Reviews

Walking on Cowrie Shells by Nana Nkweti

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notesonbookmarks's review against another edition

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5.0

This was excellent

enbyglitch's review against another edition

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5.0

I really enjoyed this collection! Nkweti clearly writes from a place of experience as she explores everything from motherhood, to zombies, to tensions between African-Americans and African immigrants, to mythology and so much more. The frequent inclusion of pidgin was great, and reminded me of Nalo Hopkinson's "Brown Girl in the Ring".

A masterfully written glimpse into a part of this world that many of us are blind to.

angelkisses's review against another edition

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adventurous funny reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

reading_rainbow_with_chris's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-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? N/A

3.75

“Walking on Cowrie Shells” by Nana Nkweti
An adopted teenage girl makes a startling choice for her fortunes. A wife considers her pregnancy as her mother prays for it. A zombie outbreak and a PR spin. Nana Nkweti sharpens these and other stories with a Cameroonian point of view, often embedding it in American culture.

This collection of stories was an interesting experience to read, Nkweti’s writing unlike any I have read before. The content of each story was fresh and engaging, but at times the words she packed into her writing make it feel cluttered, jarring both visually and sonically. But perhaps this is intentional, as this collection does have stories where Nkweti has pulled back a bit more. Even when the reading was difficult, the Cameroonian perspective beveled the difficulty with a uniqueness that was engaging and haunting. My favorites include “It Takes a Village Some Say,” “The Devil is a Liar,” and “Dance the Fiya Dance.”

All in all, this is less an enjoyable read and more a challenging, thought-provoking one. I do think this is a great collection of stories; Nkweti’s writing style may not be my personal favorite, but I do think her point of view is exceptionally unique and I’ll look or more from her on that basis alone.

leahmarissafelton's review against another edition

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5.0

WOW! This was an incredible book full of the most amazing short stories based on Cameroonian and American cultures.
Each short story is so vastly different from the next - a water goddess sacrificing her powers for a fisherman she falls in love with, a zombie apocalypse, a Cameroonian-American senior editor falling in love with one of her authors and having him mould her into what he things is truly authentic and African…

These stories are so powerful and eye opening to how there is no “one” African experience or characteristics in novels today.

What a debut novel from Nana Nkweti!

chrxiao's review against another edition

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2.0

most of these stories had some interesting ideas and interesting writing in them, but did not come together well as stories. in many, i can see what nkweti is trying to do ("the devil is a liar" is about faith and motherhood, "schoolyard cannibalism" about racism becoming internalized, "kinks" about the ambiguity of african v.s. african american identities), but the fact that i see it means she's not yet doing it. other people have (perhaps more kindly) described this collection as "experimental." indeed, nkweti is playing around with different genres and forms of storytelling. unfortunately, as a reader, i'm only interested in your writing successes, not the set of experiments as a whole.

the first story, "it takes a village some say," is the best, and also the reason i was interested in picking this up (so good job to the editor for arranging it this way for better sales). that was an interesting idea (illegal international adoption) and stylistic experiment (from the perspective of first the adoptive family, then the adoptee). i particularly liked the theme of names, i.e. the adoptive parents were told that they could call their adopted daughter anything, and indeed spend their half of the narrative calling her "our girl," and we do not learn zora's name until the very end of her own narrative. i was a little disappointed with how the plot unfolded in zora's section — i think there could have been something more interesting there, or at least more commentary on the significance of zora's sex work.

i would not really recommend any of the other stories, although there were some good writing moments within them.

nkweti has a very distinct voice, very modern and lush. most of these stories open with a bang of language (rather than a subtle crescendo). i say this in a completely neutral sense, because i both like and dislike her writing in this collection.

like: by virtue of the inherent character of her writing, many moments that would be boring under another writer are kept interesting and thrumming with energy. she is also so good at describing desire in a visceral and resonant way — i was thinking about this especially since i just read pure colour which the nyt review said heti is a great depicter of attraction, but actually i just found her horny with no payoff (title of your sex tape). meanwhile nkweti writes some genuinely moving sexy stuff.

dislike: she also has a knack for grammatically incorrect sentences that are difficult to tell if it's intentional or poor editing, which is a personal annoyance. and i think because the narratives and ideas she's interested in are already so busy, sometimes the busy voice in addition to it is too much. it's just not for me. i prefer an author to be singular and purposeful, whereas nkweti seems to be an author excited by multiplicities and experimenting without thought of success or failure.