Things they lost- Review

 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize for 2023.

The full longlist for 2023 is:

-               Limberlost by Robbie Arnott (Atlantic Books) – novel (Australia)

-               Seven Steeples by Sara Baume (Tramp Press) – novel (Ireland)

-               God's Children Are Little Broken Things by Arinze Ifeakandu (Orion, Weidenfeld & Nicolson) – short story collection (Nigeria)

-               Maps Of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer (Picador, Pan Macmillan) – novel (UK)

-               Phantom Gang by Ciarán O'Rourke (The Irish Pages Press) – poetry collection (Ireland)

-               Things They Lost by Okwiri Oduor (Oneworld) – novel (Kenya)

-               Losing the Plot by Derek Owusu (Canongate Books) – novel (UK)

-               I'm a Fan by Sheena Patel (Rough Trade Books) – novel (UK)

-               Send Nudes by Saba Sams (Bloomsbury Publishing) – short story collection (UK)

-               Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire (Chatto & Windus) – poetry collection (Somalia-UK)

-               Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens (Picador, Pan Macmillan) – novel (UK)

-               No Land to Light On by Yara Zgheib (Atlantic Books, Allen & Unwin) – novel (Lebanon)

I am grateful to have been sent Things They Lost by Okwiri Oduor

Author: Okwiri Odur

Publisher: One World

Publishing Date:  02/02/2023

Many Thanks to the publishing team for my review copy 

Blurb

Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2023

They had not lost anyone that year, or the ones they had lost were not worth remembering. Set in the fictional Kenyan town of Mapeli, Things They Lost tells the story of four generations of women, each haunted by the mysterious curse that hangs over the Brown family. At the heart of the novel is Ayosa Ataraxis Brown, twelve years old and the loneliest girl in the world.

Okwiri Oduor's stunningly original debut novel sings with Kenyan folklore and myth as it traces Ayosa's fragile, toxic relationship with Nabumbo Promise, her mysterious and beguiling mother who comes and goes like tumbleweed: lost, but not quite gone.

My Thoughts

I truly love this book from start to finish. The author has such a way of writing that you feel like you are there with the characters and going through all the motions. I took my time reading it and absorbing it as it had grabbed my attention. 

One of my favourite quotes is "She said that true love was like this- sweet in some parts, and sour in others".

Ayso character was full of life and layered. She was feisty, full of emotion and mischievous. Her voice was loud throughout the book and felt like I was in her brain as the clogs started to turn. We go on this journey with her that at times is fighting to put things behind but appear to be more powerful than her. 

The author managed to inbed and portray really  well Ayso struggle to try and grow and overcome new challenges whilst almost being stuck in the past and the abandoment of having no mother. 

Although parts are described as magical there is so much more to that, that this story brings forward. Depths of trauma, sense of wanting and belonging and human connection and relationships are just some of the big subjects that we read through.

I was taken by surprise with this book and one that will stick with me for a while.