When We Were Fireflies

by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim

When brooding artist, Yarima Lalo, encounters a moving train for the first time, two serendipitous events occur. First, it triggers memories of past lives in which he was twice murdered—once on a train. He also meets Aziza, a woman with a complicated past of her own, who becomes key to helping him understand what he is experiencing. With a third death in his current life imminent, together they go hunting for remnants of his past lives. Will they find evidence that he is losing his mind or the people who once loved or loathed him?

Genres: African Literature, Fiction, Nigeria

409 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2023

About the author

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (born 1979) is a Nigerian creative writer and journalist.

His debut short-story collection The Whispering Trees was longlisted for the inaugural Etisalat Prize for Literature in 2014, with the title story shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing.

Ibrahim has won the BBC African Performance Prize and the ANA Plateau/Amatu Braide Prize for Prose. He is a Gabriel Garcia Marquez Fellow (2013), a Civitella Ranieri Fellow (2015). In 2014 he was selected for the Africa39 list of writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define future trends in African literature, and was included in the anthology Africa39: New Writing from Africa South of the Sahara (ed. Ellah Allfrey). He was a mentor on the 2013 Writivism programme and judged the Writivism Short Story Prize in 2014. He was chair of judges for the 2016 Etisalat Flash Fiction Prize.
His first novel, Season of Crimson Blossoms, was published in 2015 by Parrésia Publishers in Nigeria and by Cassava Republic Press in the UK (2016). Season of Crimson Blossoms was shortlisted in September 2016 for the Nigeria Prize for Literature, Africa's largest literary prize.[14] It was announced on 12 October 2016 that Ibrahim was the winner of the $100,000 prize. Ibrahim was the recipient of the 2016 Goethe-Institut & Sylt Foundation African Writer's Residency Award.

Reviews

[Hajarah Habib · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kaiiiiii Abubakar ka kuma! Oh my God this book is everything! I want to know your thought process, what made you do this? How did you come up with this masterpiece? Ya ilahi Abubakar well done!
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“When we were fireflies” is that book that won’t let you have your peace until you’re done reading it. With each chapter Abubakar gets you trapped!
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I like Lalo from the first page I would’ve say love but Mijina na kallo na 😂 he is someone that live life thrice! Yes you read that three times! It’s crazy I know.

I love Aziza and Lalo’s relationship and I could literally see myself in Yarima Lalo’s studio the feeling of being surrounded by arts! On the other side I love Babayo and Indo’s tragic love story.

The sense of familiarity with Abuja city, places in Kano, Kaduna and even Jos was a thing of joy. Thank you Abubakar for that!
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This book will take you through so many things! Love, lost, trauma, dead, hate, violence and forgiveness! I love the quest of forgiveness in this book it’s everything for me.
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I’ll give this book 5⭐️ straight up! It’s nothing like the ordinary, it’s nothing like what you’re thinking! @abubakarwrites
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#bookstagram #readwithhajara #hajarareads #nigerianbookstagrammer

[Mimie Laushi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of When Were Fireflies by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim. This book deals with very intense and heavy themes. It explores life, love, human relationships and death. It is incredibly deep and poetic when opening up these ideas.

Characters. I have to say I deeply love the male main character, Lalo. He carries a heaviness with him that I initially though I understood but later realized it was beyond my emotional bandwidth. The women in this book are captivating- Turai, Indo, Aziza and all the mothers.

The plot is layered in 3 different timelines. He weaves in magical realism, historical fiction, literary fiction & some romance- not the ideal romance, the depths of love that transcend death. It’s the most unique story I have read in a long time, guaranteed to keep you guessing!

I love the moments of humor, the eccentricity of some of the characters, the love they all share among themselves and even the kind of regret that haunts for life. This story works with the concept of reincarnation but I’ve never seen it moulded into a story like this.

I am also obsessed with the imagery of Kaduna, Kano, Wuse 2 in Abuja, his lyrical descriptions of colours, art, life, beauty.. every element was captivating

At the book reading/signing, I asked the author what he thought readers should get out of it. He said (I’m paraphrasing) nothing is what it appears. You have to read to the last page to fully feel this!

Books NEVER make me cry. But you see “When We Were Fireflies”, I am emotionally SHAKEN. 5 incredible stars for this master piece. ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Carl Terver · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is perhaps the greatest Nigerian novel written in the first quarter of the twenty-first century. Read my review at Afapinen: https://afapinen.com/2023/05/27/the-r...

[Bukola Akinyemi · Rating 5 out of 5]

When We Were Fireflies by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim

“Life is funny sometimes, when you search for hate, you sometimes find love woven into its heartstrings. And when you seek love, you find hate lurking in its shadows .”

A story about a man who believes he has died twice before. In his present life as an artist, he paints scenes from two previous times he had been murdered for the sake of love. He also predicts his next death will be due to a love triangle which he is not part of.

This storyline although bizarre, delves into themes of love, hatred, forgiveness, regret, mental health and friendship.

The writing is beautiful with well crafted sentences that made me pause and think. I love the references to colour and quotes from poets and artists.

There are Hausa words and phrases in it that add character and reflect the setting of northern Nigeria. I was pleasantly surprised that the language I thought I had forgotten came back to me on seeing those phrases.

I absolutely adored this book.

[Aneesa Idrees · Rating 4 out of 5]

I immersed myself in “When We Were Fireflies” and journeyed through three distinct lives with Yarima Lalo. Among his various personas, Yarima Lalo stood out as my favorite, and his love interest, Indo, won my heart.

The narrative unfolds as Yarima Lalo endeavors to weave together two past lives with his present existence. It portrays the odyssey of a lost man, fervently attempting to rediscover his identity. Across states and, in a sense, through time, he embarks on a quest to unravel who he was and what lies ahead. The peculiar time of 2:14 holds significance, marking the moments of his two prior deaths. Abubakar Adam skillfully narrates the story, showcasing his growth as a writer. The incorporation of Hausa dialects into the prose without translation shows how boldly unapologetic he is becoming in his storytelling and I love to see it. The book’s tone, poetic allows Abubakar to paint vivid pictures with his words.

The plot follows a young man who has lived two previous lives, convinced that his third life is also nearing its end. As he pieces together fragments scattered across time, like a puzzle, the questions arise: Will he make it in time? Will he find all the pieces? Will the revelations fulfill him?

Despite the thrill this story provided, my personal preference leans toward Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s “Dreams and Assorted Nightmares.” This inclination might be influenced by the heightened expectations set in the book community or my prior familiarity with the plot after attending a book reading. Additionally, a similar plot in an unpublished story by a friend may have affected my experience. These factors, subjective to me, may not impact your own journey with the story.

In conclusion, “When We Were Fireflies” was a delightful 4-star read for me and I can’t wait to see what Netflix does with it.

[Gracie Wandyte · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is ART!
This book is a Journey!

"The beauty of art is that it builds on existing. ideas and sometimes it turns ideas on their heads and creates others, newer ones that are completely independent of the first and yet derive root from it.”

I never knew colors could be described so beautifully and poetically! 😱

“Violet is a marriage of fire and ice, a merger of red and blue. If you like, a merger of two extremities in one body. Good and evil, perhaps. Not one or the other."

Then the quotes were so amazing, it makes you sit to ponder, like wow!!!

“…the only thing we are invulnerable to is time. It gets every one of us. And it beats us…”

“Be grateful for the unintended kindness of enemies…”

Unfortunately I finished reading this book @01:17pm, was hoping it would be 02:14 😂.

Yarima Lalo the artist 🫡
Aziza the henna-ist 😏

[Kehinde 𐙚 ⋆˚｡⋆ ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh, this book! I absolutely adore it!!! 😍

the journey it takes you on, the mysteries it unravels, and how everything comes together so beautifully—it’s so wonderfully written and crafted. such a beautiful and captivating read! 🥺❤️

ugh!!! and the quotesssss — so many beautiful things to note. i’ll miss reading about Lalo, Aziza, Mina & Diallo. 🥺🥺

this book will be in my head for days on end!

[Kabura Zakama · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s difficult for me to review this book!

I am not eloquent enough to describe the craft!

And I am convinced Adam Abubakar Ibrahim has lived another life! And that life was full of whispering trees with crimson blossoms and butterflies (fireflies too) fluttering around them!

[Aisha Abdullahi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a masterpiece.. just wow

[Abdurrazak Maiwada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Train stations and roundabouts hold deep meaning within the context of this text. These places of choice see that some rites of the dead are done. Fireflies. Transitioning. Endless movement, the heedless going and coming around the locations signify life's unceasing flow even after one's death. It undermines, in a way, but also makes one ponder on things one is willing to die for.

More on train stations. Place where the protagonist, Yarima Lalo, began to recover memories of past lives. Yes, lives and an "s." It happened that he has lived and died, or most accurately, was murdered twice. But more terrifying is the knowledge of a looming third death coming. Most of the book reveals his journey seeking for closure. A kind of revenge. He journeys, with his companions, Aziza, with her own heavy baggage, and her daughter Mina, in search of people in his previous lives - especially his murderers.

WWWF is a story of love, of passion, of extreme passion, of toxic passion, of death. Of all the major themes touched, toxic passion remain common, which, in almost all cases, lead to loss of lives. From Boko Haram terrorism, ethno-religious killings, Soldiers extra-judicial acts, ...up to murders motivated by romantic passion.

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim has written, yet, another excellent book full of life but also heavy with important life questions, laced with magical realism.

Revenge. Forgiveness. Love. Murder. Crises. Death. Life.

[Mercy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story felt very familiar and close to home with tales I'd heard growing up e.g mothers leaving their kids and sometimes first husbands with their own mothers, getting remarried and almost becoming strangers to these kids; young men joining the military to make a point to themselves and to "serve their countries"; children being abused in familial spaces by the people entrusted to care for them.

At its core, it's a love story spanning the main character's 3 lives and contains a lot of scenes that make you feel warm. Mixed with this is loss, deaths and familial issues.

The author has a really good way with words. I loved his descriptions and how he communicated the events. It felt really immersive and enjoyable!

My favourite lines were:
- He loved routines. But he did not like being predictable.
- We are all fleeing a war, if not in our homes, then in our hearts, in our minds. In everything we pursue, we flee other things.

[Bolaji Olatunde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abubakar Adam Adamu has blessed the world with a remarkable novel. The human mind has always been fascinated by the premise of returning to life, to fulfil whatever purpose, or lack thereof sometimes; this fascination is closely interlinked with belief in the afterlife. Reincarnation has many versions across cultures around the world. When We Were Fireflies is an examination of the concept through northern Nigerian eyes.

Yarima Lalo, a young man, a painter with his studio on Kolda Street, off Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Abuja, on which is located some of the costliest real estate in Nigeria’s capital city, although the novel does not hint at or suggest that. To himself, he has always been an ordinary person, until one Friday “on a hot June day in Abuja…it occurred to him that once, many years before, he had been murdered in the carriage of an old locomotive with the well-worn seaweed-green seats.” With this prepossessing opening, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim pulls the reader into Lalo’s past lives, with death making a constant reappearance.

In the Hollywood movie, The Bucket List, Carter Chambers (played by Morgan Freeman) tells Edward Cole (played by Jack Nicholson) that in the Buddhist concept of reincarnation, a being returns to the world in either an upper or lower station of life, based on how they lived their previous lives. Edward Cole asks rhetorically, “What would a snail do to move up the line? Lay down a perfect trail of slime?” Well, what does Lalo have to do to warrant these returns over three generations? Fall in love with the wrong woman, for the most part, and be at the wrong place at the wrong time — and end up murdered by unsavoury characters. The returning being also has a penchant for reappearing in major northern Nigerian cities across these past lives — Kano, Kafanchan, Jos. Yarima Lalo has vague recollections of these past lives, and as a human is wont to do, he sets out to unravel the full details — the truth — of those lives, vowing to avenge the deaths of those who had killed him in his previous lives. He is accompanied on the journey by Aziza, a divorced-single mother, and Mina, her daughter from her failed marriage.

The novel is also a love, or almost love, story between Aziza and Yarima. Aziza, former banker and now henna parlour owner — or Mai Lalle, to use the Hausa description of the occupation, walks into his painting studio one afternoon and a remarkable relationship is born. At first, she thinks he is mentally unstable when he tells her that he has been dead before, “He speaks about it and I wonder if his family knows he is losing it. He seems like a nice person but I am worried he needs help,” Aziza says to Hajiya Batulu, one of her customers, who would unwittingly lead them to, Indo, Batulu’s mother, a key witness in one of Yarima’s past lives. Aziza supports Yarima as he tries to uncover the past; he supports her as she deals with childhood trauma, and her in-laws trying to wrest Mina from her, so that her mother-in-law, who was missing her soldier son who disappeared during a battle with “the boys”, as the people of Baga in the novel call the Boko Haram insurgents.
The themes also include the insurgency that has ravaged northern Nigeria for more than a decade, and the huge toll it takes on the officers of the Nigerian army who fight the war against the insurgents; two of the leading characters are victims of the war. The religious crises that erupt occasionally and lends an unpredictability to life in usually calm and friendly northern Nigerian cities is also explored in the story.

The novel is a soaring triumph of majestic prose. Ibrahim describes life in Abuja with fine detail, and draws the attention of the reader to those aspects of life in the city that may escape one due to the increasingly bustling nature of the place. The characters muse about life in Nigeria, and maybe everywhere in the world: “We are all fleeing a war. If not in our homes, then in our hearts, in our minds. In everything we pursue, we flee other things.”

I would have given this novel five out of five stars, but one has to score it four due to what I perceive as a shortcoming: the “Americanisation” of the dialogues between the characters. That cadence of daily Nigerian conversation was disrupted by this limitation. Along the way, in the present day, Yarima meets a grandmother with whom he was desperately in love with, in a previous life. He is now young; she is a wrinkled version of her former self, which induced in this reader the evocation of a similar romance in Ibrahim’s award-winning novel Season of Crimson Blossoms. The distinct dialect and cadence of 2010s and 2020s American, or Americanised, teen comes across as they dialogue and reminisce about pre-independent Nigeria, or discuss the results of Yarima’s research into his past on the telephone—I found this off-putting, especially when one considers that they conversed in Hausa, the lingua franca of the region. A little more “timeless” quality should have been infused into their communication, I believe. Although I find this instance to be the most noticeable example, there are several dialogues that come off this way in the novel. There is also the small matter of Yarima’s reproductive inadequacy that was not, in my opinion, sufficiently explored in the novel. Could the insufficiency have been an evolutionary result of some sort, preventing Yarima from being in the position to be summarily despatched to the other world, for another return?

In total, a well-crafted novel based on a fascinating premise.

[Bikkos Ibraheem · Rating 4 out of 5]

"why finish a book that you can read in a year".

Now, if you are in my shoe you will understand because for one local books are way to expensive. For people like me of course.

So when I get a Nigerian book I enjoy I tend to keep it for awhile. I am not patriotic when it comes to books, I only read what I'll enjoy, and because there are so many good books out there.

By the way I am still in "Kano" if you really want to know.

It is warm and and busy, like a giant nest set in the sand, housing ten million little birds.

[Sylvia Hertel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein großer und kraftvoller Roman aus Nigeria
Klappentext:
Der Maler Yarima Lalo wird plötzlich von lebhaften, schmerzhaften Erinnerungen an gewaltsame Tode in seinen eigenen früheren Leben verfolgt. Doch woher kommen diese verstörenden Bilder? Zweimal, so scheint es, wurde er bereits um der Liebe willen ermordet, aber seine Geliebte Aziza will er nicht verlieren. Mit ihr gemeinsam begibt sich Lalo auf eine Reise quer durch Nigeria und dessen gewaltvolle Geschichte, um die Spuren seiner früheren Leben zu suchen. Er findet Rat bei einem geheimnisvollen Kind, das sich als Verbindung zur Geisterwelt herausstellt, zu den „Glühwürmchen“, den Geistern der im Krieg getöteten Kinder. Und Lalo versteht, was vielleicht auch für sein Land gilt: Wer Rache sucht, wird stets nur den Tod finden, doch wer vergibt, wird leben.

„Zeit der Glühwürmchen“ ist ein Roman aus Nigeria von Abubakar Adam Ibrahim. Es ist mein erster Roman eines afrikanischen Autors und ich bin dankbar für die Erfahrung die ich machen durfte.

Yarima Lalo wird von Träumen und schmerzhaften Gedanken gequält. Er erlebt seine eigenen Tode, zweimal ist er schon wegen seiner Liebe gestorben. Selbst tagsüber verschwinden die Bilder nicht mehr. Yarima Lalo ist Maler und versucht seine Träume und Gedanken durch das Malen zu kompensieren, nur gelingt das nicht immer. Seine Geliebte Aziza will er nicht verlieren und er nimmt Aziza und die Leser*innen mit auf eine Reise durch Nigeria.

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim hat so starke und kraftvolle Charaktere erschaffen, wie ich sie selten in einer Geschichte erlebt habe. Gerne bin ich mit Yarima und Aziza durch Nigeria gereist. Die Handlungsorte werden sehr gut beschrieben. Die Atmosphäre hat etwas Magisches an sich. Neben der realen Welt entsteht eine Parallelwelt. Manchmal kann man kaum unterscheiden, wo man sich gerade befindet. Die „Glühwürmchen“, die Geister spielen eine immer größere Rolle.

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim erzählt die Geschichte sehr fesselnd. Ich konnte nach wenigen Seiten das Buch nicht mehr aus der Hand legen, mich hatte die Magie voll im Griff.
„Zeit der Glühwürmchen“ ist ein Roman, der in einer realen und einer übernatürlichen Welt spielt. E ist eine Geschichte von Liebe und von Tod. Ich habe das Buch sehr gerne gelesen.

[Gautam Bhatia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first came across Abubakar Adam Ibrahim in the Africa39 anthology, which I’d come across in the chaos of Blossom Bookshop in Bangalore. The excerpt enthralled me, and I immediately bought his novel, Season of Crimson Blossoms. Apart from the brilliant storytelling, what stood out in Season of Crimson Blossoms - as I wrote briefly at the time - was how it combined themes of social violence and brutality with extraordinarily lyrical prose, but without aestheticising the former or cheapening the latter.

When We Were Fireflies - Ibrahim’s second novel - takes up where Season of Crimson Blossoms left off. That violence will be the novel’s central preoccupation is evident from the first paragraph, where - in a style reminiscent of the opening of Love in the Time of Cholera - a man sees a train for the first time, and recalls his own murder(s) in a past life. The violence at the heart of When We Were Fireflies unspools from that memory, and - as with Ibrahim’s previous book - it is personal and patriarchal violence intertwined with the political and ethnic violence in contemporary Nigeria.

Around this, in his typical style and lyrical language, Ibrahim weaves in more affirmative themes: love (of all kinds), art, memory. It is this that - like in Season of Crimson Blossoms, but in a much more intense manner - elevates the story into tragedy. This is topped off by a visceral final twist in the novel, which creeps up on you until you finally see it coming two lines before it actually happens - an ending that is worthy of everything that has come before.

When We Were Fireflies falls just short of flawlessness in my book because of one plot-line that put me ill at ease, and felt like a borderline recycling of a long-dated trope; I’m not entirely sure, though, if that is just a question of personal sensibility or something more. Bracketing that, though, this is an excellent second novel that is both a great story in its own right, and also - thrillingly - shows a writer refining their craft, visibly getting better, and ascending towards a peak that is well within their surpassing talent.

[Hassana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I guess I’m in the minority. I didn’t love this book as much as I expected. But it was an enjoyable read.

I loved the writing. The author is an incredible writer. And the imagery is absolutely fantastic. So good! I live in Abuja, so I loved reading about places in Abuja. The story also touched a lot on Nigeria, our history, wars, crisis, corruption, poverty, terrorism, a lot about this country.

I was intrigued at the beginning, but I found the middle of the book slow. I enjoyed when we started getting answers and I loved the theme of forgiveness and how people can be good and do very bad things. I also liked the ending.

Sometimes, the dialogue made me go - people don’t talk like that. Or I wondered if they were speaking Hausa or not, because if they spoke Hausa, then the interjection of Hausa in the conversations was unnecessary, but if they didn’t, then it didn’t make sense that they spoke English in those places visited.

It also needed some more editing, like in one place the word learnt was used instead of length. There were times I was editing the story in my head as I was reading which took me out of the story. So much “had”, “had”, “had”. Nigerian editors need to do better. It should be worked on for future editions.

I had some questions I needed answered; like why 2:14, was it because of what happened in Maiduguri? Why did he become the one who came back? What made him special? What was he whispering to them and what was whispered to him?

Overall, it’s an enjoyable read, just not a spectacularly enjoyable one.

[readwithlubbatu · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Babayo was murdered on a train in Jos, on his way to Lagos with the love of his life by a rival, he found himself as Inuwa, in a different town. Different home, different family and a love that's as tender to the soul as a melody. But Inuwa was murdered there again by yet another rival.

Now a brooding artist, in the name of Yarima Lalo, in the midst of a luxurious city of Abuja, amidst yet another chaos. He also meets Aziza, a woman with a complicated past of her own, who becomes key to helping him understand what he is experiencing.
With a third death in his current life imminent, together they go hunting for remnants of his past lives. Will they find evidence that he is losing his mind or the people who once loved or loathed him???

I've never been stuck with a book in my head but couldn't put it into words like I've been with When We Were Fireflies. It was difficult for me to gather my thoughts, emotions and feelings about this book.

In this powerful, magnificent, passionate, gorgeously constructed, gripping prose, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim proved himself to be one of the greatest storytellers of this generation.
The writing was so soothing to the soul. The twists, the turns, and the suspense in this beautifully crafted novel took my breath away. The author wrote this book masterfully and I found myself completely immersed in the story and especially the characters.
The plot moves slowly, but it has so much depth and complexity it needs to. The character development is one of the best I've ever read. Throughout the story the author wraps up loose ends neatly, moving from section to section in a systematic fashion. The ending of the story is complete, comforting and utterly satisfying.
To say I'm obsessed with this book is an understatement. There are just not enough words to describe how much I love this book.

When We Were Fireflies will linger in my memory for such a very long time.

[abike · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all ✨chef kiss✨
Every time I get to read a book by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
1. My mind is blown every time
2. I want to pack my belongings and move to the North
Blurb 🍃
Yarima Lalo is an ex- military officer and an artist who lives in Abuja and for some reason at 2:14am/pm he gets flashes of memories of lives he has once lived. He knows that both times he was killed and it seems like the same thing is about to happen again.
Aziza is a Henna artist and a single parent. She had a rough childhood and was betrayed by those who should have had her back and she promises herself that she is always going to be there for her daughter.
Their paths cross when Aziza visits Yarima’s studio and together they find out about his past lives and why he died.

Now, not only is this one of the most beautiful stories I have read about closure. But the author’s pattern of writing makes me feel like I am present in the story and not just reader. It’s like I can smell, feel, see, hear everything going on. For someone who hasn’t lived in the North. The book gives this nostalgic feeling like I have lived there all my life. It’s so beautiful. It made the feel the exact same way I used to feel when storybooks when I was younger. I wasn’t just immersed with the story, it felt like I was one of the characters🧡

[Alex94 · Rating 3 out of 5]

J’ai apprécié le cadre de ce livre, qui se déroule au Nigeria. Cependant, les descriptions des villes et des différents lieux manquent un peu de détail, ce qui aurait pu renforcer l’immersion. En revanche, le choix de l’éditeur de ne pas traduire certaines expressions en hausa utilisées par les personnages est une excellente idée, car cela nous plonge davantage dans la culture locale.

L’histoire d’amour entre Lalo et Aziza est plutôt platonique et peu captivante, mais elle sert avant tout de prétexte à un voyage sur les traces des vies antérieures de Lalo, point culminant du récit. Ce voyage, qui les mène à travers différentes villes du Nigeria, inclut également Mina, la fille d’Aziza. Là encore, les descriptions des lieux restent insuffisantes, ce qui est dommage, mais on prend tout de même plaisir à découvrir certains aspects de la culture nigériane.

J’ai retrouvé dans ce livre une touche qui m’a rappelé Murakami, notamment avec ce personnage de la jeune fille qui collecte les âmes et que seul Lalo peut percevoir. Je ne chercherai pas forcément à lire à nouveau cet auteur, mais j’ai peu l’occasion de découvrir des écrivains africains, et cette lecture m’a donné envie d’explorer davantage cette littérature.

[Husayn · Rating 5 out of 5]

"When We Were Fireflies" is an extraordinary experience that went beyond the boundaries of literature, leaving a lasting impact on the diverse group of readers.
Abubakar's exceptional storytelling and engaging presence made the story unforgettable, taking the readers on a mesmerizing journey through the pages of his remarkable work.
Abubakar's writing style is captivating, breathing life into his characters and painting vivid scenes. The book, "When We Were Fireflies" is an enchanting and thought-provoking experience, offering a chance to delve deeper into the mind of a remarkable storyteller.
The cozy and intimate setting provided a perfect backdrop for an adventurous mind with introspection, emotions, and shared connections.
His storytelling skills brought the characters and themes to life, navigating complex emotions and exploring human relationships with depth and precision. Through his eloquent words, the readers will be transported to the world he had created, becoming immersed in the lives of the characters. His vivid descriptions and attention to detail left a lasting impression.
It's a book worth reading for eternity!

Husayn Zaguru
June, 13 2023.

[Abduljalal Musa Aliyu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I wrote this on Facebook. But, let’s see.

When We Were Fireflies is the greatest Nigerian novel of this generation.

Tell everyone. You can’t even argue it. It doesn’t matter who your fave Nigerian novelist is—as far as they belong to this generation, they haven’t written a novel as good as When We Were Fireflies.

My goodness!

1. I don’t have the words to explain how extraordinary this novel is—by Allaah I feel my words aren’t even worthy.

2. I read this novel a few months ago. I am rereading it right now and every single chapter is still mind-blowing.

3. I came here from goodreads to make sure that I wasn’t hallucinating. And, my people, I think those guys that review the book on goodreads are ten folds madder than AJ.

4. I used to say I’d love to be in Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s head even for a day to understand his thought process—my God, not anymore. I am sure a second inside that man’s head will run me mad. And well, the madness of being a poet is enough for me.

5. You think Ben Okri owns magical realism? I laugh in When We Were Fireflies!

[Chimezie Chika · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of one man's search for the meaning of life. The novel's premise is so primal it will have you thinking about it after you close the final pages.

The thing about this novel is that it grows on you. It is a most rewarding story, one of the best to come out of Nigeria in the last decade. Abubakar's plotting and characterisation is flawless. The language is lyrical, although it can be laid-back at times, especially in the early stages.

I wouldn't be surprised to see this novel on the list of several awards.

Read my more detailed review here:
https://www.afrocritik.com/abubakar-a...

[Isabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just Wowww.
I really loved this read. It was very captivating.
I didn't know what to expect from the title, but as I started reading and reading, I loved how it came into play.
Although, I'm not hausa (nor muslim) and couldn't understand some phrases, I could kind of understand the context of some of the phrases in the conversations. But that didn't stop me from really diving into the book.
There were very few grammatical errors, but otherwise, I loved how everything was written and described; it really made you feel as though you were journeying with the characters.

[Panda-sama · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Don't judge a book by its cover", but with this book, the contents were as beautiful and fascinating as its cover.

I went into it blind and was confused for a while, but the book revealed its secrets as I progressed.

Aziza and Mina, Babayo and Indo's relationship, Yarima Lalo himself, his reaction to the people who hurt him, his time in the army, the little firefly keepers. I loved everything.

When I turned the page after the last chapter and didn't see an epilogue but the acknowledgements, I almost crieddd

What a book!

[Habibat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deliberately delayed finishing the last section of this book because I wanted it to be my first book of the year. It was a good start to the year. Beautiful story and storytelling. The ‘love’ bits were very optimistic and a bit cheesy, lol, but who doesn’t love ‘love at first sight’ and the concept of ‘soulmates’.

[DeeDee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I've read this year. It's been a while since a book has pulled me in and touched my heart. I could feel the deep sadness and regret of characters that moved me to tears (which trust me is a feat). Every emotion conveyed reaches the reader perfectly.

[Hauwa Samaila · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really tried to like it, but it just felt pretentious for the most part. I couldn’t connect with any of the characters. And while I could relate to some of the anecdotes, they felt as though they were blown out of proportion to elicit a desired outcome. Not for me.

[Firdaws · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had this on my to buy list for over a year and finally got my hands on it. I wished i grabbed this book earlier. Abubakar Adam Ibrahim really did a good work in this storyline. It's one of those books you finish reading and cannot stop thinking about.

[Osori Ibrahim Danasabe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good good book to make a good reading! I long to grab a copy soon.

[Ririwrites · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a masterpiece and this man is one of the finest writers I’ve ever read. When We Were Fireflies shocked me.