I enjoyed Nnedi Okorafor’s imaginative, multifaceted story despite the terrible science. The strongest elements are the slice-of-life immersion in a Nigerian immigrant family in Chicago. I enjoyed the unapologetic, self-absorbed autobiographical detail, family tensions, and passionate, emotional candor. Okorafor portrays the corruption, misogyny, terror, and violent crime in Nigeria without sugar coating the reality and human consequences; I found the cultural specificity and family drama far more compelling than the terrible science in its science fiction.
The story follows a disabled Nigerian American woman whose sudden success as an author transforms her life, with unexpected fame, money, and complications. The story also tries to break the literary wall, where the story she writes interacts with reality, but those parts are quite terrible.
For me, the plot and science remain secondary to the emotional and autobiographical core. I was most engaged by the family relationships, competing loyalties, and passionate reactions of characters navigating cultures and circumstances that resist easy resolution.
3/5 Stars
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