kev_nickells 's review for:

Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu
4.0

This was a lively wee... Memoir-ish thingy. Owusu is one of those pretty international folk - grew up in multiple cities at the intersection of a few identities. So she spent time in Addis Ababa, London, New York, Accra, Rome (etc). The biracial kid of a black Ghanain and a white Armenian, with a pretty dizzying range of influences, languages around.

So on the one hand she's reflecting on a state of privilege - UN worker's daughter who gets to live in the nice parts of town. On the other there's a lot of reflection on mixed identity - too light skinned for Ghana, doesn't speak Twi with her family, a bit posh for black London, a bit black for Rome. I say memoir ish because it's as much an ode to her dad as it is her own life story. And also it doesn't move in chronological order, which makes sense.

I love me a good autobiography type thing and this was a lush read. It's a nice amd clear thing and one of the more careful and empathetic recognitions of the various intersections of relstive financial or cultural privilege against gender, race, colourism etc. Recommend.