Masterful, thoughtful ... Maria is a charismatic, complicated love object throughout the book. Wambugu ably chronicles her struggles. But it’s Ruth, through whose eyes we see everything, who shines in all her imperfections ... Emerges as one of the most emotionally and intellectually rich debuts I can remember reading in this or any year.
As the novel progresses, Ruth often stops existing on the page, overtaken by her endless loops of fixation on the thoughts and feelings of others. In part because the reader has no insight into Maria’s perspective, Ruth’s narrative voice makes it hard to discern what either woman gets from their friendship, or even the extent to which they know each other at all ... For Ruth, losing her friend would mean losing herself, too.
Writing beautifully about ambition, class, art, domesticity, identity, and complacency, Wambugu’s prose is as striking as it is sure. A heartbreaking and penetrating coming-of-age debut.
