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A review by rwxtd
The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor
3.75
"Hey Rebecca, you haven't read or reviewed anything in like two months, what's going on" listen. I cannot explain it to you. I spent four years studying neuroscience and I still know next to nothing about how brains work, especially my own, so we're just all gonna have to be ok with the fact that this is just how things go.
Anyway, shoutout to this book for uh being required reading and forcing me out of my reading slump against my will, I guess. I liked it well enough. There's enough going on that it kept me decently invested, I wasn't ever really bored and I never had a bad time at any point during the reading process. The beginning was a little harder to get through, but that was probably more a fault of the reading slump than the book itself, because it starts off pretty fast and action packed basically immediately. It definitely got easier and faster in the second half, at least for me- again, whether this was a result of the reading slump or my actual investment in the story is hard to say, but I think probably it was a mix of both. I did care more about what was happening in the second half. I will also say, if loose ends bother you in stories, this is probably not the book for you. There were quite a few unanswered questions. I thought it did a good enough job of justifying why it didn't need to explain things or why it left them a mystery that it didn't bother me- but there were also points where it was definitely obvious that the author was basically saying "this thing doesn't need an answer, don't worry about it". So if that's irritating to you, you probably won't like this book.
One thing I didn't love: I felt the writing style was a little clunky at times. It was pretty obvious about the points it was making, and not necessarily in a way that felt intentional. It was very tell-not-show, I think, or at the very least it was both show AND tell, and I don't think both were required.
That being said, I did find Phoenix to be a really interesting character. Even if I don't necessarily agree with her, everything she says and does makes sense- all her actions are justified based on how she and the people around her are treated. I also liked the framing device the story used- sort of a story within a story, and the way it ended I thought was also really interesting. I'm not going to spoil it, but I did think it brought up some really interesting ideas about translation, time, truth, and all that.
All in all- pretty good, didn't love the writing style but I did find it interesting and I liked it well enough. Might recommend it in certain circumstances, but not to everyone. I feel like this probably won't end up being particularly memorable for me.
Also- and I wouldn't count this as a criticism of the book, it's mostly just personal preference and something I wanted to comment on because I find it interesting- there were a weird number of romantic/sexual relationships for a book that is super not about either of those things? Like some of it makes sense to a certain extent- Phoenix is frequently reacting to the fact that Big Eye is taking away people she loves, so giving her love interests makes sense. There are other relationships she has that elicit similar reactions, and the romance aspect isn't strictly *necessary*, but it does make sense. That being said- the romance stuff definitely falls in the "tell not show" category. Both relationships develop off screen, and we only see the characters interacting after we have already been informed that they are in love. Additionally, two of the characters besides Phoenix are mentioned or implied to have had sex off screen at various points, and I'm not entirely sure what the purpose is in either case. Why did you mention this to me? Why does it matter? What does it add to the plot or characters? I genuinely can't think of a reason why. And none of these relationships are the point of the book- they provide motivation for Phoenix, but the actual romance element of things is so minimal and so not the point. Literally the only reason I mention this is because it happens all. the. time. It's such a bizarre blind spot for most people- romantic and sexual relationships always get put in the weirdest places, for no reason, and no one bats an eye because everyone's so used to it. Again, not even really a criticism, I just think it's strange.
Anyway, shoutout to this book for uh being required reading and forcing me out of my reading slump against my will, I guess. I liked it well enough. There's enough going on that it kept me decently invested, I wasn't ever really bored and I never had a bad time at any point during the reading process. The beginning was a little harder to get through, but that was probably more a fault of the reading slump than the book itself, because it starts off pretty fast and action packed basically immediately. It definitely got easier and faster in the second half, at least for me- again, whether this was a result of the reading slump or my actual investment in the story is hard to say, but I think probably it was a mix of both. I did care more about what was happening in the second half. I will also say, if loose ends bother you in stories, this is probably not the book for you. There were quite a few unanswered questions. I thought it did a good enough job of justifying why it didn't need to explain things or why it left them a mystery that it didn't bother me- but there were also points where it was definitely obvious that the author was basically saying "this thing doesn't need an answer, don't worry about it". So if that's irritating to you, you probably won't like this book.
One thing I didn't love: I felt the writing style was a little clunky at times. It was pretty obvious about the points it was making, and not necessarily in a way that felt intentional. It was very tell-not-show, I think, or at the very least it was both show AND tell, and I don't think both were required.
That being said, I did find Phoenix to be a really interesting character. Even if I don't necessarily agree with her, everything she says and does makes sense- all her actions are justified based on how she and the people around her are treated. I also liked the framing device the story used- sort of a story within a story, and the way it ended I thought was also really interesting. I'm not going to spoil it, but I did think it brought up some really interesting ideas about translation, time, truth, and all that.
All in all- pretty good, didn't love the writing style but I did find it interesting and I liked it well enough. Might recommend it in certain circumstances, but not to everyone. I feel like this probably won't end up being particularly memorable for me.
Also- and I wouldn't count this as a criticism of the book, it's mostly just personal preference and something I wanted to comment on because I find it interesting- there were a weird number of romantic/sexual relationships for a book that is super not about either of those things? Like some of it makes sense to a certain extent- Phoenix is frequently reacting to the fact that Big Eye is taking away people she loves, so giving her love interests makes sense. There are other relationships she has that elicit similar reactions, and the romance aspect isn't strictly *necessary*, but it does make sense. That being said- the romance stuff definitely falls in the "tell not show" category. Both relationships develop off screen, and we only see the characters interacting after we have already been informed that they are in love. Additionally, two of the characters besides Phoenix are mentioned or implied to have had sex off screen at various points, and I'm not entirely sure what the purpose is in either case. Why did you mention this to me? Why does it matter? What does it add to the plot or characters? I genuinely can't think of a reason why. And none of these relationships are the point of the book- they provide motivation for Phoenix, but the actual romance element of things is so minimal and so not the point. Literally the only reason I mention this is because it happens all. the. time. It's such a bizarre blind spot for most people- romantic and sexual relationships always get put in the weirdest places, for no reason, and no one bats an eye because everyone's so used to it. Again, not even really a criticism, I just think it's strange.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, and Death
Moderate: Torture, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Body horror
Minor: Death of parent, Genocide, and Cancer
It's not particularly graphic-it doesn't go into much detail- but it does mention/briefly describe a lot of really awful things happening to people so lots of content warnings here