Reviews

The Baby is Mine by Oyinkan Braithwaite

missbookiverse's review against another edition

3.0

Entertaining but overall too short to have much of an impact on me. The last line was pretty funny, though. I listened to the German audiobook (as usual, read by a white narrator >.>) and found that Braithwaite's writing style does not work well on audio. It makes her short sentences sound simple and too clipped. This might've had something to do with the German translation as well. It just didn't feel natural all the way through.

flowerbea's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

blackloreuk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

georgiahewett's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• Strong character development? No

3.5

josiejott's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

lzcvgdn's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

wamannabanana's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

cr0wnofthemoon's review

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

pellesmith's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

wallpaper_730's review against another edition

2.0

I really enjoyed Treasure and My Sister the Serial Killer so I was really looking forward to reading this. Oyinkan really has a way of setting the tone for her stories. I loved the eerie atmosphere she set for this story. However, that’s all I enjoyed about it. The narrator, Bambi, is not likable and is very misogynistic. The women are portrayed as hysterical and unreasonable.

With it being a short story I was let down by the ending because there was really no real conclusion other than finding out who the real mother is. I feel like there might be some kind of deeper meaning to the story but if there was it went over my head.


SPOILERS BELOW



The fact we find out who the mother really is only for the child to be taken away from her was aggravating. I understand with it being in the middle of lockdown and the current arrangement was not a safe environment, Bambi essentially plays the “white knight” and makes the decision Esohe is not fit to keep the child even though she was in a horrible hostage situation and couldn’t really care for the baby properly. His whole decision to take the child adds to the misogyny.