Nnedi Okorafor

The future of storytelling is here.

Life has thrown Zelu some curveballs over the years, but when she's suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, all in the middle of her sister's wedding, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, high-achieving, judgmental family, she's not sure what comes next.

In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life - she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes.

What follows is a tale of love and loss, fame and infamy, of extraordinary events in one world, and another. And as Zelu's life evolves, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.

Because sometimes a story really does have the power to reshape the world.

Death of the Author

An absolutely incredible book that weaves two beautiful stories together seamlessly.

Katheryn

"True storytelling has always been one of the few great things humanity could produce that no automation could. Stories were prizes to be collected, shared, protected, and experienced."

This book was truly fascinating, it weaved together so many themes and within it, two different stories, a story within a story, and are we even sure whose story this really is..? This book opened up my eyes in so many different ways, to Nigerian culture, the Nigerian American experience, the inner mindset of a disabled person, the beauty of storytelling and humanity, how much we need to carefully navigate the balance between creation and automation, and also the beauty of understanding one another on a deeper level. But this story also confused me, it left me feeling unsure about how I really felt. This is a hard one to put my finger on because I enjoyed the experience the whole way through but I'm not completely sure that I really enjoyed the story as a whole, or perhaps this genre and format just didn't quite vibe with me, even though I thought it was well executed. I am just not sure where I stand, so for now I will give this four point two five stars, and perhaps I might come back and edit that later on when I've sat with it for a while.

Nnedi Okorafor has a way with words that is undeniable. She crafted a truly compelling and complex story here, and I truly think it is one that LitFic readers should pick up, even if your reaction to it might be completely different to mine. When I read the blurb I did think this book was going to be more SciFi than LitFic, but in reality this was mostly a story about the inner dynamics of family, and the experiences of a disabled Black woman navigating overnight celebrity status as an author and also navigating her own mind as she comes to terms with who she is and what she wants from this world. Zelu is a deeply flawed character who comes from a deeply flawed family, she's adventurous, self-absorbed, reckless and hot-headed, and this mixture gets her into trouble more often than you can count. But she also comes from a large family who shaped her to be this way, who built a house around her and then wouldn't let her leave it. Her parents are from two different ethnic groups in Nigeria, Igbo and Yoruba, the first of their families to immigrate to the US, and that already causes contention. Then they have six children... I think... maybe it was seven, I've lost count, and these siblings are all strong minded and deeply flawed themselves. They were absolutely riveting to read about, and so, so annoying too, I would say one of the main things about this book that leaves you reeling is just how unlikeable the characters can be. There was so many times that I was yelling at them, begging them to offer at least one shred of support to Zelu, who they somehow both coddled overbearingly and dismissed in equal measures. I understood though, their sister made decisions without really ever thinking through the consequences so maybe they didn't really trust her judgement, but it broke my heart how much they pushed back on every single aspect of her life.

"I can’t be normal, so I’ll be something else."

There are so many aspects to this book that I'm not sure I can adequately cover them all in this review, Okorafor truly managed to cram so much life into this book. I liked how this book juggled a lot of real world issues in a really introspective way, from the parasocial relationships fans can develop on social media, to the worries about AI taking over the creative space, to the way people use their wealth in questionable ways, and the ways people can be so ableist and racist and misogynistic, even internally, even subconsciously, especially culturally. I loved how this book was speculative but also very realistic too, Zelu's journey with her exo suit, her troubles with writers block, her non-traditional relationship with Msizi, her dream of going to outer space, it was all so intricately woven together. At a real low point in her life she writes an instant bestselling novel, and we believe we get to see glimpses of that novel throughout the book 

SPOILER>>>but do we really? Are we really reading Zelu's story about life, or are we reading Ankara's story, brought to life from the memories of the last woman alive? The ending leaves that up for interpretation and I am not sure what to think <<<END SPOILER! 

I haven't even mentioned the storylines with the Musk/Bezos-esque character Jack, or Zelu's journey with Hugo, Marcy and Uchenna, or the interviews with her family, or about the small but impactful cameos with iNdonsa, Wind and Marlo - that's just how much there was going on in this book, it's truly mind boggling.

“Write what you want, woman. Walk how you want. Love who you love. Speak your truth. Be good and roll with life. You can’t have or control everything or everyone.”

While I really liked following Ankara's story in the snippets from 

 dispersed throughout the book, I just didn't feel as immersed in this side of the story as I wanted to. I could see the reflections to Zelu's story, and I really liked the narratives about humanity and AI, I thought there was some really quotable parts about storytelling and human's ability to create, and how automation isn't able to replicate that. I liked Ijele and Ankara's relationship, the enemies to friends character arc was really lovely but I wanted 

 from this. In the end I feel like these snippets were too short and too far in between. I think Okorafor had a truly innovative idea with this novel, weaving different POVs and narratives and so many rich themes, that sometimes I think this got a little bit muddied along the way. In my opinion, there were some aspects of this book that I think could've been scaled back or omitted entirely to balance out the pacing a bit more and also to integrate better with the story within the story. For me, this book focused a lot on Zelu and her absolutely wild journey, and in some ways that overshadowed some of the messages the author was maybe trying to convey with this story. As I said at the beginning, I'm not entirely sure where I sit with this book, I enjoyed it for the most part, but I also didn't love it either, and the balance of storylines and pacing is possibly where this book throws me off the most.

Overall, this was a very entertaining and educational read for me. It's one that will definitely sit with me for a while, I think I will be mulling over how this book made me feel and what it all really means to me for a long time. Nnedi Okorafor is absolutely going on my list of authors I need to read more of, she has a really powerful voice and perspective that I think brings life to to this story in a way that is really hard to pin down. At times I felt like I was reading about a real person, and this is really the magic of this story. But there were also a lot of things about this book that I didn't really love unfortunately, so while I definitely enjoyed myself and can confidently say this is a good book and one I would recommend to certain people, it's also one that will definitely cause some divisive opinions, and some of those divisive opinions are happening within myself. Regardless, I am very glad I read it!

"They never said “I love you” because they didn’t need to. Their love existed in the space between words, in the moments when they were apart, before they came back together."

Genevieve 

"True storytelling has always been one of the few great things humanity could produce that no automation could. Stories were prizes to be collected, shared, protected, and experienced."

4.25⭐

This book was truly fascinating, it weaved together so many themes and within it, two different stories, a story within a story, and are we even sure whose story this really is..? This book opened up my eyes in so many different ways, to Nigerian culture, the Nigerian American experience, the inner mindset of a disabled person, the beauty of storytelling and humanity, how much we need to carefully navigate the balance between creation and automation, and also the beauty of understanding one another on a deeper level. But this story also confused me, it left me feeling unsure about how I really felt. This is a hard one to put my finger on because I enjoyed the experience the whole way through but I'm not completely sure that I really enjoyed the story as a whole, or perhaps this genre and format just didn't quite vibe with me, even though I thought it was well executed. I am just not sure where I stand, so for now I will give this four point two five stars, and perhaps I might come back and edit that later on when I've sat with it for a while.

Nnedi Okorafor has a way with words that is undeniable. She crafted a truly compelling and complex story here, and I truly think it is one that LitFic readers should pick up, even if your reaction to it might be completely different to mine. When I read the blurb I did think this book was going to be more SciFi than LitFic, but in reality this was mostly a story about the inner dynamics of family, and the experiences of a disabled Black woman navigating overnight celebrity status as an author and also navigating her own mind as she comes to terms with who she is and what she wants from this world. Zelu is a deeply flawed character who comes from a deeply flawed family, she's adventurous, self-absorbed, reckless and hot-headed, and this mixture gets her into trouble more often than you can count. But she also comes from a large family who shaped her to be this way, who built a house around her and then wouldn't let her leave it. Her parents are from two different ethnic groups in Nigeria, Igbo and Yoruba, the first of their families to immigrate to the US, and that already causes contention. Then they have six children... I think... maybe it was seven, I've lost count, and these siblings are all strong minded and deeply flawed themselves. They were absolutely riveting to read about, and so, so annoying too, I would say one of the main things about this book that leaves you reeling is just how unlikeable the characters can be. There was so many times that I was yelling at them, begging them to offer at least one shred of support to Zelu, who they somehow both coddled overbearingly and dismissed in equal measures. I understood though, their sister made decisions without really ever thinking through the consequences so maybe they didn't really trust her judgement, but it broke my heart how much they pushed back on every single aspect of her life.

"I can’t be normal, so I’ll be something else."

There are so many aspects to this book that I'm not sure I can adequately cover them all in this review, Okorafor truly managed to cram so much life into this book. I liked how this book juggled a lot of real world issues in a really introspective way, from the parasocial relationships fans can develop on social media, to the worries about AI taking over the creative space, to the way people use their wealth in questionable ways, and the ways people can be so ableist and racist and misogynistic, even internally, even subconsciously, especially culturally. I loved how this book was speculative but also very realistic too, Zelu's journey with her exo suit, her troubles with writers block, her non-traditional relationship with Msizi, her dream of going to outer space, it was all so intricately woven together. At a real low point in her life she writes an instant bestselling novel, and we believe we get to see glimpses of that novel throughout the book 
SPOILER>>>but do we really? Are we really reading Zelu's story about life, or are we reading Ankara's story, brought to life from the memories of the last woman alive? The ending leaves that up for interpretation and I am not sure what to think <<<END SPOILER! 
I haven't even mentioned the storylines with the Musk/Bezos-esque character Jack, or Zelu's journey with Hugo, Marcy and Uchenna, or the interviews with her family, or about the small but impactful cameos with iNdonsa, Wind and Marlo - that's just how much there was going on in this book, it's truly mind boggling.

“Write what you want, woman. Walk how you want. Love who you love. Speak your truth. Be good and roll with life. You can’t have or control everything or everyone.”

While I really liked following Ankara's story in the snippets from Rusted Robots dispersed throughout the book, I just didn't feel as immersed in this side of the story as I wanted to. I could see the reflections to Zelu's story, and I really liked the narratives about humanity and AI, I thought there was some really quotable parts about storytelling and human's ability to create, and how automation isn't able to replicate that. I liked Ijele and Ankara's relationship, the enemies to friends character arc was really lovely but I wanted MORE from this. In the end I feel like these snippets were too short and too far in between. I think Okorafor had a truly innovative idea with this novel, weaving different POVs and narratives and so many rich themes, that sometimes I think this got a little bit muddied along the way. In my opinion, there were some aspects of this book that I think could've been scaled back or omitted entirely to balance out the pacing a bit more and also to integrate better with the story within the story. For me, this book focused a lot on Zelu and her absolutely wild journey, and in some ways that overshadowed some of the messages the author was maybe trying to convey with this story. As I said at the beginning, I'm not entirely sure where I sit with this book, I enjoyed it for the most part, but I also didn't love it either, and the balance of storylines and pacing is possibly where this book throws me off the most.

Overall, this was a very entertaining and educational read for me. It's one that will definitely sit with me for a while, I think I will be mulling over how this book made me feel and what it all really means to me for a long time. Nnedi Okorafor is absolutely going on my list of authors I need to read more of, she has a really powerful voice and perspective that I think brings life to to this story in a way that is really hard to pin down. At times I felt like I was reading about a real person, and this is really the magic of this story. But there were also a lot of things about this book that I didn't really love unfortunately, so while I definitely enjoyed myself and can confidently say this is a good book and one I would recommend to certain people, it's also one that will definitely cause some divisive opinions, and some of those divisive opinions are happening within myself. Regardless, I am very glad I read it!

"They never said “I love you” because they didn’t need to. Their love existed in the space between words, in the moments when they were apart, before they came back together."

Death of the Author

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