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Stories told from multiple perspectives have always been favorites. They expand and deepen the reading experience, adding layers to the narrative. With simple yet richly descriptive prose, Ekwuyasi weaves an interesting and evocative story of two generations—mother and daughters— and their entwined, strained, but beautiful relationship.
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There are also times when the prose becomes something more, evoking a wealth of emotion with the depth of relation of person and experience. The eventual explosion that accompanies the brewing confrontation is painful yet necessary. Wounds of hurt and betrayal can never be healed unless the door is opened and the injured parties reveal their pain. When the sisters did that...my heart.
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Through memories and letters, each of their stories is revealed to us and we get to know them on a deeper level, a young girl existing within and without the physical world, twin sisters separated by trauma and each trying to find their way while apart and back to each other.
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Ekwuyasi does a wonderful job of portraying the shattering of a precious bond, the rippling and cascading effects, forming sexual connections promiscuously and using drugs as a means of masking emotional damage, purging because of being fat-shamed and compared to a body type that is desirable, disappearing into oneself and interacting with the world with a guarded reluctance.
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It was so difficult to not become immersed in this story: not only do we experience the tension as these sisters once again are in each other's orbit, but through their memories, we face their trauma, understand their hurt and the resulting rift, getting backstories that further fleshes out the narrative as well as being privy to what every family has: drama.
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The infusion of food into this story was impeccable as there is such power and meaning in food and what it can do for relationships and individuals.