mixedreader 's review for:

A Kind of Madness by Uche Okonkwo

5.0

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book pulled me out of my reading slump! A Kind Of Madness by Uche Okonkwo is a story collection set in Nigeria, focusing on “madness” in the complex ways it appears across characters and their experiences. Some stories are more direct, like the first story where rumors of family history break down a young girl daughter’s social prospects. In other stories, it is in the layered and sometimes secret motivations of the characters—-rooted in shame, trauma, jealousy, and difference. And embedded in each story is a sense of pride, or negotiation of how to maintain pride (personal, familial).

Okonkwo gives us fully developed people and relationships in just a handful of pages; I haven’t read stories that felt so complete in a long time.