Reviews

Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions: A Novel in Interlocking Stories by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi

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violinbeth's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-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

4.5

thejadedhippy's review

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5.0

Great series of loosely connected short stories. I don’t usually like short stories but the way these go together did a lot for me. Wonderful narrator witch made it a pleasure to listen to.

stuckinafictionaluniverse's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

seeceeread's review against another edition

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I've never met a policeman I liked on any continent.

We open with a wealthy woman who takes a wife in 1920s Nigeria because she desperately wants children. Her wife's lover does, too (and a cishet marriage) which complicates everything. To simplify things, she absconds with their son, leaving the lovebirds to freely couple and start a new chapter. We end with a reunion of three incredibly successful women in 2050, bonding over small things, then torn apart when one accepts a place in a US hospital's debtors' work prison to pay off her son's exorbitant healthcare. Between, there's a student riot at a boarding school where the wrong girl is taken by the police, a young Black man's reflections from the hood of a cop car, a trippy exchange between travelers in Poland, a wealthy woman's tense interaction with a youth gang, and a lot of ocean crossing between the northeast United States and Lagos.

Ogunyemi creatively steps into a mostly cosmopolitan bunch, dancing with their flaws, frustrations, and feats. She juxtaposes the central boarding school friends with the voices of their domestic staff and sons. I appreciate the overall continuity among Nonso, Remi, and Aisha's trajectories, but this felt more like short stories than novel; I found the "interlocking" aspects didn't necessarily add to my reading experience.

The last story is a gut punch and could stand alone beautifully.

readingafrica's review against another edition

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3.0

liked this collection of short stories. it addressed a sore point i typically have with anthologies-just when you're getting into a story, it ends, leaving many questions unanswered. since the stories are interlocking, readers get little updates on characters from earlier stories in the later ones (all the characters have some sort of relationship with each other and in the paperback version there's a chart that depicts all the connections-there's a picture of the chart on the writer's instagram page). it felt like a catch-up sessions for beloved characters sprinkled throughout the collection.

my favourite stories were "Goody Goody" and "Area Boy Rescue"