If Lizzie Damilola Blackburn's debut novel, Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?, was to become a TV sitcom, it could run episode after episode, season after season, without losing steam on story material. Cheeky and entertaining, the novel, which spans just six months in the chaotic life of its British-Nigerian protagonist Yinka, packs in a whole lot of cross-cultural drama and social commentary with an easy-going, conversational style. Add romantic and professional mishaps, and complicated relationships among four Black women living in England, two of whom are Yinka's cousins, and you have the makings of comedic gold. Don't be fooled by the novel's slow, somewhat clunky start ... Blackburn offers insight into the way colorism and certain societal preferences for hair textures can affect women with darker skin and curlier hair ... Perhaps one mark of a successful book, however crammed, is if the reader still wishes to know more about what happens in the main character's life after a book ends—that is, as the story moves off the page. We may have to wait for that sitcom starring Blackburn's Yinka.
Yinka, Where is Your Huzband is more than a book about a woman looking for a man. It addresses themes such as female friendships, Black beauty standards and religion. This is not a romance novel, unless the journey to self-love qualifies.
... a sensitive, humorous chronicle of a young woman's journey of self-discovery ... This universal story of a young woman coming into her own contains many elements of Nigerian culture ... Readers who like the novels of Marian Keyes and Cecelia Ahern will find much to enjoy here.
Blackburn’s debut is a laugh-out-loud story of self-discovery, set against the world of contemporary dating. Yinka cleverly navigates others’ competing expectations of who she should be, figuring out who she is in the process. Fans of Uzma Jalaluddin and Sonya Lalli will delight in this story of a one of a kind woman learning how to love one of the most important people in her life: herself.
Debut novelist Blackburn enlivens her account of Yinka's frantic quest by interspersing Google search histories, text conversations, and a series of flip charts with neon Post-it messages ... A liberal salting of patois...and the deployment of comic Nigerian types (her mother, the aunties, the other members of her church) firmly root this novel in a community depicted with warmth and humor.
Blackburn’s lighthearted tone helps deliver heavy thoughts on colorism, the tension of cultural differences, and the benefits of therapy, as the story moves toward a happy ending on all fronts. This delivers loads of entertainment and a dollop of enlightenment.
