Harare Review of Books

228 pages.

First published on Oct 22, 2017.

Fiction.

A pleasure to read this 2017 self-published novel about Obi Ifeanyi and his travails in love and family life. Obi is a second-generation Nigerian-American, married to Chi Chi, with a young son. He struggles to keep his marriage on track in the face of difficulties in his marriage (his wife doesn’t seem to want more children, and he does; she’s also at school, and there are economic struggles), and then there’s all the temptation from old girlfriends.

This is a good read, and Achebe provides a satisfying twist to add to the intrigue. While Obi makes questionable decisions and gives questionable advice (he’s altogether sketchy and pretty sexist, in my opinion), he’s a personable central character. There’s a lot of commentary in the novel about US politics and economy circa 2012; the characters do seem to spend a lot of time marking that time in history (Obama), which is plausible, but can get a bit dreary for non-US readers. I tended to skip over those bits. However, the arc of the story was pleasant enough to keep me reading.

Thank you to the author for providing me with a digital copy for review.