Eve’s reflections on her journey through grief ring true ... Whether this book affirms your own experience or provides a window to someone else’s, it is a satisfying read and testimony to our human ability to heal.
On the first page we learn that the main character found her husband, Quentin Morrow, who she thought was perfectly happy, after he killed himself on New Year’s Eve ... A lot of expectations come with that shocker of a prologue: high drama, fast pace, mystery ... Dramatic proves to be a great word to describe this novel. Fast-paced and mysterious? Only a touch ... Nwabineli relies heavily on these flashbacks early on, when time moves excruciatingly slowly in an embodiment of fresh, festering grief ... Nwabineli deftly weaves Eve’s Igbo heritage into the story, incorporating phrases, food and traditions ... Then, about halfway through the book, Nwabineli drops a bomb that changes the rules of the game. What had become a lull of spiraling depression gets the jolt that Eve — and the story — needed ... An earnest study on grief that forces you to examine it and not look away. For as long as the anguish is there, we are in Eve’s head experiencing it with her.
... the writing is buoyant, the characters are palpable, the content eschews grief porn. A pregnancy, however, is a known plot device and, in this novel, it feels like one. It accelerates Eve’s ability to evolve without closure, and its visibility calls attention to the book’s mechanics. The stilted dialogue in Eve’s memories, Q’s overlooked 'penchant' for long absences – it’s debatable whether Someday, Maybe’s first-person narration is supposed to sow questions about reliability or absorb weak points in the narrative. Ironically, this debate produces a greater truth if not the novel’s conclusion: what we know about a person is just the story we believe.
Raw, honest ... Nwabineli's perceptive, painstaking interrogation of loss and depression is told in Eve's candid, sarcastic voice. Often the fictional journey of a bereaved character is portrayed as a smooth, uplifting arc. Here, readers will find grief portrayed realistically as a complex, long-lived creature that embeds itself deeply, shifting but always present ... Readers ready for a challenging pilgrimage through tragedy will find rewards in Nwabineli's clear-eyed, compassionate take on the often-unremarked messiness of survival.
Nwabineli’s exceptional debut is a heartfelt and moving portrayal of grief and recovery in all its messiness. By the end, there’s a sense that Eve has made it through the worst, but there’s no artificial happy ending—just a woman doing her best to move forward with the family and friends who stood with her during her darkest moments. This is an excellent choice for book clubs and for readers who enjoy thought-provoking, deeply emotional fiction.
Powerful ... Nwabineli credibly portrays Eve’s gut-deep grief and her reckoning with the fact that she’ll never know what darkness lay within her partner’s thoughts. The author also skillfully sets up a series of surprising turns. The genuine displays of emotion and sharp narrative will keep readers turning the pages.
