Title: A Spell of Good Things*
Author: Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
Rating: 3.75 stars / 5 stars
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Favorite Quote: “Time was unforgiving, it didn’t stop, not even to give people a chance to scrape themselves off the floor if they’d been shattered.” Adébáyọ̀, Ayọ̀bámi. A Spell of Good Things. Alfred A. Knopf, 2023, pg. 38.
Review: Adébáyọ̀’s Booker nominated novel follows two characters whose lives, though vastly different in the beginning, merge in shared tragedy by the end. Wuraola, a young, female doctor in Nigeria who hails from a wealthy family struggles to maintain her professional life while also being subject to increasingly violent physical abuse from her boyfriend-turned-fiance. Eniola, a young boy from a much poorer part of Nigeria is forced into increasing desperation as his family struggles to pay for their basic necessities, let alone “luxuries” such as his education. When Eniola joins a political group whose interests are adverse to that of Wuraola’s father, one night leads to devastation for both families.
Adébáyọ̀ successfully weaves a tale of class and difference in modern-day Nigeria - though the lines are quite often blurred. Wuraola, as a new doctor cycling through various residencies, is forced to reckon with a woefully underfunded healthcare system that seems to be bowing under the crushing weight of the medical needs of the countries. Eniola, despite spending much of the novel in abject poverty, gets closer and closer to an approximation of wealth when he joins a group of other students who offer aid, security, and as he later learns, violence, to an aspiring political figure.
The character development in Adébáyọ̀’s novel is one of its strongest elements - watching the characters as they careen towards an almost seemingly inevitable end.
The flaws, if they can be categorized as such, are significantly fewer than its strengths - primarily some of the narrative seems a bit drawn out, as if it could be a bit shorter and still have the same, if not a more powerful, impact.
About that Quote: Though relatively early in the novel, this quote seems to embody the message of the novel itself - that time goes on regardless of what anyone seems to think about it. Sometimes the passage of time brings with it progress - for instance, Wuraola gathering the strength to leave her abusive partner, while other times just bring grief and trauma. Both Wuraola and Eniola reach the novel’s end, sitting together, having watched their family units be decimated. And yet, time moves on.
Have you read A Spell of Good Things? Share your thoughts below!
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