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A review by amandar9fa2f
Speak Gigantular by Irenosen Okojie
4.0
Weird, startling short stories of inconsistent quality.
Okojie has a wild, untamed imagination, and a fresh, unique talent.
Reading [b:Speak Gigantular|29633660|Speak Gigantular|Irenosen Okojie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460506142s/29633660.jpg|49985009] is like sitting astride a rodeo bull: it’s fun while it lasts, swinging you around, leaping wildly and unexpectedly, but no matter how hard you hang on, sooner or later it will throw you off.
The collection reads mainly as an author finding her way, interspersed with moments of brilliance (which lift my score up to 4 star). Of note, are Walk with Sleep, Nadine, Pico Pico, Anonymous Jones and Following (all from the latter half of the book).
The writing, when successful, is humorous and erotic:
Okojie's take on London is so real: she digs into the grimy, traffic-clogged corners seldom illuminated in fiction, nor by film.
As a whole, however, the collection is uneven. Many of the stories don’t welcome the reader in: they are fascinating (as we wait to see where Okojie's imagination will take us next), rather than engrossing.
A third of the way in, I thought this was a case of the Emperor's New Clothes. [b:Speak Gigantular|29633660|Speak Gigantular|Irenosen Okojie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460506142s/29633660.jpg|49985009] has been shortlisted for the Edgehill Short Story Prize, the Jhalak Prize, the Saboteur Awards and nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award. Okojie's debut novel, [b:Butterfly Fish|25730083|Butterfly Fish|Irenosen Okojie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1434359358s/25730083.jpg|45567943], won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Edinburgh First Book Award. Okojie was recently made a fellow of The Royal Society Of Literature as part of their 40 Under 40 initiative. All this, but I wasn't feeling it.
At times too frequent to be overlooked, the collection contains editing errors, for instance ‘cue’ for ‘queue’ and the continued use of the pluperfect (a.k.a. past perfect) ‘had’ throughout a paragraph:
The publisher has let the author down by not picking up these mistakes.
A mixed bag, but if you're interested in weird fiction, definitely worth a look.
Okojie has a wild, untamed imagination, and a fresh, unique talent.
Reading [b:Speak Gigantular|29633660|Speak Gigantular|Irenosen Okojie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460506142s/29633660.jpg|49985009] is like sitting astride a rodeo bull: it’s fun while it lasts, swinging you around, leaping wildly and unexpectedly, but no matter how hard you hang on, sooner or later it will throw you off.
The collection reads mainly as an author finding her way, interspersed with moments of brilliance (which lift my score up to 4 star). Of note, are Walk with Sleep, Nadine, Pico Pico, Anonymous Jones and Following (all from the latter half of the book).
Nadine’s laugh is soft and warm. She flings her arms around me. Between the dormant static in my brain and the squeeze of her fingers, we’re Einstein’s secret equation.
The writing, when successful, is humorous and erotic:
She’s wearing an orange and purple patterned blouse that looks like a female orgasm.
He chuckles. It is rum sloshing over the rim of a glass.
I slot the metal seatbelt tongue into the red throat of the buckle, making a French kiss.
Okojie's take on London is so real: she digs into the grimy, traffic-clogged corners seldom illuminated in fiction, nor by film.
Except for a couple of interlinking roads breaking them up like referees, all the houses on my street are attached. The English are too efficient with space, to the point where, just to get some freedom, your home may one day end up on a football field, in the park opposite the swings or on the cold shoulder of a motorway.
As a whole, however, the collection is uneven. Many of the stories don’t welcome the reader in: they are fascinating (as we wait to see where Okojie's imagination will take us next), rather than engrossing.
A third of the way in, I thought this was a case of the Emperor's New Clothes. [b:Speak Gigantular|29633660|Speak Gigantular|Irenosen Okojie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460506142s/29633660.jpg|49985009] has been shortlisted for the Edgehill Short Story Prize, the Jhalak Prize, the Saboteur Awards and nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award. Okojie's debut novel, [b:Butterfly Fish|25730083|Butterfly Fish|Irenosen Okojie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1434359358s/25730083.jpg|45567943], won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Edinburgh First Book Award. Okojie was recently made a fellow of The Royal Society Of Literature as part of their 40 Under 40 initiative. All this, but I wasn't feeling it.
At times too frequent to be overlooked, the collection contains editing errors, for instance ‘cue’ for ‘queue’ and the continued use of the pluperfect (a.k.a. past perfect) ‘had’ throughout a paragraph:
Eleven years prior to Henri’s birth, a stranger had turned up at Ann’s door. When Ann had heard the knock at the door she first thought it was one of her neighbours and she had found herself silently wishing it was the one she liked, as opposed to the obnoxious hellion who lived directly across from her. Upon opening the door, Ann saw no-one she recognised. Standing before her as if she had intentionally arrived at the address...
The publisher has let the author down by not picking up these mistakes.
A mixed bag, but if you're interested in weird fiction, definitely worth a look.