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jamieforman's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
mmmmmm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
i genuinely just don’t know wtf i read
perusing_panels's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I definitely appreciate the craftsmanship in this collection, some incredibly lyrical writing, and some very interesting themes explored. However, I did find some stories got so surreal and abstract at times, they were quite challenging to follow and make sense of. I think this would definitely be a very interesting collection to reread and analyse in greater detail.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Cannibalism, and Murder
Minor: Ableism and Chronic illness
silverliningsandpages's review against another edition
4.0
I’m still getting into the way of reading short stories, so I find them tricky to review, but this is one of the most striking collections I’ve read so far. It’s edgy, experimental, bold and otherworldly. My favourite story is Point and Trill, which I’d describe as a thriller that examines humanity’s most primeval instincts. When it came to the end I wanted to read more, the sign of a great story! A few of the stories went slightly over my head, but I just went with the flow and enjoyed the imaginative writing by this talented author.
.
Thank you @dialoguebooks for this #gifted review copy. @dialoguebooks are one of my favourite publishers as they focus on stories for, about and by LGBTQI+, disability, working class and BAME communities.
3.75/5
aishathebibliophile's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Nudibranch is a wildly inventive collection of 15 short stories. Difficult to categorise because it almost minimalises it but the closest category may be weird speculative fiction.
It is unlike any collection I’ve ever read before, the stories are daring and artful which can be challenging, so I can see why it wouldn’t be for everyone, but I loved it.
Irenosen writes with flair and an imprecise precision which makes it easy to get lost but also there's never a sense of directionlessness. It's gripping and never feels dull, and some stories are easier to extrapolate meaning from than others, but I enjoyed how many of these flung me off-kilter. I love the idea of transformation throughout the collection, how everything feels alive, how visceral, and how unpredictable the setting for each story is - temporally and geographically. It's perfect for a range of moods, from the gothic to sensual to melancholic.
It is unlike any collection I’ve ever read before, the stories are daring and artful which can be challenging, so I can see why it wouldn’t be for everyone, but I loved it.
Irenosen writes with flair and an imprecise precision which makes it easy to get lost but also there's never a sense of directionlessness. It's gripping and never feels dull, and some stories are easier to extrapolate meaning from than others, but I enjoyed how many of these flung me off-kilter. I love the idea of transformation throughout the collection, how everything feels alive, how visceral, and how unpredictable the setting for each story is - temporally and geographically. It's perfect for a range of moods, from the gothic to sensual to melancholic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Suicide, Violence, and Blood
westwords's review against another edition
2.0
Nudibranch/ˈnjuːdɪbraŋk/noun – a shell-less marine mollusc of the order Nudibranchia ; a sea slug. What this definition doesn’t tell you is that nudibranch are also known for their “often extraordinary colours and striking forms“. Nigerian author, Irenosen Okojie’s latest collection aptly titled Nudibranch are just as organic and colourful.
Consisting of fifteen stories, Nudibranch challenges its reader. The common thread which runs through these stories is the occurrence of some form of metamorphosis. Apart from this potential similarity, their topics and style vary widely. Here you’ll find time-travelling monks next to a sea goddess who feasts on eunuchs next to a Grace Jones impersonator.
Okojie pushes the borders of reality, crosses into surrealism and creates her own hyperrealism where it’s difficult and sometimes entirely impossible to keep track with what exactly is going on. For someone who prefers a clear, solid story this will be frustrating. For those who don’t mind not knowing exactly what’s going on and who purely enjoys words and language for its clever and beautiful usage, this collection will be a joy to read. Fans will be happy to hear that Okojie’s next book, Curandera, will also be published by Little Brown.
Full review: https://wanderingwestswords.wordpress.com/2020/01/17/nudibranch-irenosen-okojie/
Consisting of fifteen stories, Nudibranch challenges its reader. The common thread which runs through these stories is the occurrence of some form of metamorphosis. Apart from this potential similarity, their topics and style vary widely. Here you’ll find time-travelling monks next to a sea goddess who feasts on eunuchs next to a Grace Jones impersonator.
Okojie pushes the borders of reality, crosses into surrealism and creates her own hyperrealism where it’s difficult and sometimes entirely impossible to keep track with what exactly is going on. For someone who prefers a clear, solid story this will be frustrating. For those who don’t mind not knowing exactly what’s going on and who purely enjoys words and language for its clever and beautiful usage, this collection will be a joy to read. Fans will be happy to hear that Okojie’s next book, Curandera, will also be published by Little Brown.
Full review: https://wanderingwestswords.wordpress.com/2020/01/17/nudibranch-irenosen-okojie/
amandar9fa2f's review against another edition
4.0
Transformations, turning points and trajectories.
This short story collection is populated by Grace Jones impersonators, sea goddesses and time-hopping vagrants. Characters reinvent themselves (Grace Jones and Komza Bright Morning), they grapple with situations not of their making (the loss or absence of a child is a recurring theme), and they find themselves at turning points, recognising, too late, the trajectories they might have taken (Kookaburra Sweet and Cornutopia).
The collection opens with the incantatory Logarithm serving to place the reader in the world of Nudibranch. Here, the ordinary meets the fantastic, the familiar is defamiliarized and natural phenomena are celebrated.
Okojie’s writing is multifaceted: earthy, baroque, brutal and rhapsodic. She paints striking images which pries open the reader’s mind. The language is a marvellous symphony of sound and ideas. Her prose rewards careful reading.
Striking and extraordinary.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK, for the ARC.
This short story collection is populated by Grace Jones impersonators, sea goddesses and time-hopping vagrants. Characters reinvent themselves (Grace Jones and Komza Bright Morning), they grapple with situations not of their making (the loss or absence of a child is a recurring theme), and they find themselves at turning points, recognising, too late, the trajectories they might have taken (Kookaburra Sweet and Cornutopia).
The collection opens with the incantatory Logarithm serving to place the reader in the world of Nudibranch. Here, the ordinary meets the fantastic, the familiar is defamiliarized and natural phenomena are celebrated.
Okojie’s writing is multifaceted: earthy, baroque, brutal and rhapsodic. She paints striking images which pries open the reader’s mind. The language is a marvellous symphony of sound and ideas. Her prose rewards careful reading.
Striking and extraordinary.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK, for the ARC.
stephbookshine's review against another edition
3.0
*I received a free ARC of this novel, with thanks to the author, Little, Brown and NetGalley. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
Nudibranch is a collection of short stories featuring magic realism and focused around the theme of metamorphosis, transformation, the change from one state to another.
Here is the weird and the wonderful, where a woman can turn into liquorice, monks commit time-travelling murder, eunuchs mate with a sea goddess and monsters go paintballing.
The style of the stories is more like blank verse poetry than prose, and the content reads like someone recording their dreams (and nightmares) in a single stream-of-consciousness flood; capturing not only the surreal contents of their dreamscape, but the exact tone and atmosphere of that illogical, yet immersive, realm.
As such, this is not easy reading by any means, but it is oddly compelling in its strong portrayal of the intense insanity of the human spirit unbound. Irenosen Okojie paints a maelstrom of emotions and experiences, unable to be contained by mere miraculous meat suits; reaching for something beyond mere human boundaries and rules. The other is explored and admired in these tales of magical horror and horrific magic, glorying in all that is strange in thought and feeling.
If you are looking for something quick and sensical, then these are not the stories for you. If you want to swim in exceedingly weird tides of word-waves and surf beyond the boundaries of reason and reality, then these strange tales may be just what you need.
The eunuchs have clouds in their mouths; their motions are erratic, as though they’ll fall into the fire one by one backwards. They soften each other’s injuries with white puffs of breath. They are burning the clothes they arrived in. The sound of fire races to meet bright molluscs in a space that expands and shrinks as things unfold. The carrier pigeons squawk, producing a din that sounds like black rain falling at an angle on the heads of stillborns, like a crow beak tapping against the entrance of Kiru’s cold womb, like the screeching from going blind temporarily travelling through a tortoise shell in the sky, then falling into the water with shell markings that cause flurries, breaches and an undulating silence. They mimic the sound of a lung sinking, chasing an echo thinking it can catch it.
– Irenosen Okojie, ‘Nudibranch’ in Nudibranch
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/2019/12/30/nudibranch-irenosen-okojie/
Nudibranch is a collection of short stories featuring magic realism and focused around the theme of metamorphosis, transformation, the change from one state to another.
Here is the weird and the wonderful, where a woman can turn into liquorice, monks commit time-travelling murder, eunuchs mate with a sea goddess and monsters go paintballing.
The style of the stories is more like blank verse poetry than prose, and the content reads like someone recording their dreams (and nightmares) in a single stream-of-consciousness flood; capturing not only the surreal contents of their dreamscape, but the exact tone and atmosphere of that illogical, yet immersive, realm.
As such, this is not easy reading by any means, but it is oddly compelling in its strong portrayal of the intense insanity of the human spirit unbound. Irenosen Okojie paints a maelstrom of emotions and experiences, unable to be contained by mere miraculous meat suits; reaching for something beyond mere human boundaries and rules. The other is explored and admired in these tales of magical horror and horrific magic, glorying in all that is strange in thought and feeling.
If you are looking for something quick and sensical, then these are not the stories for you. If you want to swim in exceedingly weird tides of word-waves and surf beyond the boundaries of reason and reality, then these strange tales may be just what you need.
The eunuchs have clouds in their mouths; their motions are erratic, as though they’ll fall into the fire one by one backwards. They soften each other’s injuries with white puffs of breath. They are burning the clothes they arrived in. The sound of fire races to meet bright molluscs in a space that expands and shrinks as things unfold. The carrier pigeons squawk, producing a din that sounds like black rain falling at an angle on the heads of stillborns, like a crow beak tapping against the entrance of Kiru’s cold womb, like the screeching from going blind temporarily travelling through a tortoise shell in the sky, then falling into the water with shell markings that cause flurries, breaches and an undulating silence. They mimic the sound of a lung sinking, chasing an echo thinking it can catch it.
– Irenosen Okojie, ‘Nudibranch’ in Nudibranch
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/2019/12/30/nudibranch-irenosen-okojie/