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God's Children Are Little Broken Things: Winner of the 2023 Dylan Thomas Prize
In nine exhilarating stories of queer love in contemporary Nigeria, God’s Children Are Little Broken Things announces the arrival of a daring new voice in fiction.
A man revisits the university campus where he lost his first love, aware now of what he couldn’t understand then. A young musician rises to fame at the price of pieces of himself, and the man who loves him. Arinze Ifeakandu explores with tenderness and grace the fundamental question of the heart: can deep love and hope be sustained in spite of the dominant expectations of society, and great adversity.
A man revisits the university campus where he lost his first love, aware now of what he couldn’t understand then. A young musician rises to fame at the price of pieces of himself, and the man who loves him. Arinze Ifeakandu explores with tenderness and grace the fundamental question of the heart: can deep love and hope be sustained in spite of the dominant expectations of society, and great adversity.
203 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2017
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May 11, 2023
God's Children is Arinze Ifeakandu's lauded debut collection, drawing its title from the Caine Prize shortlisted story that first brought him international attention. Context is crucial to fully appreciate these stories. Queer voices and experiences are systematically silenced in Nigeria, as they are in so many places, with sexual expression punishible up to 14 years in prison. But queer silencing also permeates beyond official edicts, as Ifeakandu deftly illustrates throughout each of these pieces. In the story Good Intentions, a chilling tale appearing just after the midpoint of the collection, we see the precariousness of a gay man in early middle age, both personally and professionally, as colleagues channel overt homophobia to manufacture his ouster from a university position. That precariousness serves as a backdrop for each of the stories, lurking even in the adolescent encounters between the young men who populate many of the entries. The US publisher, A Public Space, was instrumental in bringing this collection to life, providing Ifeakandu a fellowship to develop these stories, deservedly winning the inaugural US/Canada iteration of the RoC prize for its efforts. The result is an excellent collection that joins other powerful voices to signal the latest generation of Nigerian fiction.
July 26, 2022
This deeply-felt, debut, story collection from Nigerian poet and writer Arinze Ifeakandu explores queer love and everyday, domestic life in modern-day Nigeria. Ifeakandu’s work reflects his personal experiences - his work originated in the need for a safe space to say what couldn’t easily be voiced out loud. Contemporary Nigeria’s an intensely-homophobic country: same-sex relationships between men or women are completely outlawed, while casual, widespread discrimination can suddenly and totally derail an individual’s life. In some areas - especially in the north where Ifeakandu was born - Sharia law has led to gay men being sentenced to death-by-stoning.
Ifeakandu’s characters are hemmed in by an array of repressive forces - laws that mean the briefest display of affection might lead to years in prison, near-fanatical forms of religion and superstition. It’s a world where even the sound of Christmas carols floating in through a window can create an atmosphere of fear. The characters in these stories have a very particular set of life skills, learning to dodge dating scams that might result in robbery or rape, working out what lies to tell their families and closest friends. They become expert at performing the narrow version of masculinity expected of them. Ifeakandu’s people are fragile, easily fractured, split between states of being: the young boy subjected to brutal rituals intended to rid him of the demons that’ve made him gay; the college professor who faces ruin when his relationships with men are brought to light; the aging man who loses his lover and risks losing their home too.
Yet these are not unrelentingly-bleak narratives, Ifeakandu’s characters are lively and sympathetic united by an unwavering belief in the transformative possibilities of love and requited desires. Despite their harsh environments, they willingly make themselves vulnerable, opening themselves up to moments of intense connection, intimacy and tenderness. They are rendered in carefully-crafted prose, Ifeakandu’s imagery’s sparse but frequently strangely beautiful, his landscapes and settings are impressively vivid and evocative. Like any collection, there are pieces that stand out like “Where the Heart Sleeps” with its poignant portrayal of grief, generational discord, and complicated family ties; others are slightly weaker, “Happy is a Doing Word” feels overly compressed, almost breathless, trying to cover too much ground in the limited space it occupies. Also, the ways in which certain themes or scenarios repeat or resurface to play out in different ways, I think, make this a collection best consumed slowly and in stages.
Thanks to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for an ARC
Rating: 3.5
Ifeakandu’s characters are hemmed in by an array of repressive forces - laws that mean the briefest display of affection might lead to years in prison, near-fanatical forms of religion and superstition. It’s a world where even the sound of Christmas carols floating in through a window can create an atmosphere of fear. The characters in these stories have a very particular set of life skills, learning to dodge dating scams that might result in robbery or rape, working out what lies to tell their families and closest friends. They become expert at performing the narrow version of masculinity expected of them. Ifeakandu’s people are fragile, easily fractured, split between states of being: the young boy subjected to brutal rituals intended to rid him of the demons that’ve made him gay; the college professor who faces ruin when his relationships with men are brought to light; the aging man who loses his lover and risks losing their home too.
Yet these are not unrelentingly-bleak narratives, Ifeakandu’s characters are lively and sympathetic united by an unwavering belief in the transformative possibilities of love and requited desires. Despite their harsh environments, they willingly make themselves vulnerable, opening themselves up to moments of intense connection, intimacy and tenderness. They are rendered in carefully-crafted prose, Ifeakandu’s imagery’s sparse but frequently strangely beautiful, his landscapes and settings are impressively vivid and evocative. Like any collection, there are pieces that stand out like “Where the Heart Sleeps” with its poignant portrayal of grief, generational discord, and complicated family ties; others are slightly weaker, “Happy is a Doing Word” feels overly compressed, almost breathless, trying to cover too much ground in the limited space it occupies. Also, the ways in which certain themes or scenarios repeat or resurface to play out in different ways, I think, make this a collection best consumed slowly and in stages.
Thanks to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for an ARC
Rating: 3.5
May 11, 2023
Winner of the 2022 Republic of Consciousness Prize, US & Canada
2023 International Dylan Thomas Prize
Tonight, you dream that he walks into this room. He is wearing his Arsenal jersey and green shorts. He lies beside you and says, What happened to you, Lotanna? You look so broken.
the closing words of the title story, shortlisted for the 2017 Caine Prize for African writing when the author was just 22.
God's Children Are Little Broken Things: Stories is a debut collection by Arinze Ifeakandu, published by A Public Space Books who also supported the early stages of the writer's career with an Emerging Writers' Fellowship in 2015:
God's Children Are Little Broken Things is a series of 9 stories set in Nigeria, featuring (mainly) male characters in a variety of same-sex relationships. Most are young although one of the most moving stories concerns the male partner of an older man, with grown-up children who has died and the way the family of his partner try to freeze him out of the funeral arrangements and their lives. The Nigerian background includes the ongoing impact of the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, but much of the homophobia the characters encounter would be little different in the UK and US, and these are stories about human relationships more than politics. A sadness infuses much of the collection but moments of hope, joy and, above all, love as well.
In interviews, the author returns to the following as the key influences on his writing and voice:
- Chinua Achebe for Arrow of God, Things Fall Apart
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Purple Hibiscus
- Garth Greenwell for What Belongs To You
- Buchi Emecheta for the Joys Of Motherhood
but he very much has a distinctive, and impressive, voice of his own.
He imagined messaging Somadina. He would be effusively familiar, Longest time, my gee, he would say, and Somadina would respond as enthusiastically. He imagined their friendliness evolving into flirtation, that on the loneliest of nights, such as this, Somadina would say to him, I have been thinking of you all my life.
He chuckled to himself, how wild, his imagination. He messaged Innocent about a party they were planning, then went on WhatsApp, where his fuckbuddies were. Wyd, he typed to Yomi and Ferdinand, who lived closest to him. It still surprised him, the leeway they allowed him. He rarely ever texted them back outside of sex, and he lied to them all the time—I am an only child, he once said—lies that he told not to make himself appear in a striking light but to avoid being known, because to be known was to be invested. Sometimes, after they’d fucked, they would cling to him, and the slightest moment would present itself in which he wanted to hold them, too—and then he would feel only encroachment, the air suddenly too soft with feelings. He would hurry into his jeans and say, E go be, like he always did, and leave. In his apartment, he would wash his face in the bathroom sink, looking in the mirror, his hair spiky and tangled, his beard trimmed into a funnel, his eyes, red from smoking, looking back at him, saying, Who is this stranger, who is this man? Twisting the faucet, he would lower his head again, cup his palms under his face, cold water hitting him. Every day he lived, he felt less like himself. Growth, people called it; he thought of it as estrangement.
The closing words of Happy Is a Doing Word
2023 International Dylan Thomas Prize
Tonight, you dream that he walks into this room. He is wearing his Arsenal jersey and green shorts. He lies beside you and says, What happened to you, Lotanna? You look so broken.
the closing words of the title story, shortlisted for the 2017 Caine Prize for African writing when the author was just 22.
God's Children Are Little Broken Things: Stories is a debut collection by Arinze Ifeakandu, published by A Public Space Books who also supported the early stages of the writer's career with an Emerging Writers' Fellowship in 2015:
A Public Space is an independent nonprofit publisher of an eponymous award-winning literary, arts, and culture magazine, and A Public Space Books. Under the direction of founding editor Brigid Hughes since 2006, it has been our mission to seek out overlooked and unclassifiable work, and to publish writing from beyond established confines.
God's Children Are Little Broken Things is a series of 9 stories set in Nigeria, featuring (mainly) male characters in a variety of same-sex relationships. Most are young although one of the most moving stories concerns the male partner of an older man, with grown-up children who has died and the way the family of his partner try to freeze him out of the funeral arrangements and their lives. The Nigerian background includes the ongoing impact of the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, but much of the homophobia the characters encounter would be little different in the UK and US, and these are stories about human relationships more than politics. A sadness infuses much of the collection but moments of hope, joy and, above all, love as well.
In interviews, the author returns to the following as the key influences on his writing and voice:
- Chinua Achebe for Arrow of God, Things Fall Apart
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Purple Hibiscus
- Garth Greenwell for What Belongs To You
- Buchi Emecheta for the Joys Of Motherhood
but he very much has a distinctive, and impressive, voice of his own.
He imagined messaging Somadina. He would be effusively familiar, Longest time, my gee, he would say, and Somadina would respond as enthusiastically. He imagined their friendliness evolving into flirtation, that on the loneliest of nights, such as this, Somadina would say to him, I have been thinking of you all my life.
He chuckled to himself, how wild, his imagination. He messaged Innocent about a party they were planning, then went on WhatsApp, where his fuckbuddies were. Wyd, he typed to Yomi and Ferdinand, who lived closest to him. It still surprised him, the leeway they allowed him. He rarely ever texted them back outside of sex, and he lied to them all the time—I am an only child, he once said—lies that he told not to make himself appear in a striking light but to avoid being known, because to be known was to be invested. Sometimes, after they’d fucked, they would cling to him, and the slightest moment would present itself in which he wanted to hold them, too—and then he would feel only encroachment, the air suddenly too soft with feelings. He would hurry into his jeans and say, E go be, like he always did, and leave. In his apartment, he would wash his face in the bathroom sink, looking in the mirror, his hair spiky and tangled, his beard trimmed into a funnel, his eyes, red from smoking, looking back at him, saying, Who is this stranger, who is this man? Twisting the faucet, he would lower his head again, cup his palms under his face, cold water hitting him. Every day he lived, he felt less like himself. Growth, people called it; he thought of it as estrangement.
The closing words of Happy Is a Doing Word
Read
October 26, 2022This is such a beautifully told collection of stories about different gay men in Nigeria daring to love one another in a country where it isn’t always safe to do so. I loved the way community was presented here, I also loved the diversity in the representation of tribes and geography. Definitely read this if you love authors like Akwaeke Emezi and James Baldwin.
June 3, 2023
Queer Love Finds a Way in Nigeria
Review of the A Public Space (US) paperback edition (June 7, 2022), released in advance of the Weidenfeld & Nicolson (UK) hardcover (July 28, 2022).
[4.1 average rating, but rounded up to 5 for the overall impact]
Although author Arinze Ifeakandu now lives in the United States, the settings of all of these short stories were in his birth country of Nigeria, where homosexuality is illegal, and where it can be punishable by prison sentence or even by death from stoning in some states/provinces which have adopted Shari’a Law. Source: LGBT rights in Nigeria. There is an added edge behind all of these stories with the possible repercussions in the background.
I found all of these stories to be engaging. Some were about the youthful coming of age, some were of longer term relationships, some were of breakups and reconciliations. There was humour and good spirits in them next to the tragedy and drama. My favourite was the 3rd story, Where the Heart Sleeps, in which an emigrant daughter returns home to Nigeria and bonds with her deceased father's partner to the consternation of the rest of the family.
The following synopses provide story setups only so hopefully won’t be considered spoilers.
1. The Dreamer’s Litany **** A customer named Chief takes an interest in a shopkeeper named Auwal.
2. Happy is a Doing Word **** Two young boys, Binyelum and Somadina, are bullied about their relationship.
3. Where the Heart Sleeps ***** Nouye comes from America to attend her father's funeral in Nigeria. His partner Tochukwa is still living in their house and the rest of the family wants to evict him.
4. God’s Children are Little Broken Things **** Lotanna wants a relationship with Kamsi.
5. Alobam *** Ralu has been stood up by Obum while he awaited him at a disco. But then Obum asks Ralu to come pick him up from where he was two-timing him with Ibrahim.
6. Good Intentions *** Doc, a 40-year-old teacher is facing disciplinary hearings at his university due to his relationship with a 20-year-old student activist.
7. What the Singers Say About Love ***** Somto is in a relationship with Kayode, but the latter begins to ghost him as his music career begins to take off.
8. Michael’s Possessions **** Obinna comes to collect mementos of his dead son Michael from the home of his estranged ex-wife Adanna.
9. Mother’s Love *****. A mother visits her son Chikelu just after his partner Chenna has moved out. She doesn't know about their relationship.
There was a smattering of various Nigerian language phrases used throughout the book. These were Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo along with the occasional Nigerian pidgin. There were no footnotes to explain these although I was able to locate a glossary of Nigerian pidgin (see Trivia Link below). I think most of the other language meanings could be guessed in context, but I would have loved it if they had footnoted the book with translations.
I read God’s Children are Little Broken Things due to its winning the inaugural Republic of Consciousness Prize for USA/Canada on March 28, 2023. For more information see the March 28, 2023 entry at their Blog and see general information at the RoC USA/Canada website.
Trivia and Link
A brief glossary of Nigerian pidgin is available here.
Review of the A Public Space (US) paperback edition (June 7, 2022), released in advance of the Weidenfeld & Nicolson (UK) hardcover (July 28, 2022).
Who taught them to hide? They never wondered. They were only curious fingers in the mild dark. You like it? Somadina said, not in the voice that he would use with the girls and women years away, he’d not yet learned to treat pleasing someone else as an act that affirmed his power over them. He asked because he wanted to know, and Binyelum said yes, and it was not a performance of surrender at all; this was not a game of owning and being owned, not yet.
[4.1 average rating, but rounded up to 5 for the overall impact]
Although author Arinze Ifeakandu now lives in the United States, the settings of all of these short stories were in his birth country of Nigeria, where homosexuality is illegal, and where it can be punishable by prison sentence or even by death from stoning in some states/provinces which have adopted Shari’a Law. Source: LGBT rights in Nigeria. There is an added edge behind all of these stories with the possible repercussions in the background.
I found all of these stories to be engaging. Some were about the youthful coming of age, some were of longer term relationships, some were of breakups and reconciliations. There was humour and good spirits in them next to the tragedy and drama. My favourite was the 3rd story, Where the Heart Sleeps, in which an emigrant daughter returns home to Nigeria and bonds with her deceased father's partner to the consternation of the rest of the family.
The following synopses provide story setups only so hopefully won’t be considered spoilers.
1. The Dreamer’s Litany **** A customer named Chief takes an interest in a shopkeeper named Auwal.
2. Happy is a Doing Word **** Two young boys, Binyelum and Somadina, are bullied about their relationship.
3. Where the Heart Sleeps ***** Nouye comes from America to attend her father's funeral in Nigeria. His partner Tochukwa is still living in their house and the rest of the family wants to evict him.
4. God’s Children are Little Broken Things **** Lotanna wants a relationship with Kamsi.
5. Alobam *** Ralu has been stood up by Obum while he awaited him at a disco. But then Obum asks Ralu to come pick him up from where he was two-timing him with Ibrahim.
6. Good Intentions *** Doc, a 40-year-old teacher is facing disciplinary hearings at his university due to his relationship with a 20-year-old student activist.
7. What the Singers Say About Love ***** Somto is in a relationship with Kayode, but the latter begins to ghost him as his music career begins to take off.
8. Michael’s Possessions **** Obinna comes to collect mementos of his dead son Michael from the home of his estranged ex-wife Adanna.
9. Mother’s Love *****. A mother visits her son Chikelu just after his partner Chenna has moved out. She doesn't know about their relationship.
There was a smattering of various Nigerian language phrases used throughout the book. These were Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo along with the occasional Nigerian pidgin. There were no footnotes to explain these although I was able to locate a glossary of Nigerian pidgin (see Trivia Link below). I think most of the other language meanings could be guessed in context, but I would have loved it if they had footnoted the book with translations.
I read God’s Children are Little Broken Things due to its winning the inaugural Republic of Consciousness Prize for USA/Canada on March 28, 2023. For more information see the March 28, 2023 entry at their Blog and see general information at the RoC USA/Canada website.
Trivia and Link
A brief glossary of Nigerian pidgin is available here.
June 8, 2023
A heartbreaking beast. Once the title story (the fourth story) arrives, this short story collection hits its stride and burns the roof down. Every story in the second half is a banger. While the first three stories are gorgeously written and successfully convey a sense of place, they also had a “been-there, done-that” quality to it (they all followed similar beats and plot points; still very good). I was gripped, but wasn’t emotionally connected.
And then that title story hit, and I cried my eyes out. And every story after that point felt like all of my emotions were being scraped and pummelled until stripped to their rawest form. Damn, this writer knows how to …uhm… write. These characters are flesh and blood/beating heart people. So much anguish and angst and aching within these pages.
The story “What the Singers Say About Love” is hands-down one of the best stories I have ever read. It was like reading a modern day James Baldwin. I wasn’t ready. The prose, the mood, the naked display of human emotions spilling all over the pages.
This collection explores emotionally- and sexually- charged gay stories in a harsh world that isn’t safe for its characters; a country that is deeply and outwardly homophobic. Can love and desire grow in a setting that tries everything in their power to quash it?
A writer to look out for. Damn, I need a novel outta him. The things he’d do to my insides.
And then that title story hit, and I cried my eyes out. And every story after that point felt like all of my emotions were being scraped and pummelled until stripped to their rawest form. Damn, this writer knows how to …uhm… write. These characters are flesh and blood/beating heart people. So much anguish and angst and aching within these pages.
The story “What the Singers Say About Love” is hands-down one of the best stories I have ever read. It was like reading a modern day James Baldwin. I wasn’t ready. The prose, the mood, the naked display of human emotions spilling all over the pages.
This collection explores emotionally- and sexually- charged gay stories in a harsh world that isn’t safe for its characters; a country that is deeply and outwardly homophobic. Can love and desire grow in a setting that tries everything in their power to quash it?
A writer to look out for. Damn, I need a novel outta him. The things he’d do to my insides.
June 9, 2022
God’s Children are Little Broken Things started as a short story set in Nigeria at a time when anti-gay laws were endangering Nigerian LGBTQ communities. I read this coming-of-age story written in second person about a year ago and found it compelling, fascinating, and intriguing.
So, when I found out Arinze Ifeakandu would release a book with nine short stories, including God’s Little Children are Little Broken Things, I immediately put the book on my TBR.
First of all, I love the cover and the title of this book. They’re mesmerizing, melancholic, and tender, just like the gay stories in this book.
I took my time to read the nine stories and read about one each week. I didn’t want to rush through this book that tells us so much about (queer) Nigerian life. The writing is beautiful and lyrical, but in each story, my heart went out to those boys and men who had to hide who they really were. Some stories left me heartbroken. The writing is interspersed with different African languages, such as Hausa. Sometimes it made reading the stories a bit more difficult, but on the other hand, it also made each story genuine and lived.
I highly recommend this beautiful book to those who want to read different kinds of queer stories that are beautifully written!
I received an ARC from A Public Space Books and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
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So, when I found out Arinze Ifeakandu would release a book with nine short stories, including God’s Little Children are Little Broken Things, I immediately put the book on my TBR.
First of all, I love the cover and the title of this book. They’re mesmerizing, melancholic, and tender, just like the gay stories in this book.
I took my time to read the nine stories and read about one each week. I didn’t want to rush through this book that tells us so much about (queer) Nigerian life. The writing is beautiful and lyrical, but in each story, my heart went out to those boys and men who had to hide who they really were. Some stories left me heartbroken. The writing is interspersed with different African languages, such as Hausa. Sometimes it made reading the stories a bit more difficult, but on the other hand, it also made each story genuine and lived.
I highly recommend this beautiful book to those who want to read different kinds of queer stories that are beautifully written!
I received an ARC from A Public Space Books and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
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December 12, 2020
This short story based in Nigeria hooked me quickly. There are constant small hints of what is to come throughout this busy short story. The two guys Lotanna and Kamsi meet quickly, and the complications come just as fast. An excellent tragic story.
There were a few phrases that I found google-translate helpful. e.g. "A na-eme kwa? Ee, a na-eme" = "Is it done too? Yes, it does." is near the very end, and good to know this phrase meaning. I actually like books/stories like this that intersperse the local language and let me quickly use my phone to translate. The use of the local language always has meaning beyond the words spoken.
I'm bordering on giving a 5, just because I KNOW I'm going to re-read this one! Where is that GR 4.5 when you need it!
There were a few phrases that I found google-translate helpful. e.g. "A na-eme kwa? Ee, a na-eme" = "Is it done too? Yes, it does." is near the very end, and good to know this phrase meaning. I actually like books/stories like this that intersperse the local language and let me quickly use my phone to translate. The use of the local language always has meaning beyond the words spoken.
I'm bordering on giving a 5, just because I KNOW I'm going to re-read this one! Where is that GR 4.5 when you need it!
January 6, 2024
3.5/5
God's Children Are Little Broken Things: Stories is a book that will grab you from the insides and stir. In Ifeakandu's worlds, queer men don't get happy endings - they are constantly separated and left heartbroken by a repressive society, religious fanaticism. internalised homophobia, prejudice etc. At best they get closure. This isn't a critique; I actually really like the use of individualised stories to shed light on larger issues in the community: how do relationships play out between a femme, out man and a closeted masc man?
I can't help but draw a parallel to The Thing Around Your Neck not because they are both Nigerian short story collections but because Ifeakandu seems to be influenced by Adichie's writing. They use similar sentence constructions and a similar mix of flowery sentences and straightforward sentences. Where Adichie has a knack for writing perfectly imperfect yet sympathetic protagonists, Ifeakandu is closely attuned to writing perfectly imperfect relationships with carefully crafted power dynamics.
The problem for me is that the sheer range in the quality of the short stories was too stark for me to justify rating this collection higher. Some stories will stick with me for a long time and may be my favourite short stories I have read and I found others unenjoyable and even not exciting to follow. Furthermore I am far from the biggest stickler for grammar but Ifeakandu possibly stylistically chooses to not use quotation marks and that made some of the dialogue scenes quite confusing for me. All in all though I really enjoyed the stories that I enjoyed such as The Dreamer's Litany and What The Singers Say About Love.
This is definitely a worthwhile collection that I would say overall I strongly recommend reading.
God's Children Are Little Broken Things: Stories is a book that will grab you from the insides and stir. In Ifeakandu's worlds, queer men don't get happy endings - they are constantly separated and left heartbroken by a repressive society, religious fanaticism. internalised homophobia, prejudice etc. At best they get closure. This isn't a critique; I actually really like the use of individualised stories to shed light on larger issues in the community: how do relationships play out between a femme, out man and a closeted masc man?
I can't help but draw a parallel to The Thing Around Your Neck not because they are both Nigerian short story collections but because Ifeakandu seems to be influenced by Adichie's writing. They use similar sentence constructions and a similar mix of flowery sentences and straightforward sentences. Where Adichie has a knack for writing perfectly imperfect yet sympathetic protagonists, Ifeakandu is closely attuned to writing perfectly imperfect relationships with carefully crafted power dynamics.
The problem for me is that the sheer range in the quality of the short stories was too stark for me to justify rating this collection higher. Some stories will stick with me for a long time and may be my favourite short stories I have read and I found others unenjoyable and even not exciting to follow. Furthermore I am far from the biggest stickler for grammar but Ifeakandu possibly stylistically chooses to not use quotation marks and that made some of the dialogue scenes quite confusing for me. All in all though I really enjoyed the stories that I enjoyed such as The Dreamer's Litany and What The Singers Say About Love.
This is definitely a worthwhile collection that I would say overall I strongly recommend reading.
December 22, 2023
A Public Space's submission to, and now winner of, the inaugural US/Canada Republic of Consciousness Prize for small presses.
The writing of this book feels like an act of bravery given how these stories portray contemporary Nigerian culture's stance against homosexuality. These nine stories look at queer relationships from a number of vulnerable perspectives and challenges. I normally tire of a recurring theme in short story collections, but I actually seemed to gain interest as I progressed through the pages (with the exception of the last story). Given that I don't think I'm built to read prize longlists and I wasn't really in the mood for a short story collection, Ifeakandu managed to overcome these additional hurdles I unnecessarily brought to his work.
My favorite stories were:
- "Where the Heart Sleeps"
- "Good Intentions"
- "What the Singers Say about Love"
- "Michael’s Possessions"
------------------------------------------------
My Longlist Rankings for the U.S./Canada Republic of Consciousness Prize
1) Family Album: Stories by Gabriela Alemán
2) A New Name: Septology VI-VII by Jon Fosse
3) Moldy Strawberries: Stories by Caio Fernando Abreu
4) Get ’em Young, Treat ’em Tough, Tell ’em Nothing by Robin McLean
5) God's Children Are Little Broken Things: Stories by Arinze Ifeakandu (Prize Winner)
6) The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
7) New Animal by Ella Baxter
8) Blood Red by Gabriela Ponce Padilla
9) Pollak's Arm by Hans von Trotha
10) New and Selected Stories by Cristina Rivera Garza
"Before Kayode, there had been all these other people, as well as a constant feeling of loss after most hookups, a loneliness that all the fucks in the world could not fill. Before him, I walked around campus with my body alert, that is what the body does when it has become a recipient of frequent violence, it perks up, an antelope, ready to flee, or a guard dog, ready to pounce."
The writing of this book feels like an act of bravery given how these stories portray contemporary Nigerian culture's stance against homosexuality. These nine stories look at queer relationships from a number of vulnerable perspectives and challenges. I normally tire of a recurring theme in short story collections, but I actually seemed to gain interest as I progressed through the pages (with the exception of the last story). Given that I don't think I'm built to read prize longlists and I wasn't really in the mood for a short story collection, Ifeakandu managed to overcome these additional hurdles I unnecessarily brought to his work.
My favorite stories were:
- "Where the Heart Sleeps"
- "Good Intentions"
- "What the Singers Say about Love"
- "Michael’s Possessions"
------------------------------------------------
My Longlist Rankings for the U.S./Canada Republic of Consciousness Prize
1) Family Album: Stories by Gabriela Alemán
2) A New Name: Septology VI-VII by Jon Fosse
3) Moldy Strawberries: Stories by Caio Fernando Abreu
4) Get ’em Young, Treat ’em Tough, Tell ’em Nothing by Robin McLean
5) God's Children Are Little Broken Things: Stories by Arinze Ifeakandu (Prize Winner)
6) The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
7) New Animal by Ella Baxter
8) Blood Red by Gabriela Ponce Padilla
9) Pollak's Arm by Hans von Trotha
10) New and Selected Stories by Cristina Rivera Garza
May 6, 2023
Absolutely fantastic stuff. Very highly recommended. Not a dud in the batch, and just gorgeously written.
July 11, 2023
This award-winning collection of short stories by Arinze Ifeakandu set in Nigeria is exceptional. There are nine stories altogether and each of them is crafted skillfully imbued with grace and empathy. For me, they are the rare combination of being heart-rendingly moving and stellar technical writing. From the first story 'The Dreamer's Litany' to the last 'Mother's Love,' the introspective worlds of gay characters wrestling with precarious found happiness and societal intolerance are immersive and gripping. Incidentally, both these bookending stories are the ones I value the most highly although there is not a single limp forgettable story or setting in the whole collection.
From the cold harmattan wind blowing in to the arid Kano plains, the grassy campus of the University of Nigeria in Nsukka and the big city bustle of Lagos, the settings are evocative. I appreciate deeply the code-switching of languages between pidgin, Hausa, Igbo, English etc. to highlight shifting situations and relationships. The simmering tension between certain Yoruba and Igbo characters was conveyed subtly and sensitively.
Arinze Ifeakandu is definitely a writer to watch who has been receiving well-deserved accolades from literary luminaries.
4.5 ⭐️
From the cold harmattan wind blowing in to the arid Kano plains, the grassy campus of the University of Nigeria in Nsukka and the big city bustle of Lagos, the settings are evocative. I appreciate deeply the code-switching of languages between pidgin, Hausa, Igbo, English etc. to highlight shifting situations and relationships. The simmering tension between certain Yoruba and Igbo characters was conveyed subtly and sensitively.
Arinze Ifeakandu is definitely a writer to watch who has been receiving well-deserved accolades from literary luminaries.
4.5 ⭐️
April 6, 2023
The author’s debut collection, it’s described by the publishers as ‘nine exhilarating stories of queer love in contemporary Nigeria’ and has been praised by Sarah Waters as ‘A hugely impressive collection, full of subtlety, wisdom and heart’.
As a straight white British woman I wondered if I would be able to feel a connection with the experiences of characters so different from me. However, at their heart, these are stories about relationships that involve passion, longing, betrayal, tenderness, disappointment and loss, experiences and emotions to which all of us can probably relate to some degree. However, in an environment in which homosexuality not only brings abuse and discrimination but is also illegal, as it is in Nigeria, there is an added element: the need for secrecy and hiding your true self. ‘He was not new to pretense. Wasn’t his entire life a play, and hadn’t he put on, so far, a stellar performance? He had picked this life and sworn to be very good at it because there was no reward in loving boys… It made you the most hated person in the world.’
In some cases, this hatred takes the form of physical violence, even perpetrated within familes. And, for many of the characters, the need to hide their sexuality leaves them open to abuse and violence that they cannot report. Intimacy may be confined to snatched moments in anonymous hotel rooms, in clandestine clubs, teenage bedrooms or even abandoned buildings. Disclosure can damage careers, destroy reputations and wreck lives.
A story I found particularly moving was ‘Where The Heart Sleeps’ in which the relationship between Nonye and Tochukwu, the partner of Dubem, Nonye’s recently deceased father, changes gradually from hostility to a degree of understanding, united by their shared loss. ‘They were silent, but it was not the silence of before. It was not exactly comfortable, but it was nice.’ It caused me to think about aspects of discrimination that wouldn’t otherwise have occurred to me, such as Tochukwu having no official status, even to have Dubem’s body released to him or to have the right to continue living in the house they shared. ‘It hit him like a sudden shard of light at a precarious bend on a dark road, the extent of his powerlessness.’ And the notion that Tochukwu, as a gay man, must by nature be predatory is reflected in Nonye’s mother’s remark that he ‘will be an old story soon, a memory, something that happened’ and that he will ‘move on to the next man’.
There is some beautiful writing, such as in the first story, ‘A Dreamer’s Litany’ in which a young man gazes at a cityscape from a hotel room. ‘The city was like a drunken man, it wobbled, garrulous and loud, and then a moment came when it tempered into a fitful somberness, slipping finally into a long, exhausted sleep.’
The stories in God’s Children Are Little Broken Things are often dark, and occasionally distressing, but there are flashes of light in that darkness, such as in the final story, ‘Mother’s Love’. For those sensitive to such things, some of the stories contain scenes of a sexually explicit nature. And there are occasional fragments of dialogue in the native languages of Nigeria which, whilst giving authenticity, did require me to search out translations.
As a straight white British woman I wondered if I would be able to feel a connection with the experiences of characters so different from me. However, at their heart, these are stories about relationships that involve passion, longing, betrayal, tenderness, disappointment and loss, experiences and emotions to which all of us can probably relate to some degree. However, in an environment in which homosexuality not only brings abuse and discrimination but is also illegal, as it is in Nigeria, there is an added element: the need for secrecy and hiding your true self. ‘He was not new to pretense. Wasn’t his entire life a play, and hadn’t he put on, so far, a stellar performance? He had picked this life and sworn to be very good at it because there was no reward in loving boys… It made you the most hated person in the world.’
In some cases, this hatred takes the form of physical violence, even perpetrated within familes. And, for many of the characters, the need to hide their sexuality leaves them open to abuse and violence that they cannot report. Intimacy may be confined to snatched moments in anonymous hotel rooms, in clandestine clubs, teenage bedrooms or even abandoned buildings. Disclosure can damage careers, destroy reputations and wreck lives.
A story I found particularly moving was ‘Where The Heart Sleeps’ in which the relationship between Nonye and Tochukwu, the partner of Dubem, Nonye’s recently deceased father, changes gradually from hostility to a degree of understanding, united by their shared loss. ‘They were silent, but it was not the silence of before. It was not exactly comfortable, but it was nice.’ It caused me to think about aspects of discrimination that wouldn’t otherwise have occurred to me, such as Tochukwu having no official status, even to have Dubem’s body released to him or to have the right to continue living in the house they shared. ‘It hit him like a sudden shard of light at a precarious bend on a dark road, the extent of his powerlessness.’ And the notion that Tochukwu, as a gay man, must by nature be predatory is reflected in Nonye’s mother’s remark that he ‘will be an old story soon, a memory, something that happened’ and that he will ‘move on to the next man’.
There is some beautiful writing, such as in the first story, ‘A Dreamer’s Litany’ in which a young man gazes at a cityscape from a hotel room. ‘The city was like a drunken man, it wobbled, garrulous and loud, and then a moment came when it tempered into a fitful somberness, slipping finally into a long, exhausted sleep.’
The stories in God’s Children Are Little Broken Things are often dark, and occasionally distressing, but there are flashes of light in that darkness, such as in the final story, ‘Mother’s Love’. For those sensitive to such things, some of the stories contain scenes of a sexually explicit nature. And there are occasional fragments of dialogue in the native languages of Nigeria which, whilst giving authenticity, did require me to search out translations.
October 31, 2022
Arinze Ifeakandu's God's Children are Little Broken Thing is a beautiful collection of queer, Nigerian love stories.
Through 9 tales, Ifeakandu shines a light on queer life in Nigeria and on the ways its culture shapes its love stories. Each story is heart-wrenching as the characters struggle to find themselves happy in spite of their sexuality. Though the stories all tended to have a single note, individually they are beautiful.
Through 9 tales, Ifeakandu shines a light on queer life in Nigeria and on the ways its culture shapes its love stories. Each story is heart-wrenching as the characters struggle to find themselves happy in spite of their sexuality. Though the stories all tended to have a single note, individually they are beautiful.
October 24, 2022
Beautifully real, fragile and human slices of life. Unpretentious and agreeably nonmelodramatic.
I will be looking an eye out for more from Ifeakandu.
I will be looking an eye out for more from Ifeakandu.
December 28, 2024
I’d definitely like to reread this some day
This was so complex; tragic, heartbreaking and beautiful. Most of the stories made me so sad; I wished a happier ending for them but that’s just life and it’s real. This a painful five star 😩 but it so deserved! So many many triggers! Look out !
This was so complex; tragic, heartbreaking and beautiful. Most of the stories made me so sad; I wished a happier ending for them but that’s just life and it’s real. This a painful five star 😩 but it so deserved! So many many triggers! Look out !
May 14, 2025
A beautifully written selection of short stories following lives and moments of a handful of gay men in Nigeria - the loves they found and lost, the ones that completed and destroyed them and also how they were seen by the world or had to hide their love away.
Like most story collections, I didn't love every one of these but the majority of them really touched me in some way, and I enjoyed seeing small bits of these ordinary lives in Nigeria and how gay men still felt like they had to act or hide to keep themselves or their loved ones safe. An insight into a part of Nigerian culture I haven't read too much about before and I enjoyed, and appreciated it.
Like most story collections, I didn't love every one of these but the majority of them really touched me in some way, and I enjoyed seeing small bits of these ordinary lives in Nigeria and how gay men still felt like they had to act or hide to keep themselves or their loved ones safe. An insight into a part of Nigerian culture I haven't read too much about before and I enjoyed, and appreciated it.
June 7, 2022
God's Children Are Little Broken Things is a collection of short fiction stories by Arinze Ifeakandu that highlight queer stories from gay men set in the backdrop of modern day Nigeria. Any sort of homosexual relationships and activities are criminalized in Nigeria and can cause social problems from the Church and community as well, and these stories all capture the nuance of trying to be a "perfect" family man with a wife and children while trying to repress sexual identity in a world that won't accept it and the complexities that come along with it. I like reading African contemporary queer stories, because black stories that aren't centered in the West can be harder to find. I liked that these take place in Nigeria and interweave the many cultures and languages of the country. I had an audiobook version (which I think was narrated by the author himself) and I really liked his voice.
Thank you to TLC book tours for reaching out and sending a free audiobook in exchange for an honest review!
Thank you to TLC book tours for reaching out and sending a free audiobook in exchange for an honest review!
April 10, 2023
It deserves every single award it has received so far and I hope it wins at least as many in the future. A novel, whenever Ifeakandu writes it, will be amazing.
April 15, 2025
As a Nigerian living in Nigeria, I've had to come to terms that I'll most likely not have a happy romantic life as a queer person in this country. Reading this book made me feel a lot of emotions. Most of the stories, although not lacking love and devotion, end sadly and that's unfortunately the reality for us. The ones with happy endings though, filled me with hope and joy.
Intertwined with Igbo, Hausa and the occasional Yoruba sentences and references while also being set in Abuja, Lagos and Kano—places I know and have lived,the stories in God's Children are Little Broken Things felt familiar and intimate and that just made it all the better.
The author mentioned in his author's note and dedication that he wrote stories in secondary school to escape from his reality and bring himself joy and that he wanted to do similar for others with this collection and he succeeded. I always come back to this, particularly the story "Mother's Love" when I need a bit of an escape.
Intertwined with Igbo, Hausa and the occasional Yoruba sentences and references while also being set in Abuja, Lagos and Kano—places I know and have lived,the stories in God's Children are Little Broken Things felt familiar and intimate and that just made it all the better.
The author mentioned in his author's note and dedication that he wrote stories in secondary school to escape from his reality and bring himself joy and that he wanted to do similar for others with this collection and he succeeded. I always come back to this, particularly the story "Mother's Love" when I need a bit of an escape.
July 9, 2022
God's Children Are Little Broken Things, by the Nigerian writer Arinze Ifeakandu is a collection of short stories about gay life in a country in which it is forbidden. This alone gives this collection a subtext of very real fear which runs through each of these nine tales.
These stories are written in a variety of perspectives - and Ifeakandu was especially effective in his use of a second person narrative which can be very tricky to pull off well. Interspersed in the stories are Hausa saying, phrases and words, all of which add a lot of local colour to proceedings. The stories themselves were incredibly well written, often very moving and heartbreaking. I read all nine stories in one sitting, though afterwards I wished I taken my time and perhaps spread them out one a night. That said, with writing of this calibre, I suspect one day I will be drawn back into its covers. A great collection.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC.
These stories are written in a variety of perspectives - and Ifeakandu was especially effective in his use of a second person narrative which can be very tricky to pull off well. Interspersed in the stories are Hausa saying, phrases and words, all of which add a lot of local colour to proceedings. The stories themselves were incredibly well written, often very moving and heartbreaking. I read all nine stories in one sitting, though afterwards I wished I taken my time and perhaps spread them out one a night. That said, with writing of this calibre, I suspect one day I will be drawn back into its covers. A great collection.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC.
February 19, 2023
Ibrahim if I catch you?????!!
My heart was so heavy after reading each story. I was like can we have a little bit of joy? Spare joy?
Loved the last story. There was some form of happy ending at the end and I do love a happy ending
3.5 stars
I look forward to more books from the author:
My heart was so heavy after reading each story. I was like can we have a little bit of joy? Spare joy?
Loved the last story. There was some form of happy ending at the end and I do love a happy ending
3.5 stars
I look forward to more books from the author:
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June 23, 2023It’s so hard to rate a short story collection as a whole. I loved ‘where the heart sleeps’, a tale about grief and who is entitled to it in a country where being gay is illegal. The blend of generations intertwine beautifully to show the effects of secrecy and loneliness that surrounds queer love in Nigeria. Other stories did not stand out so much for me and felt quite unvaried - although they were unarguably well-written. Perhaps that is the appeal of short story collections, to work through the stories and find the one tale that connects with you. The author is clearly very talented and this is an important and passionate collection.
December 16, 2022
This was a remarkably alright book that turned into boring because each story was just alright and there were too many alright stories to keep reading. There were some nice themes covered queerness, family, grief, etc but each story the characters were interesting enough to read but not gripping, the conflicts often reflected reality but at times it felt like the monotony, simplicity and fear of everyday life. It was alright. Nothing to write home about, not much to complain about tbh
Read
May 1, 2025I don't think that this is a great short story collection. I don't even think it's a good short story collection. HOWEVER, I think that there are two stories that would be FANTASTIC novellas or novels because written as short stories, they're just not as impactful, and those stories are "Where the Heart Sleeps," and "Good Intentions".
Make no mistake, Ifeakandu's writing is good, but it isn't lyrical or doing anything new/unique. I would have rather read a longer piece of fiction based on either of the two short stories I previously mentioned because I think that they packed an emotional punch...I just never quite got to that point because they felt too short.
[Audiobook and ebook borrowed from Hoopla]
Make no mistake, Ifeakandu's writing is good, but it isn't lyrical or doing anything new/unique. I would have rather read a longer piece of fiction based on either of the two short stories I previously mentioned because I think that they packed an emotional punch...I just never quite got to that point because they felt too short.
[Audiobook and ebook borrowed from Hoopla]
October 15, 2025
Some of these stories stood out and some not as much.
I have read an autobiography by a Nigerian man, and I felt his story more strongly portrayed the social attitude of Nigerian culture towards gay men. His story actually gave me more of an idea of the cultural biases, which allowed for more depth to these stories.
I have read an autobiography by a Nigerian man, and I felt his story more strongly portrayed the social attitude of Nigerian culture towards gay men. His story actually gave me more of an idea of the cultural biases, which allowed for more depth to these stories.
November 7, 2023
4.75 stars 🌟 Such beautiful tender lines. Some of these stories snatched my breath away while some were so visceral they split my heart in two. How is this a debut? I can't wait to see what more Arinze has to offer.
P.S I NEED to read more African centered queer stories.
P.S I NEED to read more African centered queer stories.
August 20, 2023
Preciosas historias sobre ser queer en Nigeria. Jamás había leído un libro de este país y este se sintió como una hermosa carta de presentación.
March 7, 2024
really really really good book!!!
December 21, 2023
this was both beautiful and so incredibly sad. I definitely think this sort of book is something I'd like to read more next yearrr
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