charlie_cheese 's review for:

Ghostroots by ‘Pemi Aguda

4.0

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I’ll be honest: I judged this book by its cover. Only because a friend of mine did the art, I swear! And I ended up being so glad I did, because what a beautiful collection of short stories I happened into.

As with all short story collections, some are better than others. Some were viscerally real, while others were steeped in magical realism. Each story had it’s own distinct tone, while keeping a depth of plot and character I haven’t seen in short stories in a long time.

I’ve seen a couple reviews that say the only through-line is Lagos - Make no mistake, Aguda’s writing brings Lagos to life differently and vividly in each story, but to me, the through-line was really about human connection: What does it mean to be a parent? a son? a daughter? a friend? How do these relationships shape us? It’s made me think a lot of my own family, for better or worse.

It was an easy read, if at points unsettling. I read a short story or two before bed each night and finished it in about a week. The stories were distinct, but still related enough that moving to the next one wasn’t too jarring. And isn’t the cover just gorgina?