"Fine Boys" by Eghosa Imasuen is my most recent read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's set in Warri and Benin, (places I've never visited) and it gave many glimpses into what life in those cities was like. I also love the political backdrop of the novel.
This isn't a review so I'm not going to get into the novel too much. I highly recommend it - there that's my review! There were a couple of interesting relationships in the book that made me think, here are some excerpts-
"This was pleasant. It was not painful, not like with Tseye; there was nothing tugging at my chest. Nothing that made me feel like I was being gutted by the devil when I did not see Amide. She exuded confidence, and it was contagious. She was comfortable with her feelings for me. She had already had already said she was not sure it was love. But she was happy with whatever we called it, and so was I."
Above is the main character talking about his relationship with his girlfriend
.
"Mom reached to him and patted his hand. He looked at her. At that moment, I understood. They loved each other. Their love was like the cigarettes I smoked. They were bad for you; they caused you pain. But you could not live without them."
The main character talking about his parent's abusive relationship
These excerpts jumped out me because they both imply that sometimes love is painful. I don't know how I feel about that but I don't think love should hurt (I get that it can hurt sometimes, but it shouldn't be regular no?).
The other thing I noticed was in the first excerpt, would you call that love? I think it's OK for a relationship to be easy, it doesn't have to be the "fire burning passionate" type love right?
Don't want to say too much...
So over to you, what do you feel about the above excerpts? Agree? Disagree? Why?
Love always,
Sabirah
