A review by tillyj92
Lucky Girl by Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu

challenging emotional hopeful slow-paced

4.0

A nuanced coming of age story of a wealthy young Kenyan woman moving to America for university and discovering all of the privilege and challenges she had been unconsciously carrying. The concise and quietly impactful writing style drew me in from the start; Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu’s debut novel is thought-provoking and heartbreaking.

The story begins in the 1990s, and we follow teenage Soila, whose mother is an enterprising Nairobi millionaire and a formidable young matriarch. Soila grows up surrounded by aunts and her grandmother, attending private school and  being sheltered by her overbearing mother. When she gets older and begins to chafe under her mother’s many rules, Soila discovers a passion for photography and decides to go to university in America. Before leaving, she experiences a traumatic assault from a trusted family friend, and though she struggles with her self-worth, she knows she must leave her home to find herself. 

In New York, Soila excels in school but is pressured by her mother into a soulless finance job. She makes friends, but soon realizes she has no reference point for the experience of being Black in America. She falls in love, but knows her mother will never accept her romantic choices. When disaster strikes, again and again Soila must choose how she wants to live her own life.

While this novel presented many thoughtful and unique perspectives, I found that sometimes the dialogue felt impersonal in its debates of polarizing issues like abortion, religion, and cultural differences. Our main character Soila went through an almost unimaginable amount of trauma and sadness, and though there were moments of happiness, I felt that each happy moment was just the calm before the storm.

Overall, this is a strong debut novel from an author with an assured voice, and I found myself confronting many of my own ideas about privilege while reading. “Lucky Girl” is undoubtedly a powerful read, and I’m sure I will be thinking about it for a long time.

Thanks to Random House - Dial Press and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!