Review by Booklist Review
Nwọka's debut feels like a dream, or a fable, or something in between. The main character, Ijeoma, is unable to speak. Though her voice is gone, Ijeoma communicates through sign language, as well as her ability to levitate in communion with her village's god. While the rest of the village loves her and her magic, her father Ofodile believes she is cursed. In a desperate effort to save her and save face, Ofodile allows a Christian minister to take her away, with promises to heal her. His methods include caging the poor girl and driving out nonexistent demons. How can Ijeoma free herself from captivity? Will she ever be able to fly free again? The vestiges of colonialism run deep throughout this novel, as well as themes of forgiveness and compassionate love. Nwọka uses epistolary passages as well as lyrical prose to tell a personal yet magical story. Recommended for fans of Nnedi Okorafor's Remote Control or Nghi Vo's The Empress of Salt and Fortune.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Nwoka's dense, mythologically charged debut takes place in an Igbo village in an unspecified area of Africa, at an unspecified time. There, magic is a part of daily life, the inhabitants attribute their fortunes to the Igbo gods, and young, mute Ijeoma discovers she can fly. Her dissolute father, Ofodile, decides this power is dangerous, and, without the knowledge of Ijeoma's mother or the rest of the community, exiles her to Precious Word Ministries, where she is abused, caged, and regarded as a witch. After years of maltreatment, during which she writes hundreds of diary entries entreating the village god Chukwu to save her, she and her rebellious friend Ikemba make plans to escape, and their scheming brings about magical and transformative consequences. Nwoka immerses the reader in an often-bewildering world, and though readers unfamiliar with the culture will have a tough time making sense of the parameters, those who stick with it will be rewarded with a rich sense of place. This stirring coming-of-age story holds its own in a recent wave of feminist fiction set in Africa. (Nov.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A girl with the ability to fly disrupts the pieties of those around her. When we first meet Ijeoma, the mute hero of Nwoka's fablelike first novel, she's an adventurous 9-year-old in a tight-knit rural community. When she demonstrates an ability to levitate, everybody is awestruck, and, in short order, terrified. Her father, Ofodile, worries that she's possessed and has upset the order among rival gods. That concern intensifies when Ijeoma conducts other heterodox acts: surreptitiously feeding an infant that's been left alone in a forest, thus intervening in a ritual attempt to cleanse it of evil spirits; or consorting with an "osu," or spiritual outcast. Soon the crisis expands beyond the community, as Ijeoma is claimed by hard-line Christian pastor Innocent, who sees her as one of a handful of blasphemers in need of imprisonment and correction. In terms of theme and conflict, as well as references to Nigerian folklore, the novel owes a debt to Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, revising that novel's message for the recent past. (Interstitial diary entries by Ijeoma are written circa 2000.) And though the novel feels overlong considering its narrow scope, it has a pair of distinctive qualities that makes Nwoka worth continued attention. First is their command of different rhetorical modes. Within Ijeoma's family and community, the prose is rhythmic and stylish; within Innocent's world, it's stentorian and shaped by cold logic. Second is an earned note of optimism that highlights Ijeoma's indomitability in the face of tragedy. Oppression and fear are constants both within Ijeoma's family and outside her enclave, but Nwoka also suggests the possibility of escape. A well-turned dramatization of spiritual and social culture clashes. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
