It really feels like I've been away from this place for forever, maybe because it's been over four years since my last post! But to be fair to myself, I've been going through the worst reading slump of my life in that time.
I'm starting this venture back up but hopefully in a way that is more sustainable (and fun!) for me, so introducing daily reading blogs! I'm going to be taking books chapters at a time and writing up daily check-ins of my feelings of each section I've read for that day. Then when I'm done with the book, I'll round up with my final verdict.
Starting off with a book that's been on my TBR pile for years now (probably): Everyone's Thinking It by Aleema Omotoni.
It's a YA novel that follows two Nigerian cousins, Iyanu and Kitan, attending a fancy private school in the UK called Wodebury Hall. I'm going into the story practically blind and I've read the first two chapters.
As you can imagine, these girls are about as conspicuous in this school as a stew stain on a white tablecloth, and so they've both figured out different ways to deal with their difference.
Iyanu retreats into her photography, aiming to become a photojournalist for an online magazine called WeCreate. The magazine has created a creative outlet for Black queer women like her, but beyond that, it'll also give her an income to help with her upkeep beyond the scholarship she has.
On the other hand, there's Kitan, member of the popular squad and violinist in the school orchestra. Her case is pretty interesting because she wasn't born and bred in the UK; she's came here straight from Lagos and she's really trying to fit in here as much as she can, even to the point of befriending a white girl who sees no problem with blackfishing or stabbing her friends in the back.
These two chapters also introduce us to other students at Wodebury, but it's clearly a place of extreme privilege, whose students are the children of millionaires and nobility. So it's easy to see how these girls are struggling to find their own place, even beyond the general misogynoir and microaggressions.
There's also a bit of romance already on the scene; we learn about a matchmaking event towards an upcoming Valentine's Day Ball held yearly for sixth formers (Iyanu and Kitan are both on the committee; Iyanu is in charge of photography). Kitan finds a match in her classmate and fellow orchestra member, Oliver Wei, while Iyanu seems to be harboring a crush on her childhood friend and member of the school's rugby team, Quincy, although they've long since drifted apart.
So far, the pacing of the chapters is pretty nice, the characters are interesting, and even in these few pages, the story already does not shy away from examining the effects of class and racial differences and financial privilege on identity and belonging amongst young people. It already resonates with me even though I'm many years past my own high school days. Another point in its favor is that the language is evocative without being overly flowery.
And the fact that it features Nigerian protagonists is a great bonus!
Really hoping the story stays as interesting as it's shaping up to be!
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