Book Review | Egg-Larva-Pupa-Woman - Ogo Akubue-Ogbata

So I've been wanting to do Book reviews here since forever but I've let a lot of things stop me, mainly fear but since this is a lifestyle blog and a big part of my life is reading, I'm throwing caution to the wind and doing it anyways. Thank you Ritzy for the encouragement ;)
First up; Ogo Akubue-Ogbata's debut novel, Egg-Larva-Pupa-Woman.

I decided to buy this book on Amazon after reading an excerpt on Bellanaija. I started reading this book on a road trip from Davis to Los Angeles. The drive was about 7 hours long with me alternating between sleeping and reading. I finished the book before the ride was over.

My friend who was driving would ask me every once in a while if I was OK as she saw me crying over the novel. It was that good.

The novel is follows Nkiru, the heroine's struggles and later triumphs through her life. It is particularly interesting as it seamlessly blends the political climate of the time with the story of a young woman quest for survival and finding herself. It is set in Nigeria, and later takes us to Sierra Leone, Uganda and Britain, I love historical references and stories of the 60's in Nigeria so this was particularly interesting for me. The colonial era and early post-colonial eras have been romanticised so much in my head. 

Nkiru is a privileged young girl who loses her parents young and is sent off to live with relatives after. She and her sister are separated and what happens thereafter is a series of life changing experiences, she manages to survive not completely unscathed but a better and stronger woman.

There are so many themes in this Novel but the strongest for me were Forgiveness, Love and Triumph. I really enjoyed this because in a lot of African literature the suffering usually overshadows a lot. The novel taught me a lot about Forgiveness and freedom through love and the journey towards finding oneself. There was a good dose of romance in here too that made me smile.

Maybe it was where I was at that point in my life- in 3days I was about to travel to Italy on my own for 6weeks, a journey towards learning myself as well- but this novel really moved me. I enjoyed it immensely so much so that I gifted it to the next person I came into contact with in Italy.

It wasn't only a Great read, it is a book I will buy again and keep on my shelf for years to come.

So how was my first review?

Have you read the book? how was it for you?

If not are you interested?


Love, 
Sabirah.