A review by abbie_
Butter Honey Pig Bread by francesca ekwuyasi

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

 This is it. My favourite book of 2021. I can’t see anything replacing this in the top spot over the next since months, it would have to be phenomenal. After finishing this book I just sat for a while holding it, feeling devastated that it was over. It’s only just over 300 pages but it has the richness and complexity of a 600-page novel. Ekwuyasi has created something incredible with this book, no word is wasted and yet it feels indulgent, sumptuous. It’s succinct yet nothing is rushed, feelings and relationships are explored to their fullest extent, making the characters feel vibrant and alive.

It’s one of those books that makes you feel everything right alongside the characters. I’ve always loved books with multiple perspectives and Ekwuyasi explores three unique perspectives in Butter Honey Pig Bread. We have Kambirinachi, the mother of the twins, who believes herself to be an ọgbanje who is constantly living with the consequences of choosing to stay alive. Then we have the twins, Taiye and Kehinde, once inseparable but whose lives are cleaved after a traumatic incident in their childhood. I think maybe I loved Taiye, a queer chef, and her chapters slightly more, but I never felt like I was rushing through the other chapters to get to Taiye. I savoured all three women’s stories.

Butter Honey Pig Bread spans continents as well as perspectives, with our characters living in Nigeria, France, England and Canada. And of course, the star of the novel, the food. Ekwuyasi writes food like no one else I’ve read. My mouth was watering for most of the book, it even inspired me to bake my own salted caramel chocolate cake! Food is a love language for Taiye and it’s immediately obvious that the same is true for the author, the descriptions are just imbued with so much love and care.

Characters are always the most important thing for me in a novel. Every single one of Ekwuyasi’s characters is crafted with care, even the minor ones. Secondary characters like Salomé, Timi, Isabella, Wolfie, Farouq… they all hold their own against the incredibly strong main three women. I’d read novels about all of them if Ekwuyasi was writing them. There’s just so much explored within these pages, from repressed trauma to queerness to finding your people. All written in such a way that you feel it in an ache in your chest long after you set the book down.

Quite often when I love a book, I’ll want to pass it on to friends so they can enjoy it too. Not this one. You can pry this book from my cold dead hands. And a huge thank you to Aisha at @aishathebibliophile for gifting me this one thinking I’d love it. A very accurate prediction! 

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