question my own beliefs.
To me, Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu’s writing isn’t particularly lyrical or evocative, but instead, blunt. Direct. This is in-line with a lot of African literature but Lucky Girl in all its simplicity read as more YA than adult lit.
This juvenile slant was especially present within the romantic relationships, which feel underwhelmingly superficial. Soila is understandably conservative, but also pretty bland. I didn’t quite buy the main romance and that her love interest would be so taken by her.
Also, I could’ve done without the extensive focus on minutiae and irrelevant facts. In trying to display how out of her depth Soila was in her new world, the author rehashed tired, dated ideas that only bogged the book down in their repetition.
Her strengths are in the side characters. Other than maybe her aunt Tanei, none of them have larger than life personalities and for this book that worked. They came off as real and complex, with diverse beliefs and values. I really enjoyed reading about her four aunts and experiencing their growth alongside Soila. Honestly, half the time I cared far more for them than Soila herself. She just wasn’t a captivating character to me. Neither were her friends, who paled in comparison to her family and sometimes came off like stereotypes. Which, given Soila’s upbringing, opinion of America, African Americans and white Americans, tracked. Still, her early interactions with her best friend Leticia, were very stereotypical and dismissive and they didn’t immediately click or have any real spark, so I didn’t get why Leticia continued to reach out when Soila wasn’t all that nice or particularly charming. As time went on though, the girls bonded more organically and I was really sold on and enjoyed the friendship. They cared deeply for each other and had so much fun together, I wish their friendship had been explored more.
It’s a long journey but Soila eventually understands that her upbringing and beliefs are only that: hers. The world is a bigger and more complicated place than she imagined and expected and she tries to accept that. A lot of the conversations Soila had about black life in America and racism were exhausting and repetitive and after the third ‘but I don’t get it’ convo I was over Soila’s ignorance. She never quite seemed to grasp the severity of the situation. But this positioning and mindset is realistic. I’ve met many Soila’s and had tons of conversations with members of own family who simply don’t believe that racism is as bleak as ‘those abroad’ make it out to be. To them, it is an issue that is, at the least, slightly bothersome and at the most, ancient history. Like Soila, the idea that racism is a systemic issue that is entrenched in all areas of society simply goes over their heads because their lived experiences with colonialism and internalized racism differ and greatly color their outlook.
This book is exactly what it says on the tin and I while I wish it was a little more lively or complex, going in expecting more is probably why I had as many issues with it as I did. Not everyone is vivacious or outgoing and it’s only fair that their stories are told too. I’d recommend it to readers who like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novels, people who would like to read about a Kenyan woman’s immigrant experience and older millennial/gen x African women who want to read about familiar experiences.
*ARC provided by NetGalley
kirachandlerreads's review
4.0
This was an incredibly rich coming of age story set in Kenya and New York City. The characters were larger than life and felt so real as I was reading.
It dealt with difficult topics in both an astute and sometimes dead pan funny sort of way. I highly recommend this one.
Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for the e-arc.
It dealt with difficult topics in both an astute and sometimes dead pan funny sort of way. I highly recommend this one.
Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for the e-arc.
veeeeex's review
4.0
This book was surprisingly good. I loved the characters and plot of the story. I do wish the book was bit longer and I would love to see this book turned into some kind of movie.
More...