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What a Time to Be Alone: The Slumflower's Guide to Why You Are Already Enough by Chidera Eggerue
shanyeahh's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
4.0
This book is loaded with gems. Less of a self-help book and more of a genuine conversation with someone who cares about the reader. I really appreciated the Igbo proverbs weaved throughout.
lindseyannd's review against another edition
4.0
Read this book slowly. Each part offers a point to ponder and explore. Each part could be expanded to its own self help book, so not many answers/resolutions/where to go from here. But a good place to start. I’d recommend pausing after each point and journaling/processing what is being said, before moving on to the next piece. I enjoyed the vibrancy of it as well.
nickiitay's review against another edition
3.0
Reread: The first time I read this I rated it 5 stars because it told me what I needed to hear at the time. I needed that pick-me-up, feel good, own your badassery vibe. I still love the beautiful art throughout the book, along with the Igbo proverbs she draws on from her childhood/culture. The reason it’s no longer a 5 star read for me is because I’m more self-aware, and found much less profound impact from this read through. Still love her podcast though, would definitely recommend “The Slumflower Hour”
zabrinagw's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
3.5
Some nice and inspiring quotes. Felt a bit ‘patchy’ and continuity is lacking. I would have liked some points to have been developed and elaborated upon, instead of just being presented.
africanbookaddict's review against another edition
5.0
I read this on Kindle; I just purchased my physical copy- it’s a must have for my bookshelf. The words, the Igbo proverbs, the illustrations and artwork must be felt and absorbed physically!
If this book was published earlier in the year (Jan 2018), it would have helped change my mindset tremendously (at the time. A rough time!). The simplicity of Chidera’s words and the way they were displayed onto the pages made the overall message of this collection quite profound. I’m grateful for her.
If this book was published earlier in the year (Jan 2018), it would have helped change my mindset tremendously (at the time. A rough time!). The simplicity of Chidera’s words and the way they were displayed onto the pages made the overall message of this collection quite profound. I’m grateful for her.
emvalmay's review against another edition
4.0
A great starting place but not much more that you can get from instagram slides
rmla's review against another edition
2.0
Most of the book didn't resonate with me. Lots of buzz words/phrases - I felt like it could have delved deeper into some of the proposed advice. Beautiful book but lacking substance.
ilegnealle's review against another edition
2.0
I really, really wanted to love this book. The whole drama around Chidera Eggerue and Florence Given made me so mad that I was really rooting for What a Time to Be Alone, which maybe lead to me having really high expectations for this - and sadly, it fell relatively flat.
Don't get me wrong, I still fully support Chidera Eggerue and think it is abhorrent how FG dealt with the accusations against her/her management. (If you don't know what I'm talking about - CE and FG used to work with the same management, I think. CE released this book in 2018, FG released her arguably more famous "Women Don't Owe You Pretty" in 2020. Now, if you have read both books, it becomes very obvious that the content of both books is extremely similar, and even the layout with the drawings resembles each other a lot. Now this heavily looks like FG copied CE's work. FG's management has even bought ad space so that her book shows up when you search for CE's work online. It's sad, really - because FG has a whole chapter of her book dedicated to "checking your white privilege" and uplifting black women's voices - yet she shamelessly copied CE's book and even references CE's work directly in her book (hell, the title WDOYP even comes from something CE has said) yet CE has not received any money for the work she has done that FG has exploited.)
Now. I support Chidera Eggerue. But this book was not as life-changing as I expected. It might have been, had I not been involved in feminism and self-love for the past 5-6 years.
I'll say that I really enjoyed the Igbo proverbs, and the illustrations were stunning. I also liked the (short) passage on white privilege and white feminism, because I feel like as a white woman this is an area were I still have a lot to learn.
But content-wise it felt like this book was telling me what to be (unapologetically myself, putting myself first, not engaging in toxic relationships etc.) but not how to be that way. I really tried not to read this book in one sitting because I really wanted to take in the message, so I read every passage at least twice, but I still feel like I can't really remember most that was written in it.
I also felt like the book contradicted itself a lot? Like it's telling you that everyone around you is toxic, but you personally should not change and be unapologetically yourself - which doesn't really work out, doesn't it? I sadly couldn't find the direct quotes of what I'm referencing now, but there was one line about being yourself regardless of how that affects other people and that they will heal from it in their own time - and then there was another saying that certain people can definitely be the reason why relationships fail, but you are not. Like?? I don't know... It just felt relatively arrogant most of the time and like the reader is the world's main character and all the other people they encounter throughout their lives are just tools for the reader to grow or outlive their true selves. But that just doesn't work well if everyone is the main character, you know?
So overall, I would say that it works as a kind of entry into feminism (or actually, self-love probably fits better here), and I would definitely prefer you reading this book over FG's work. But if you're not new to self-love and feminism, this book probably won't give you anything new. And we should definitely question some of the double-standards that are implemented in this work.
Don't get me wrong, I still fully support Chidera Eggerue and think it is abhorrent how FG dealt with the accusations against her/her management. (If you don't know what I'm talking about - CE and FG used to work with the same management, I think. CE released this book in 2018, FG released her arguably more famous "Women Don't Owe You Pretty" in 2020. Now, if you have read both books, it becomes very obvious that the content of both books is extremely similar, and even the layout with the drawings resembles each other a lot. Now this heavily looks like FG copied CE's work. FG's management has even bought ad space so that her book shows up when you search for CE's work online. It's sad, really - because FG has a whole chapter of her book dedicated to "checking your white privilege" and uplifting black women's voices - yet she shamelessly copied CE's book and even references CE's work directly in her book (hell, the title WDOYP even comes from something CE has said) yet CE has not received any money for the work she has done that FG has exploited.)
Now. I support Chidera Eggerue. But this book was not as life-changing as I expected. It might have been, had I not been involved in feminism and self-love for the past 5-6 years.
I'll say that I really enjoyed the Igbo proverbs, and the illustrations were stunning. I also liked the (short) passage on white privilege and white feminism, because I feel like as a white woman this is an area were I still have a lot to learn.
But content-wise it felt like this book was telling me what to be (unapologetically myself, putting myself first, not engaging in toxic relationships etc.) but not how to be that way. I really tried not to read this book in one sitting because I really wanted to take in the message, so I read every passage at least twice, but I still feel like I can't really remember most that was written in it.
I also felt like the book contradicted itself a lot? Like it's telling you that everyone around you is toxic, but you personally should not change and be unapologetically yourself - which doesn't really work out, doesn't it? I sadly couldn't find the direct quotes of what I'm referencing now, but there was one line about being yourself regardless of how that affects other people and that they will heal from it in their own time - and then there was another saying that certain people can definitely be the reason why relationships fail, but you are not. Like?? I don't know... It just felt relatively arrogant most of the time and like the reader is the world's main character and all the other people they encounter throughout their lives are just tools for the reader to grow or outlive their true selves. But that just doesn't work well if everyone is the main character, you know?
So overall, I would say that it works as a kind of entry into feminism (or actually, self-love probably fits better here), and I would definitely prefer you reading this book over FG's work. But if you're not new to self-love and feminism, this book probably won't give you anything new. And we should definitely question some of the double-standards that are implemented in this work.