The Longe siblings are really botching their parents' American Dream. In the wreckage of their fateful reunion, each Longe is forced to reckon with the past, take stock of what really matters, and find a way back to each other.
Intimate and wide-spanning ... Embraces many themes, sweetly considering so much contained within the sprawl of diaspora in its meditation on a Nigerian-American family in Chicago ... A captivating exploration.
Akinola tackles tough topics through rich, fully formed characters in this sensitive portrayal of how family dynamics can be stifling and how seeing things from only one perspective means missing out on the full picture. This debut novel is an exquisitely observed portrait of an impactful two-month slice of one immigrant family’s complicated experience in this country.
The novel bounces between their points of view as they navigate past trauma, parental expectations, and assimilation. It is at its best whenever the Longes interact with one another ... Bittersweet.
