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Every Story Is a Love Story
From the New York Times bestselling author of Behold the Dreamers and How Beautiful We Were, a captivating novel about love lost—and the weight of regret
“Every Story Is a Love Story is a deeply moving, beautifully told novel about grief, regret, anger, forgiveness, and the insistent resilience of the human heart. Imbolo Mbue’s generosity on the page is breathtaking.”—Patrick Ryan, author of Buckeye
What if I’d never gotten into that car? What if I’d pulled out of the driveway five minutes earlier, or ten minutes later?
Three years ago, Wolo’s wife was killed in a tragic car accident. In an instant, the great love of his life was gone, and so was their beautiful future. In the face of a loss that seemed insurmountable, Wolo has slowly rebuilt a semblance of a he goes to work, hangs out with a small circle of friends, and fends off the matchmaking efforts of the older women in his family. The grief that dogged him has, with time, become a little gentler.
Until a letter arrives one day, unbidden, threatening to upend his life once again. It is from Victoria, the woman who was behind the wheel that terrible day. Wolo’s family pastor tells him the letter is the work of the devil; his mother expressly forbids him from making further mention of it; his father’s second wife calls, from Cameroon, to tell him to destroy it. But Wolo ponders it for days, and ultimately agrees to meet with the woman who killed his wife. When he does, the compassion and deep remorse of the woman affects him in ways he had never imagined, and he begins to wonder if the long road to healing can be shared.
What do we owe to those who have hurt us? Are we defined by our worst moments and our deepest regrets? And, more than anything, can forgiveness ease our suffering? Moving and full of life, Every Story Is a Love Story charts the uneven path from heartbreak to healing.
“Every Story Is a Love Story is a deeply moving, beautifully told novel about grief, regret, anger, forgiveness, and the insistent resilience of the human heart. Imbolo Mbue’s generosity on the page is breathtaking.”—Patrick Ryan, author of Buckeye
What if I’d never gotten into that car? What if I’d pulled out of the driveway five minutes earlier, or ten minutes later?
Three years ago, Wolo’s wife was killed in a tragic car accident. In an instant, the great love of his life was gone, and so was their beautiful future. In the face of a loss that seemed insurmountable, Wolo has slowly rebuilt a semblance of a he goes to work, hangs out with a small circle of friends, and fends off the matchmaking efforts of the older women in his family. The grief that dogged him has, with time, become a little gentler.
Until a letter arrives one day, unbidden, threatening to upend his life once again. It is from Victoria, the woman who was behind the wheel that terrible day. Wolo’s family pastor tells him the letter is the work of the devil; his mother expressly forbids him from making further mention of it; his father’s second wife calls, from Cameroon, to tell him to destroy it. But Wolo ponders it for days, and ultimately agrees to meet with the woman who killed his wife. When he does, the compassion and deep remorse of the woman affects him in ways he had never imagined, and he begins to wonder if the long road to healing can be shared.
What do we owe to those who have hurt us? Are we defined by our worst moments and our deepest regrets? And, more than anything, can forgiveness ease our suffering? Moving and full of life, Every Story Is a Love Story charts the uneven path from heartbreak to healing.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published October 6, 2026
About the author
Imbolo Mbue
9 books2,544 followersImbolo Mbue is a native of Limbe, Cameroon. She holds a B.S. from Rutgers University and an M.A. from Columbia University. A resident of the United States for over a decade, she lives in New York City. BEHOLD THE DREAMERS is her first novel.
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Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Every Story is a Love Story tackles the complicated issue of grief, forgiveness and what we owe those who have hurt us. Victoria Snow killed Wolo’s pregnant wife three years ago. The police deemed it a tragic accident and no charges were pressed. Now, Victoria has written him a letter asking to meet. Everyone Wolo holds dear tells him not to do it - his mother, brother, father’s second wife, even his pastor. Yet, he still does. This isn’t some sappy tale of easy forgiveness, of quick healing. It’s messy, it’s hard. Wolo wants “the truth” but only his version of the truth.
The story alternates between the present and back when Wolo first met Yoma and their time together. The contrast of the pain of the present and the happiness of before is striking.
As the story moves forward, it also deals with what we owe ourselves versus others, such as our family. Throw into that mix different cultural expectations. How are we to rank happiness between everyone? I found Tata Munyenge to be the true hero of the book. His words of wisdom and compassion were the ones I was highlighting.
The book is definitely character heavy and slow paced. At times, I felt it dragged. But I just wanted Wolo to finally find happiness. I found the ending to be sort of nebulous and I can’t say it entirely worked for me. But again, different cultures…
My thanks to Netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.
The story alternates between the present and back when Wolo first met Yoma and their time together. The contrast of the pain of the present and the happiness of before is striking.
As the story moves forward, it also deals with what we owe ourselves versus others, such as our family. Throw into that mix different cultural expectations. How are we to rank happiness between everyone? I found Tata Munyenge to be the true hero of the book. His words of wisdom and compassion were the ones I was highlighting.
The book is definitely character heavy and slow paced. At times, I felt it dragged. But I just wanted Wolo to finally find happiness. I found the ending to be sort of nebulous and I can’t say it entirely worked for me. But again, different cultures…
My thanks to Netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.
April 14, 2026
A very hesitant four stars.
I absolutely loved Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers, which masterfully navigated the immigrant experience, a journey that oscillates between a dream and a nightmare. Her latest, Every Story Is a Love Story, follows a similar vein of immigrants finding their way in America, though through a much more tragic lens.
Wolo and his wife, Yolo, are successful, intelligent, and originally from Cameroon. They've made their way to the East Coast and are on the cusp of a new chapter, expecting twins, when tragedy strikes: an American woman named Victoria accidentally hits Yolo with her car, killing her and the unborn babies.
Three years later, Wolo remains rightfully paralyzed by grief, convinced he will never find love or happiness again. While his family refuses to forgive Victoria, Wolo receives an apologetic letter from her and decides to meet her. He realizes there is no single way to handle grief or a correct path toward forgiveness; he simply wants to move on. To do that, he feels he must understand Victoria’s perspective, eventually acknowledging that she, too, is a victim of the horrific freak accident.
The core moral question is, how does one recover from unimaginable tragedy? and it is is profound. However, I found the execution a bit uneven. The narrative frequently shifts back to Wolo’s past when he first meets Yolo. I found that the past scenes overshadowed the important relationship between Wolo and Victoria. There are deep dives into his family dynamics involving his father, stepmother, and his gay brother.
While these sections added depth, the pacing felt off at times. I found myself skimming certain subplots that felt disconnected from the central arc. I truly wished there had been more focus on the interaction between Wolo and Victoria, as that is where the tension and the plot really hits their stride.
Despite my issues with the pacing, Mbue’s writing remains powerful. This book is incredibly sad, yet it serves as a powerful lesson in moving forward and finding forgiveness for the seemingly unforgivable.
Thank you to Random House for the advanced copy!
I absolutely loved Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers, which masterfully navigated the immigrant experience, a journey that oscillates between a dream and a nightmare. Her latest, Every Story Is a Love Story, follows a similar vein of immigrants finding their way in America, though through a much more tragic lens.
Wolo and his wife, Yolo, are successful, intelligent, and originally from Cameroon. They've made their way to the East Coast and are on the cusp of a new chapter, expecting twins, when tragedy strikes: an American woman named Victoria accidentally hits Yolo with her car, killing her and the unborn babies.
Three years later, Wolo remains rightfully paralyzed by grief, convinced he will never find love or happiness again. While his family refuses to forgive Victoria, Wolo receives an apologetic letter from her and decides to meet her. He realizes there is no single way to handle grief or a correct path toward forgiveness; he simply wants to move on. To do that, he feels he must understand Victoria’s perspective, eventually acknowledging that she, too, is a victim of the horrific freak accident.
The core moral question is, how does one recover from unimaginable tragedy? and it is is profound. However, I found the execution a bit uneven. The narrative frequently shifts back to Wolo’s past when he first meets Yolo. I found that the past scenes overshadowed the important relationship between Wolo and Victoria. There are deep dives into his family dynamics involving his father, stepmother, and his gay brother.
While these sections added depth, the pacing felt off at times. I found myself skimming certain subplots that felt disconnected from the central arc. I truly wished there had been more focus on the interaction between Wolo and Victoria, as that is where the tension and the plot really hits their stride.
Despite my issues with the pacing, Mbue’s writing remains powerful. This book is incredibly sad, yet it serves as a powerful lesson in moving forward and finding forgiveness for the seemingly unforgivable.
Thank you to Random House for the advanced copy!
October 7, 2026
Rating: 4.75* of five
The Publisher Says: From the New York Times bestselling author of Behold the Dreamers and How Beautiful We Were, a captivating novel about love lost—and the weight of regret
What if I’d never gotten into that car? What if I’d pulled out of the driveway five minutes earlier, or ten minutes later?
Three years ago, Wolo’s wife was killed in a tragic car accident. In an instant, the great love of his life was gone, and so was their beautiful future. In the face of a loss that seemed insurmountable, Wolo has slowly rebuilt a semblance of a life: he goes to work, hangs out with a small circle of friends, and fends off the matchmaking efforts of the older women in his family. The grief that dogged him has, with time, become a little gentler.
Until a letter arrives one day, unbidden, threatening to upend his life once again. It is from Victoria, the woman who was behind the wheel that terrible day. Wolo’s family pastor tells him the letter is the work of the devil; his mother expressly forbids him from making further mention of it; his father’s second wife calls, from Cameroon, to tell him to destroy it. But Wolo ponders it for days, and ultimately agrees to meet with the woman who killed his wife. When he does, the compassion and deep remorse of the woman affects him in ways he had never imagined, and he begins to wonder if the long road to healing can be shared.
What do we owe to those who have hurt us? Are we defined by our worst moments and our deepest regrets? And, more than anything, can forgiveness ease our suffering? Moving and full of life, Every Story Is a Love Story charts the uneven path from heartbreak to healing.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Wolo found true love with Yoma. It's the loveliest moment in someone's life: love is joyous before Life has its way with you, and Wolo? He was absolutely at the peak of joy because Yoma was pregnant!
Life had its way with him.
Victoria causes the accident that ends Wolo's happiness. It is impossible for Wolo to recover from this hideous, disfiguring agony of grief, and however loudly he tells his mother, his stepmother, his matchmaking aunties this he is still urged to date, to love again, to move on.
As if some random woman will be Yoma again, will be The One, will fill his life with laughter and excitement...impossible. And then. Will you look at that. Victoria writes to express her remorse for the awful thing she caused to happen to him. To ask Wolo to meet her and process their shared grief.
The Greek chorus of Wolo's life is unequivocal: Do not do this. Don't even think about doing this. You're morbidly obsessed with your loss already don't reinforce it is the universal subtext of their advice. Wolo's stunted, limited existence, the one he resists altering because letting go of his rage and agony feels like killing Yoma and their unborn twins again, has to change or Wolo will die. From the inside out.
So he says yes.
It was here I began to see why Author Mbue chose flashback, a style of storytelling I often find disinvolving, for Wolo's process of healing. It is reinjuring him, it is shoving his head in the waterboarding bucket again and again...it is allowing him just enough air to survive...it is letting him pull his feet under him on the wet floor and lurch and stumble away from the bucket...it is the light that shows the hand extended to him, showing a human is reaching with kind and helpful intent into his dark, drowning life.
It shows Wolo Victoria. Her pain from causing him pain. Her knowledge that she harmed Wolo, she (without malice) stole his life from him and wants so badly to do anything to help him because only that will help her.
And he reaches back.
Everything else I could say is spoilerific. I didn't give it a full-five rating because of spoilery stuff, but look how close I came. (Side note: I am so very happy to have as of October 2026 the ability to give quarter-star ratings on the country's biggest book-discovery engine.) It is Author Mbue's gift to be able to visit the darkest places in a person's life while they are floodlit in Capitalism's distracting material abundance and spiritual moonless midnight. This is another of her immigrants' tales of fitting in being less important than settling down.
It is a beautiful story with some odd edges to keep it from melting into the pleasant sameness of the bulk of entertaiment. That hard-to-differentiate mass gets so stultifyingly dull.
The Publisher Says: From the New York Times bestselling author of Behold the Dreamers and How Beautiful We Were, a captivating novel about love lost—and the weight of regret
What if I’d never gotten into that car? What if I’d pulled out of the driveway five minutes earlier, or ten minutes later?
Three years ago, Wolo’s wife was killed in a tragic car accident. In an instant, the great love of his life was gone, and so was their beautiful future. In the face of a loss that seemed insurmountable, Wolo has slowly rebuilt a semblance of a life: he goes to work, hangs out with a small circle of friends, and fends off the matchmaking efforts of the older women in his family. The grief that dogged him has, with time, become a little gentler.
Until a letter arrives one day, unbidden, threatening to upend his life once again. It is from Victoria, the woman who was behind the wheel that terrible day. Wolo’s family pastor tells him the letter is the work of the devil; his mother expressly forbids him from making further mention of it; his father’s second wife calls, from Cameroon, to tell him to destroy it. But Wolo ponders it for days, and ultimately agrees to meet with the woman who killed his wife. When he does, the compassion and deep remorse of the woman affects him in ways he had never imagined, and he begins to wonder if the long road to healing can be shared.
What do we owe to those who have hurt us? Are we defined by our worst moments and our deepest regrets? And, more than anything, can forgiveness ease our suffering? Moving and full of life, Every Story Is a Love Story charts the uneven path from heartbreak to healing.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Wolo found true love with Yoma. It's the loveliest moment in someone's life: love is joyous before Life has its way with you, and Wolo? He was absolutely at the peak of joy because Yoma was pregnant!
Life had its way with him.
Victoria causes the accident that ends Wolo's happiness. It is impossible for Wolo to recover from this hideous, disfiguring agony of grief, and however loudly he tells his mother, his stepmother, his matchmaking aunties this he is still urged to date, to love again, to move on.
As if some random woman will be Yoma again, will be The One, will fill his life with laughter and excitement...impossible. And then. Will you look at that. Victoria writes to express her remorse for the awful thing she caused to happen to him. To ask Wolo to meet her and process their shared grief.
The Greek chorus of Wolo's life is unequivocal: Do not do this. Don't even think about doing this. You're morbidly obsessed with your loss already don't reinforce it is the universal subtext of their advice. Wolo's stunted, limited existence, the one he resists altering because letting go of his rage and agony feels like killing Yoma and their unborn twins again, has to change or Wolo will die. From the inside out.
So he says yes.
It was here I began to see why Author Mbue chose flashback, a style of storytelling I often find disinvolving, for Wolo's process of healing. It is reinjuring him, it is shoving his head in the waterboarding bucket again and again...it is allowing him just enough air to survive...it is letting him pull his feet under him on the wet floor and lurch and stumble away from the bucket...it is the light that shows the hand extended to him, showing a human is reaching with kind and helpful intent into his dark, drowning life.
It shows Wolo Victoria. Her pain from causing him pain. Her knowledge that she harmed Wolo, she (without malice) stole his life from him and wants so badly to do anything to help him because only that will help her.
And he reaches back.
Everything else I could say is spoilerific. I didn't give it a full-five rating because of spoilery stuff, but look how close I came. (Side note: I am so very happy to have as of October 2026 the ability to give quarter-star ratings on the country's biggest book-discovery engine.) It is Author Mbue's gift to be able to visit the darkest places in a person's life while they are floodlit in Capitalism's distracting material abundance and spiritual moonless midnight. This is another of her immigrants' tales of fitting in being less important than settling down.
It is a beautiful story with some odd edges to keep it from melting into the pleasant sameness of the bulk of entertaiment. That hard-to-differentiate mass gets so stultifyingly dull.
July 13, 2026
Amazing! Sometimes the Publisher blurb does a disservice to the book. Unfortunately this is one of those cases.
The blurb tells us about the tragic accident and Wolo’s willingness to meet with the perpetrator of said accident, Victoria, and as if that isn’t enough then adds, “when he does, the compassion and deep remorse of the woman affects him in ways he had never imagined, and he begins to wonder if the long road to healing can be shared.”
WTF! Do you want me to read the book or not? It’s the ‘be shared’ part that did it. That part of the sentence signaled to me, that Victoria and Wolo would eventually share a bed! And lo and behold Aha!
It is truly truly a testament to Imbolo Mbue’s supreme ability to craft a story with enchanting prose that will make you tsk tsk that blurb and dive into this sad but inspiring story of complicated families and love between members, who all love in different ways, and sometimes that makes love difficult to recognize.
Wolo is a man from Cameroon, who has studied in the US and has come to settle in NJ. He is asked to check on a young student a Rutgers, new to America and a fellow Cameroonian. One things lead to another and Wolo and Yoma’s love story begins. In African cultures, marriage is never just two individuals connecting, it’s two families coming together to be one bigger family.
Ms. Mbue does a great job of unveiling cultural norms and mores of Cameroonians home and abroad. Well, after the accident (thanks Random House) Wolo spirals because not only did he lose the love of his life but also the twins that Yoma was carrying. The woman who caused the accident wishes to meet with Wolo to express her sorrow and seek forgiveness.
Now, this is where the talent of Ms Mbue begins shining ever so bright, because we know from the blurb (thanks Random House) that Wolo cottoned to the idea of shared healing. But, Imbolo Mbue makes you forgive and forget the publisher’s oversharing because she takes Wolo through all the emotions, at one point she had me believing that he would go in the opposite direction and not want to share anything with Victoria, but slowly she begins to unfold a man to the reader, who is broken by grief and absent of love, a combination that leaves one vulnerable to an emotional upheaval that can be easing or dis-easing.
Ms.Mbue has created finely fleshed characters, so that their positions on Wolo and Victoria are very relatable. So despite the blurb, the book doesn’t lose any steam and remains engaging throughout. A 5⭐️ effort that will arrive in stores 10.06.26
The blurb tells us about the tragic accident and Wolo’s willingness to meet with the perpetrator of said accident, Victoria, and as if that isn’t enough then adds, “when he does, the compassion and deep remorse of the woman affects him in ways he had never imagined, and he begins to wonder if the long road to healing can be shared.”
WTF! Do you want me to read the book or not? It’s the ‘be shared’ part that did it. That part of the sentence signaled to me, that Victoria and Wolo would eventually share a bed! And lo and behold Aha!
It is truly truly a testament to Imbolo Mbue’s supreme ability to craft a story with enchanting prose that will make you tsk tsk that blurb and dive into this sad but inspiring story of complicated families and love between members, who all love in different ways, and sometimes that makes love difficult to recognize.
Wolo is a man from Cameroon, who has studied in the US and has come to settle in NJ. He is asked to check on a young student a Rutgers, new to America and a fellow Cameroonian. One things lead to another and Wolo and Yoma’s love story begins. In African cultures, marriage is never just two individuals connecting, it’s two families coming together to be one bigger family.
Ms. Mbue does a great job of unveiling cultural norms and mores of Cameroonians home and abroad. Well, after the accident (thanks Random House) Wolo spirals because not only did he lose the love of his life but also the twins that Yoma was carrying. The woman who caused the accident wishes to meet with Wolo to express her sorrow and seek forgiveness.
Now, this is where the talent of Ms Mbue begins shining ever so bright, because we know from the blurb (thanks Random House) that Wolo cottoned to the idea of shared healing. But, Imbolo Mbue makes you forgive and forget the publisher’s oversharing because she takes Wolo through all the emotions, at one point she had me believing that he would go in the opposite direction and not want to share anything with Victoria, but slowly she begins to unfold a man to the reader, who is broken by grief and absent of love, a combination that leaves one vulnerable to an emotional upheaval that can be easing or dis-easing.
Ms.Mbue has created finely fleshed characters, so that their positions on Wolo and Victoria are very relatable. So despite the blurb, the book doesn’t lose any steam and remains engaging throughout. A 5⭐️ effort that will arrive in stores 10.06.26
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
"From the New York Times bestselling author of Behold the Dreamers and How Beautiful We Were, a captivating novel about love lost—and the weight of regret.
What if I’d never gotten into that car? What if I’d pulled out of the driveway five minutes earlier, or ten minutes later?
What do we owe to those who have hurt us? Are we defined by our worst moments and our deepest regrets? And, more than anything, can forgiveness ease our suffering? Moving and full of life, Every Story Is a Love Story charts the uneven path from heartbreak to healing."
Wolo's wife was killed in a car accident three years earlier. They had come to the United States from Cameroon. He has been reeling from grief and is getting his bearings again. Out of the blue, he receives a letter from Victoria, the woman who hit his wife. He agrees to the meeting but it brings all his grief back and lots of anger. As he ponders their visit later, he begins to think about her sorrow and regret.
This is such a beautiful exploration of grief, regret, sorrow and forgiveness. The message of forgiveness, resilience and healing is absolutely breathtaking. I was fully invested in the characters and the powerful storytelling. Highly recommend.
The audiobook performance by Prentice Onayemi and Ellen Adair is immersive and captures all of the emotions of the characters throughout.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House, PRH Audio and Imbolo Mbue for the gifted advance reader's copy and advance listening copy. All opinions are my own. 📚🎧
What if I’d never gotten into that car? What if I’d pulled out of the driveway five minutes earlier, or ten minutes later?
What do we owe to those who have hurt us? Are we defined by our worst moments and our deepest regrets? And, more than anything, can forgiveness ease our suffering? Moving and full of life, Every Story Is a Love Story charts the uneven path from heartbreak to healing."
Wolo's wife was killed in a car accident three years earlier. They had come to the United States from Cameroon. He has been reeling from grief and is getting his bearings again. Out of the blue, he receives a letter from Victoria, the woman who hit his wife. He agrees to the meeting but it brings all his grief back and lots of anger. As he ponders their visit later, he begins to think about her sorrow and regret.
This is such a beautiful exploration of grief, regret, sorrow and forgiveness. The message of forgiveness, resilience and healing is absolutely breathtaking. I was fully invested in the characters and the powerful storytelling. Highly recommend.
The audiobook performance by Prentice Onayemi and Ellen Adair is immersive and captures all of the emotions of the characters throughout.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House, PRH Audio and Imbolo Mbue for the gifted advance reader's copy and advance listening copy. All opinions are my own. 📚🎧
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
A story of grief and how it holds on to parts of us forever…
In Mbue’s Every Story is a Love Story we meet Wolo who is dealing with the tragic death of his wife who was pregnant with his twins. What started as a harmless run, turned into a tragic accident that has left Wolo reeling, three years later. Wolo, who is Cameroonian with strong ties to the community was introduced to his wife through his aunt, what started as friendship blossomed into so much more. Three years after her death Wolo still struggles with how her accident happened and who should be held accountable.
In trying to move on, he is sent right back after receiving a letter from the woman who was involved in the accident that led to the death of his wife and children. Wolo was warned by everyone to not read the letter and never engage with this woman, he tries his best but still wants answers. He finally agrees to meet with the woman and what he thought would help in his healing journey has set him back more than he could ever imagine.
Where was the editor? I kept thinking about this while reading this book. I felt the story started out very strong, we were thrust into Wolo’s world and his grief, however by half way through I kept losing interest. I think the story would have been stronger if it was told chronologically instead of doing the flash backs. Of course, the writing is strong I wish the editor had reeled the writer in a bit more, especially as it concerns the ending because what was that?
I also feel like too much was presented and not enough time to explore each. The grief was at the center of the story and then at the end we see the family dynamics that came into play. Too much was going on and that end….again, what was that?
Of course, Mbue is a brilliant writer and Ill always read whatever she writes, I wish this was edited stronger
In Mbue’s Every Story is a Love Story we meet Wolo who is dealing with the tragic death of his wife who was pregnant with his twins. What started as a harmless run, turned into a tragic accident that has left Wolo reeling, three years later. Wolo, who is Cameroonian with strong ties to the community was introduced to his wife through his aunt, what started as friendship blossomed into so much more. Three years after her death Wolo still struggles with how her accident happened and who should be held accountable.
In trying to move on, he is sent right back after receiving a letter from the woman who was involved in the accident that led to the death of his wife and children. Wolo was warned by everyone to not read the letter and never engage with this woman, he tries his best but still wants answers. He finally agrees to meet with the woman and what he thought would help in his healing journey has set him back more than he could ever imagine.
Where was the editor? I kept thinking about this while reading this book. I felt the story started out very strong, we were thrust into Wolo’s world and his grief, however by half way through I kept losing interest. I think the story would have been stronger if it was told chronologically instead of doing the flash backs. Of course, the writing is strong I wish the editor had reeled the writer in a bit more, especially as it concerns the ending because what was that?
I also feel like too much was presented and not enough time to explore each. The grief was at the center of the story and then at the end we see the family dynamics that came into play. Too much was going on and that end….again, what was that?
Of course, Mbue is a brilliant writer and Ill always read whatever she writes, I wish this was edited stronger
June 1, 2026
How many times have I marveled, while driving, that this supremely dangerous act of piloting a several ton machine at high speeds is so often relegated to the semi-conscious? And it works! But what if it didn’t? What if, just one time, my reaction time was a little bit off, my peripheral vision a little too narrow, a distraction at the wrong moment or a miscalculation by my brain of speed or distance?
There are culpable traffic accidents and there are just unfortunate ones. Both can be tragic and forever change lives. How do people ever move on from causing a death, even if by random accident? Who can actually understand their suffering or that of the victim’s loved ones? Is there ever forgiveness?
This book beautifully explores these questions through characters who are good and grieving and relatable.
Four stars because the first half is very slow and stagnant. In one way, it’s effective. The main character is stuck in his grief so the reader is too. Four stars also because some of how the protagonist and his family hold onto their anger and fail to center his well-being and don’t allow for an understanding that perhaps this connection isn’t in spite of the shared history but because of it? This is clearly cultural to some degree.
All in all, I highly recommend this book. Thanks to NetGalley for an opportunity to read this advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
There are culpable traffic accidents and there are just unfortunate ones. Both can be tragic and forever change lives. How do people ever move on from causing a death, even if by random accident? Who can actually understand their suffering or that of the victim’s loved ones? Is there ever forgiveness?
This book beautifully explores these questions through characters who are good and grieving and relatable.
Four stars because the first half is very slow and stagnant. In one way, it’s effective. The main character is stuck in his grief so the reader is too. Four stars also because some of how the protagonist and his family hold onto their anger and fail to center his well-being and don’t allow for an understanding that perhaps this connection isn’t in spite of the shared history but because of it? This is clearly cultural to some degree.
All in all, I highly recommend this book. Thanks to NetGalley for an opportunity to read this advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Every Story is a Love Story, a title that says it all. What this novel presents as well as a study in grief is the culture arising from the relatively young country of Cameroon, what makes that area unique in its customs, its foods, its family connections. The characters are relatable, showing a humane sameness across cultural borders. Highly recommended.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an early copy of Every Story is a Love Story. I think Imbolo Mbue's writing is stunning and I was excited to have the opportunity to read this before it is published. This is a story about family, grief, love, and forgiveness. While I was initially invested in the story, I thought it started to drag towards the middle and some of the side stories were difficult to read. I was surprised by the twist in the story and, honestly, it didn't sit right with me. Still, it was a beautifully written story and fans of Mbue will enjoy.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Book: Every Story is a Love Story
Author: Imbolo Mbue
Rating: 3 Out of 5 Stars
I would like to thank the publisher, Random House, for sending me an ARC. This was a very difficult one to rate. I did enjoy it a good bit, but there were parts that felt a little bit uneven. It did have the emotional punch to it for most of the book, but at times, it felt like even that was missing.
Three years ago, Wolo lost everything in a tragic car accident. His pregnant wife was killed, along with the twins they were expecting. He also lost the future they had been building together. Since then, Wolo has slowly put his life back together. He goes to work, spends time with a few close friends, and tries to live with the grief that never completely leaves. Then a letter arrives. It is from Victoria, the woman who was driving the car that killed his wife. Wolo's family and pastor tell him to destroy the letter and have nothing to do with her. Wolo cannot stop thinking about it, though. Eventually, he agrees to meet her. Victoria is filled with guilt and remorse. She knows that nothing she says can undo what happened. Still, their meeting affects Wolo in ways he never expected. As they begin to confront the tragedy together, Wolo has to decide what forgiveness really means and whether it is possible to move forward without forgetting the people he lost. Filled with grief, compassion, and hope, the story follows Wolo as he finds his way toward healing. It explores the complicated nature of forgiveness and asks whether people can move beyond the worst things they have done. Most of all, it is a story about love, loss, and finding a way to keep living after everything changes.
I will admit that it did take me a while to get into this story. I felt the opening chapter did not pull me in right away. However, as the book went on, I did find myself becoming more engrossed by it. Now, there was never a time when I fully invested, but it was enough to keep me entertained. The story behind Wolo and Victoria was something that I had never read before. We have Wolo, who is mourning his wife and children who were killed in an accident that Victoria was involved in. Victoria reaches out to him, and they end up meeting. The book goes from there. We get both the then and now and get to see the full scope of the story.
Now, I know the duel times was done to help move the story along, but there were times that I felt it ended up bogging the story down. This really is not a long book, but it felt like, at times, that there was almost too much going on for the story. It could have and should have worked, but I felt that it left some parts out. If anything, I felt that it made the pacing feel very uneven at times. It was almost at times, the main story became lost because we were trying to nail down the backstory.
There is a rather large cast of characters, and there were some that I felt were not developed as well as they could have been. There were times that I found myself struggling to remember who was who and what their role was. I would have liked to have seen them be just a little bit more developed and given a chance to form their own voice. It made me become disconnected from the story and the characters at times.
Overall, this was an okay book for me. It’s not a bad book, but it just felt like it was missing a little something to really bring it home.
Author: Imbolo Mbue
Rating: 3 Out of 5 Stars
I would like to thank the publisher, Random House, for sending me an ARC. This was a very difficult one to rate. I did enjoy it a good bit, but there were parts that felt a little bit uneven. It did have the emotional punch to it for most of the book, but at times, it felt like even that was missing.
Three years ago, Wolo lost everything in a tragic car accident. His pregnant wife was killed, along with the twins they were expecting. He also lost the future they had been building together. Since then, Wolo has slowly put his life back together. He goes to work, spends time with a few close friends, and tries to live with the grief that never completely leaves. Then a letter arrives. It is from Victoria, the woman who was driving the car that killed his wife. Wolo's family and pastor tell him to destroy the letter and have nothing to do with her. Wolo cannot stop thinking about it, though. Eventually, he agrees to meet her. Victoria is filled with guilt and remorse. She knows that nothing she says can undo what happened. Still, their meeting affects Wolo in ways he never expected. As they begin to confront the tragedy together, Wolo has to decide what forgiveness really means and whether it is possible to move forward without forgetting the people he lost. Filled with grief, compassion, and hope, the story follows Wolo as he finds his way toward healing. It explores the complicated nature of forgiveness and asks whether people can move beyond the worst things they have done. Most of all, it is a story about love, loss, and finding a way to keep living after everything changes.
I will admit that it did take me a while to get into this story. I felt the opening chapter did not pull me in right away. However, as the book went on, I did find myself becoming more engrossed by it. Now, there was never a time when I fully invested, but it was enough to keep me entertained. The story behind Wolo and Victoria was something that I had never read before. We have Wolo, who is mourning his wife and children who were killed in an accident that Victoria was involved in. Victoria reaches out to him, and they end up meeting. The book goes from there. We get both the then and now and get to see the full scope of the story.
Now, I know the duel times was done to help move the story along, but there were times that I felt it ended up bogging the story down. This really is not a long book, but it felt like, at times, that there was almost too much going on for the story. It could have and should have worked, but I felt that it left some parts out. If anything, I felt that it made the pacing feel very uneven at times. It was almost at times, the main story became lost because we were trying to nail down the backstory.
There is a rather large cast of characters, and there were some that I felt were not developed as well as they could have been. There were times that I found myself struggling to remember who was who and what their role was. I would have liked to have seen them be just a little bit more developed and given a chance to form their own voice. It made me become disconnected from the story and the characters at times.
Overall, this was an okay book for me. It’s not a bad book, but it just felt like it was missing a little something to really bring it home.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published October 6, 2026.
This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I was interested in the main plot line: how Victoria, the woman who killed Wolo’s pregnant wife, wrote a letter and wanted to meet him. It’s a story of grief, forgiveness and acceptance.
There was another plot line (trigger warning for rape) that didn’t seem to fit.
The chapters alternate between Wolo’s life with his wife and his developing friendship with Victoria. A critique I have is the chapters weren’t labeled with a date or POV so I was sometimes confused where I was in the storyline.
This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I was interested in the main plot line: how Victoria, the woman who killed Wolo’s pregnant wife, wrote a letter and wanted to meet him. It’s a story of grief, forgiveness and acceptance.
There was another plot line (trigger warning for rape) that didn’t seem to fit.
The chapters alternate between Wolo’s life with his wife and his developing friendship with Victoria. A critique I have is the chapters weren’t labeled with a date or POV so I was sometimes confused where I was in the storyline.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy!!
This book follows our main character, Wolo, years after his pregnant wife was killed by a car while being out for a run. Years later, the woman who was driving that car wants to meet and our story picks up from there. I really love the premise and the discussions regarding forgiveness. Books that tackle difficult discussions and ideas are typically some of my favorites and I love reading about both perspectives in these scenarios. This one.... didn't really deliver what I was hoping it would. There were some interesting discussions about forgiveness which I enjoyed, but ultimately I'm left unsatisfied. The pacing felt off and it was kind of a slog to get through. Then, Even though this felt like a miss for me, I did appreciate the message regarding forgiveness (especially struggling to forgive someone while begging someone else for forgiveness). 3 stars.
This book follows our main character, Wolo, years after his pregnant wife was killed by a car while being out for a run. Years later, the woman who was driving that car wants to meet and our story picks up from there. I really love the premise and the discussions regarding forgiveness. Books that tackle difficult discussions and ideas are typically some of my favorites and I love reading about both perspectives in these scenarios. This one.... didn't really deliver what I was hoping it would. There were some interesting discussions about forgiveness which I enjoyed, but ultimately I'm left unsatisfied. The pacing felt off and it was kind of a slog to get through. Then, Even though this felt like a miss for me, I did appreciate the message regarding forgiveness (especially struggling to forgive someone while begging someone else for forgiveness). 3 stars.
April 17, 2026
I will be haunted by this book! Wow— so much to say! Not only does it go into depth and breadth of secrets, trauma, and anger, but also the hypocrisy of our judgments of others while ignoring our own transgressions. The suffering of every character is profound, and it shows how one tragedy affects a village, a community, and a lifetime. I loved the concept of traveling to find peace and forgiveness within ourselves and that suffering can bring us together. I wanted more resolution from the ending, but honestly, for the themes and character arcs, it is a perfect ending showing how our heart can split into two. And that tradition, family obligations, and generational trauma can’t be stopped unless we create our own boundaries.
August 27, 2026
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the ARC of Every Story Is A Love Story.
4.5 stars - the only thing keeping this from being a 5-star book for was the pacing in the beginning of the book. It felt quite slow early on. BUT, I did persist in my reading and am so glad I did. Every Story Is A Love Story is an achingly beautiful story about love and loss, family and starting over. The protagonist is a Cameroonian living in America, so many of the family dynamics and traditions were new to me. I didn’t fully understand some of the more complicated family relationships, but isn’t that the beauty of learning about other cultures through reading?
Also, the proposal scene in this book is my favorite proposal scene in any book, I think. It had me crying at the park…..
4.5 stars - the only thing keeping this from being a 5-star book for was the pacing in the beginning of the book. It felt quite slow early on. BUT, I did persist in my reading and am so glad I did. Every Story Is A Love Story is an achingly beautiful story about love and loss, family and starting over. The protagonist is a Cameroonian living in America, so many of the family dynamics and traditions were new to me. I didn’t fully understand some of the more complicated family relationships, but isn’t that the beauty of learning about other cultures through reading?
Also, the proposal scene in this book is my favorite proposal scene in any book, I think. It had me crying at the park…..
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I received an ARC for this book from NetGalley for free.
I had quite mixed feelings about this. On the other hand I enjoyed the grand themes of grief and forgiveness, but I also found the spacing way too slow for my taste. The constant time jumps didn’t help either. I thought the writing was really good and beautiful at times, enjoyed learning about Cameroon culture and I liked the characters.
However at times I found the story almost soap story esque and it was quite jarring with the serious tone of the book.
If you decide to pick up this book be warned that there are some very heavy topics and situations in this story.
I had quite mixed feelings about this. On the other hand I enjoyed the grand themes of grief and forgiveness, but I also found the spacing way too slow for my taste. The constant time jumps didn’t help either. I thought the writing was really good and beautiful at times, enjoyed learning about Cameroon culture and I liked the characters.
However at times I found the story almost soap story esque and it was quite jarring with the serious tone of the book.
If you decide to pick up this book be warned that there are some very heavy topics and situations in this story.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
When I saw the premise of this story on NetGalley, I was very excited to request the book. A book that tries to answer the "what if" questions of life is one that is always enticing to me.
I went into the book with high hopes and I wasn't necessarily disappointed but I also didn't fall in love with the novel either. Wolo is in the worst type of grief, he lost his wife and unborn twins all in one tragic moment. The story started off strong with his debating on if he wanted to meet the woman that was the cause of all his pain. However, as the story unfolds, I felt as though all the little stories within felt too jumbled. I know they each had a purpose but you really had to get invested into each side story to see how it related to his current predicament. And a lot of the time, it didn't even relate to his dilemma but how he had fallen in love with his wife. Which is important but in my opinion a whole different story in itself and the timing of when it was brought up in the plot felt off. And I think the most disappointing part was the ending. I had seen it coming in a way, and I have no way of knowing what I would do in the same position because at the end of the day who is going to know that pain more than the other person experiencing it with you in a way. But I did like how that experience finally allowed Wolo to take that step toward living his life again rather than just letting it pass.
There were so many little things that I really did love and enjoy about the story though. For one, the culture and community shown was like a warm hug. Coming from an Indian family and culture where everyone is in your business as well, it really brought up similar feelings of Eastern vs Western views on family vs individuality.
Overall, I think the story had a lot more potential but I still recommend it, being that it was a good read still. If there's one thing I always will enjoy, is a book that leaves me with thoughts to continue to ruminate about and this book did exactly that.
Thank you NetGalley as always for this ARC read!
I went into the book with high hopes and I wasn't necessarily disappointed but I also didn't fall in love with the novel either. Wolo is in the worst type of grief, he lost his wife and unborn twins all in one tragic moment. The story started off strong with his debating on if he wanted to meet the woman that was the cause of all his pain. However, as the story unfolds, I felt as though all the little stories within felt too jumbled. I know they each had a purpose but you really had to get invested into each side story to see how it related to his current predicament. And a lot of the time, it didn't even relate to his dilemma but how he had fallen in love with his wife. Which is important but in my opinion a whole different story in itself and the timing of when it was brought up in the plot felt off. And I think the most disappointing part was the ending. I had seen it coming in a way, and I have no way of knowing what I would do in the same position because at the end of the day who is going to know that pain more than the other person experiencing it with you in a way. But I did like how that experience finally allowed Wolo to take that step toward living his life again rather than just letting it pass.
There were so many little things that I really did love and enjoy about the story though. For one, the culture and community shown was like a warm hug. Coming from an Indian family and culture where everyone is in your business as well, it really brought up similar feelings of Eastern vs Western views on family vs individuality.
Overall, I think the story had a lot more potential but I still recommend it, being that it was a good read still. If there's one thing I always will enjoy, is a book that leaves me with thoughts to continue to ruminate about and this book did exactly that.
Thank you NetGalley as always for this ARC read!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I loved Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers. She’s a marvelous writer with such sensitivity. Her third novel
Is also very good. It’s poignant and tender, reaching out to your heart, asking the question what does it mean to love someone.
Wolo Lifafa is grieving the death of his wife, Yomo who was pregnant with their twins when she was killed in a car accident. It’s three years since that happened when he gets a letter from the woman who caused the accident asking for forgiveness. We follow Wolo as he grows up in the Cameroons, meets Yomo, makes a life with and grieves deeply her loss. He’s surrounded by family who offer advice on what to do about the letter. Tata Munyenge, his father-in-law, offers him the best advice to get on with his life. As Wolo and Victoria meet and attend a reconciliation workshop, Wolo begins to understand forgiveness can happen and love is greater than just one person.
I really enjoyed this story. Wolo was such an interesting character. While I felt I needed less of Wolo’s back story and maybe more of his love story with Yomo, the book still provided a realistic story of grief and acceptance. As with her other books, the beauty of African culture and ethos are shared. Somehow in their tribal traditions a great core of wisdom is far more evident than in white culture. This is one of the reasons I also like Tata Munyenge - his wisdom is so simple but so profound.
My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me access to this marvelous ARC.
Is also very good. It’s poignant and tender, reaching out to your heart, asking the question what does it mean to love someone.
Wolo Lifafa is grieving the death of his wife, Yomo who was pregnant with their twins when she was killed in a car accident. It’s three years since that happened when he gets a letter from the woman who caused the accident asking for forgiveness. We follow Wolo as he grows up in the Cameroons, meets Yomo, makes a life with and grieves deeply her loss. He’s surrounded by family who offer advice on what to do about the letter. Tata Munyenge, his father-in-law, offers him the best advice to get on with his life. As Wolo and Victoria meet and attend a reconciliation workshop, Wolo begins to understand forgiveness can happen and love is greater than just one person.
I really enjoyed this story. Wolo was such an interesting character. While I felt I needed less of Wolo’s back story and maybe more of his love story with Yomo, the book still provided a realistic story of grief and acceptance. As with her other books, the beauty of African culture and ethos are shared. Somehow in their tribal traditions a great core of wisdom is far more evident than in white culture. This is one of the reasons I also like Tata Munyenge - his wisdom is so simple but so profound.
My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me access to this marvelous ARC.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
While I found this book predictable, I also found it enchanting.
How do you forgive that which has taken everything away? And,
How to you live again?
Every feeling in this novel was relatable. You feel Wolo and his family's anger, their pain, at the loss of Yoma and their unborn children taken away too soon. You feel everything they've lived with for years.
Enter Victoria, the woman of the hour, the woman that killed Wolo's pregnant wife. She's kind, successful, and now she carries the burden of taking life while she continues to live her's. Her sorrow is palpable and you truly believe her inability to forgive herself, to want to do *anything* to make things right. So she offers Solo the opportunity to meet and she will support him in any way she can, hoping by helping him, it will ultimately help her and her conscious.
The novel follow's Wolo's past and his journey with Yoma as their relationship grows and ends. It follows rich family values in a culture where family is the focal point of the community.
It follows a journey to find happiness again. It makes you question who and what are worth forgiving. Is anything worth forgiving?
Based on the title alone, you have an idea where this story is going. Despite its predictability, every character, action, emotion, is richly written. People are complex, and Mbue nails complex and messy characters. It is representative of life and its unexpected turns.
Overall, a beautiful, wonderful novel. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ARC in exchange for a review.
How do you forgive that which has taken everything away? And,
How to you live again?
Every feeling in this novel was relatable. You feel Wolo and his family's anger, their pain, at the loss of Yoma and their unborn children taken away too soon. You feel everything they've lived with for years.
Enter Victoria, the woman of the hour, the woman that killed Wolo's pregnant wife. She's kind, successful, and now she carries the burden of taking life while she continues to live her's. Her sorrow is palpable and you truly believe her inability to forgive herself, to want to do *anything* to make things right. So she offers Solo the opportunity to meet and she will support him in any way she can, hoping by helping him, it will ultimately help her and her conscious.
The novel follow's Wolo's past and his journey with Yoma as their relationship grows and ends. It follows rich family values in a culture where family is the focal point of the community.
It follows a journey to find happiness again. It makes you question who and what are worth forgiving. Is anything worth forgiving?
Based on the title alone, you have an idea where this story is going. Despite its predictability, every character, action, emotion, is richly written. People are complex, and Mbue nails complex and messy characters. It is representative of life and its unexpected turns.
Overall, a beautiful, wonderful novel. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ARC in exchange for a review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
"The transgressor should never ask to be forgiven, because doing so places an additional burden on the one who was wronged. The wrongdoer just needs to apologize and present themselves to be forgiven or not."
This was a beautifully written novel about a man who is coming to terms with the tragic loss of his pregnant wife after a freak car accident. Imbolo Mbue integrates culture, emotion, and plot seamlessly in this nonlinear narrative.
The main character, Wolo, hesitantly agrees to meet the woman involved in the tragedy that ended his wife's life, and he faces a difficult dilemma of forgiveness after being forced to confront the fact that there is rarely a true villain in any story.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others looking for a deep, introspective read. There are a few aspects that prevent it from being a 5/5 in my book, such as how his controlling behavior is portrayed through rose-tinted glasses, the nature of his new relationship after his wife's passing (hard to say more without giving it away), and the decision for his future child's name. It almost feels like this is Wolo's world and women are just living in it. But still a worthwhile, thought-provoking read.
"You owe me nothing. I owe you everything."
Thank you, NetGalley and Random House, for the opportunity to read an advance reader's copy in exchange for my honest opinions.
This was a beautifully written novel about a man who is coming to terms with the tragic loss of his pregnant wife after a freak car accident. Imbolo Mbue integrates culture, emotion, and plot seamlessly in this nonlinear narrative.
The main character, Wolo, hesitantly agrees to meet the woman involved in the tragedy that ended his wife's life, and he faces a difficult dilemma of forgiveness after being forced to confront the fact that there is rarely a true villain in any story.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others looking for a deep, introspective read. There are a few aspects that prevent it from being a 5/5 in my book, such as how his controlling behavior is portrayed through rose-tinted glasses, the nature of his new relationship after his wife's passing (hard to say more without giving it away), and the decision for his future child's name. It almost feels like this is Wolo's world and women are just living in it. But still a worthwhile, thought-provoking read.
"You owe me nothing. I owe you everything."
Thank you, NetGalley and Random House, for the opportunity to read an advance reader's copy in exchange for my honest opinions.
September 29, 2026
Wolo and Yoma are happily married with twins on the way. While out jogging, Yoma is hit by a car driven by Victoria and dies. The novel begins three years later after Victoria writes a letter of apology to Wolo.
This thought-provoking novel is about grief, forgiveness, culture, and the weight of family expectations. I guessed early on where the story would go, and I can imagine this book will be polarizing but also great for discussion. For me, the family dynamics that affected Wolo throughout his life were particularly interesting. He tries so hard to walk the line between pursuing his own fulfillment and protecting his family’s good name and making his family members happy. Recommended.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me to read an ARC of this title.
This thought-provoking novel is about grief, forgiveness, culture, and the weight of family expectations. I guessed early on where the story would go, and I can imagine this book will be polarizing but also great for discussion. For me, the family dynamics that affected Wolo throughout his life were particularly interesting. He tries so hard to walk the line between pursuing his own fulfillment and protecting his family’s good name and making his family members happy. Recommended.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me to read an ARC of this title.
October 5, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this story!
I really appreciated how rich in culture this book was. I felt immersed into the lives of the Cameroonian fmc/mmc, and it made me curious to read more books by this author. You will be reminded of how love is the thread that keeps us all connected & amazed at all that happens in its name. While it was beautifully written, the ending was a bit abrupt! I wish there was further development there, or at the very least, an epilogue written a year or so later in the future!
I really appreciated how rich in culture this book was. I felt immersed into the lives of the Cameroonian fmc/mmc, and it made me curious to read more books by this author. You will be reminded of how love is the thread that keeps us all connected & amazed at all that happens in its name. While it was beautifully written, the ending was a bit abrupt! I wish there was further development there, or at the very least, an epilogue written a year or so later in the future!
September 3, 2026
How do you continue life after grief and can we really judge how someone manages to find happiness again? These are questions that are considered in Every Story is a Love Story by Imbolo Mbue. Wolo loses his wife Toma in a heartbreakingly tragic accident and is forced to figure out life after grief. This journey leads to him connecting with the woman responsible for his wife’s death. The story is beautiful, raw and real. I love how flawed and deeply human each character is and the writing is stunning. My only hold up was that sometimes the pacing felt off and I was left wanting more of Wolo and Victoria’s story. Overall it is an achingly beautiful book that has convinced me to read this author’s debut novel as well!
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for access to an eARC im exchange for my unbiased review.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for access to an eARC im exchange for my unbiased review.
September 2, 2026
Every Story is a Love Story by Imbolo Mbue both intrigued me and perplexed me at the same time.
In this story, we follow Wolo, a man who is grieving the death of his pregnant wife, who died in an accident 3 years ago. It’s torn his life apart and he feels like the handling of the case was botched. When he receives a letter from the driver of the car apologizing profusely for what happened and asking to meet, he’s not sure what to do. He’ll never forgive Victoria for what she did…but maybe meeting with her will give him the closure he needs to move on with his life.
I loved this author’s novel Behold the Dreamers and I was very intrigued by the idea of what would you do if you received a letter from the person who killed your spouse. I was very much with this novel in the first half. Mbue did a beautiful job portraying Wolo’s grief, inter-spliced in alternating chapters of his love story with his wife Yoma. She also did a beautiful job exploring his culture, how his family and friends saw the events. However, the move this book takes in the second half puzzled me a bit. While I enjoyed Wolo’s journey to healing and moving into the next phase of his life, I’m not sure how I feel about his connection to Victoria, and felt like I was more on his family’s side of things. I wouldn’t say it felt unearned, but maybe a bit unbelievable. I also felt this ended a bit abruptly in the present day timeline. I was a bit surprised there wasn’t an epilogue, which usually I don’t feel is needed, but felt like it was here.
Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
In this story, we follow Wolo, a man who is grieving the death of his pregnant wife, who died in an accident 3 years ago. It’s torn his life apart and he feels like the handling of the case was botched. When he receives a letter from the driver of the car apologizing profusely for what happened and asking to meet, he’s not sure what to do. He’ll never forgive Victoria for what she did…but maybe meeting with her will give him the closure he needs to move on with his life.
I loved this author’s novel Behold the Dreamers and I was very intrigued by the idea of what would you do if you received a letter from the person who killed your spouse. I was very much with this novel in the first half. Mbue did a beautiful job portraying Wolo’s grief, inter-spliced in alternating chapters of his love story with his wife Yoma. She also did a beautiful job exploring his culture, how his family and friends saw the events. However, the move this book takes in the second half puzzled me a bit. While I enjoyed Wolo’s journey to healing and moving into the next phase of his life, I’m not sure how I feel about his connection to Victoria, and felt like I was more on his family’s side of things. I wouldn’t say it felt unearned, but maybe a bit unbelievable. I also felt this ended a bit abruptly in the present day timeline. I was a bit surprised there wasn’t an epilogue, which usually I don’t feel is needed, but felt like it was here.
Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
August 17, 2026
Review to come!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
While this story is beautifully written, the pacing felt too slow for my taste, making it difficult to stay engaged. However, I pushed through to the end. I appreciate the ARC from Penguin Random House and NetGalley.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is an emotionally complex novel which examines the messy truth of feelings and relationships.
When the novel begins, Wolo Lifafa has been a widower for three years. His wife Yoma, pregnant with twins at the time, was struck by a car while she was out jogging. Victoria Snow, the woman driving that car, contacts Wolo and asks to meet him. Despite his family’s advice, he agrees to do so because he wants details of the accident which he is convinced were covered up. The first meeting does not go well, but reluctantly Wolo agrees to further contact. He comes to wonder whether he and Victoria are destined “to walk together out of their shared darkness.”
Chapters alternate between the present, where Wolo struggles with grief and wonders whether he can forgive Victoria for her role in the deaths of his wife and unborn children, and the past which gives the backstory of Wolo and Yoma’s relationship and the complexities of his extended family in Cameroon and the US.
The book examines love in its various forms. Wolo thinks of Yoma as the love of his life and doesn’t believe that he can ever love anyone in the same way again. But it’s not just romantic or marital love that is explored. There’s parental love and filial love and familial love as well. There’s love between two men, but that love can never be spoken of. A message that resonated with me is spoken by Yolo’s second mother: “’a person can love you while struggling to deal with the pain you’ve caused them.’”
Grief is another topic. Wolo acknowledges that people mourn differently, though, as his father-in-law tells him, “’some people want your grief to look the way they think it should look, the way they would do it if they were you.’” Wolo’s “journey through grief has been a constant battle to accept, an inability to find a way forward, ignorant of how to move out of this terrible darkness.”
And forgiveness is the third concept explored. Initially Wolo has no intention of forgiving Victoria but later hopes to find a way to forgiveness. He sees examples of others forgiving; Yoma’s father and Nathaniel Lambi are two such people. Wolo realizes that he and his family caused pain and sought forgiveness at one time; his Facebook message to Mary indicates he is still seeking forgiveness. Wolo’s friend Ben tells him that forgiveness is not easy: “’It’s a very hard thing to do. It requires the kind of strength most of us don’t have, that’s why we don’t even try it.’”
I had heard about the stages of grief but never about the five stages of forgiveness. It’s the first stage, “accepting that all who commit wrongs are humans first, offenders second,” that is emphasized in the novel. It’s because Wolo realizes that he too has been an offender wanting forgiveness that he is able to consider forgiving someone else. And Victoria has difficulty forgiving herself so she’s stuck at the second stage: “recognizing that all humans are worthy of forgiveness.”
There are so many characters I learned to like. Yoma’s father, Tata Munyuenge, stands out because of his wisdom. Even Yoma is fully developed; through the flashbacks, we learn about her intelligence, fierceness, ambition, and independent nature. Keka, Wolo’s mother, is problematic for me. Above all, she holds on to her anger against Victoria. At times she strikes me as hypocritical since she seems to have no difficulty forgiving Osi’s behaviour. And it’s interesting that she accuses Victoria of manipulating Wolo while forgetting her own manipulations of her husband to get what she wanted. Her last email to Wolo redeems her somewhat, but it’s interesting that she doesn’t mention Victoria in the last sentence. Of course there is no doubt she loves her son, and there are many different ways to love.
I loved how the novel exposes readers to a culture with which they might not be familiar. I knew nothing about Cameroonian culture so thoroughly enjoyed the glimpses given. The importance of family and family reputation is certainly emphasized.
This novel inspires self-reflection: were you in Wolo’s situation, how would you behave? Would you be like Wolo or like Keka? Personally, I will try to remember that we are all flawed and deserving of love and forgiveness.
Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/).
When the novel begins, Wolo Lifafa has been a widower for three years. His wife Yoma, pregnant with twins at the time, was struck by a car while she was out jogging. Victoria Snow, the woman driving that car, contacts Wolo and asks to meet him. Despite his family’s advice, he agrees to do so because he wants details of the accident which he is convinced were covered up. The first meeting does not go well, but reluctantly Wolo agrees to further contact. He comes to wonder whether he and Victoria are destined “to walk together out of their shared darkness.”
Chapters alternate between the present, where Wolo struggles with grief and wonders whether he can forgive Victoria for her role in the deaths of his wife and unborn children, and the past which gives the backstory of Wolo and Yoma’s relationship and the complexities of his extended family in Cameroon and the US.
The book examines love in its various forms. Wolo thinks of Yoma as the love of his life and doesn’t believe that he can ever love anyone in the same way again. But it’s not just romantic or marital love that is explored. There’s parental love and filial love and familial love as well. There’s love between two men, but that love can never be spoken of. A message that resonated with me is spoken by Yolo’s second mother: “’a person can love you while struggling to deal with the pain you’ve caused them.’”
Grief is another topic. Wolo acknowledges that people mourn differently, though, as his father-in-law tells him, “’some people want your grief to look the way they think it should look, the way they would do it if they were you.’” Wolo’s “journey through grief has been a constant battle to accept, an inability to find a way forward, ignorant of how to move out of this terrible darkness.”
And forgiveness is the third concept explored. Initially Wolo has no intention of forgiving Victoria but later hopes to find a way to forgiveness. He sees examples of others forgiving; Yoma’s father and Nathaniel Lambi are two such people. Wolo realizes that he and his family caused pain and sought forgiveness at one time; his Facebook message to Mary indicates he is still seeking forgiveness. Wolo’s friend Ben tells him that forgiveness is not easy: “’It’s a very hard thing to do. It requires the kind of strength most of us don’t have, that’s why we don’t even try it.’”
I had heard about the stages of grief but never about the five stages of forgiveness. It’s the first stage, “accepting that all who commit wrongs are humans first, offenders second,” that is emphasized in the novel. It’s because Wolo realizes that he too has been an offender wanting forgiveness that he is able to consider forgiving someone else. And Victoria has difficulty forgiving herself so she’s stuck at the second stage: “recognizing that all humans are worthy of forgiveness.”
There are so many characters I learned to like. Yoma’s father, Tata Munyuenge, stands out because of his wisdom. Even Yoma is fully developed; through the flashbacks, we learn about her intelligence, fierceness, ambition, and independent nature. Keka, Wolo’s mother, is problematic for me. Above all, she holds on to her anger against Victoria. At times she strikes me as hypocritical since she seems to have no difficulty forgiving Osi’s behaviour. And it’s interesting that she accuses Victoria of manipulating Wolo while forgetting her own manipulations of her husband to get what she wanted. Her last email to Wolo redeems her somewhat, but it’s interesting that she doesn’t mention Victoria in the last sentence. Of course there is no doubt she loves her son, and there are many different ways to love.
I loved how the novel exposes readers to a culture with which they might not be familiar. I knew nothing about Cameroonian culture so thoroughly enjoyed the glimpses given. The importance of family and family reputation is certainly emphasized.
This novel inspires self-reflection: were you in Wolo’s situation, how would you behave? Would you be like Wolo or like Keka? Personally, I will try to remember that we are all flawed and deserving of love and forgiveness.
Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/).
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
It’s difficult to talk too much about Imbolo Mbue’s Every Story is a Love Story without giving too much of the story itself away, but it revolves around Wolo, who is several years into grieving the loss of his wife Yoma and their unborn children, when he receives a letter from Victoria Snow, the woman behind the wheel of the car that hit and killed his family.
The arrival of the letter causes a variety of reactions among Wolo and his family, both in the United States and in Cameroon. Most of the family, including Wolo initially, are vehemently opposed to him meeting Victoria, convinced that she is an entitled white woman who has been allowed to get away with murder. But meeting her and getting answers continues to dwell in Wolo’s mind, and surprisingly, the little support for doing so comes from an unexpected person, his father-in-law.
Wolo does decide to meet Victoria, and it does give him the push he needs to really start living again. As he begins this process, the reader is also taken back in time to when he first met Yoma, up until the accident, and learns that Wolo himself has made several decisions in his own life that he seeks his own forgiveness for, reminding the reader that people are complicated human beings who sin just as they are sinned against, making judgment and blame a fine line to walk.
Sometimes I don’t think Wolo (or his family for that matter) consider their choices in a matter involving one of his younger siblings to be as grievous as Victoria’s involvement in Yoma’s death, something that takes up a large part of the earlier timeline in the story. This is an interesting exploration of not just the act of doing harm to another, but also the intent behind it and the consequences that are a result of it.
I am not African, so several of the things that I struggle with when I read books written by African writers is the cultural difference between the relationships parents and children have, and the open belief that women should be obedient to men, because these are views so different from the ones I was raised with.
Mbue shows Wolo as a transitional character who still has the ways of his Cameroonian family engrained in him, but after being raised primarily in America, has viewpoints that start to diverge, especially as he falls in love with the very independent and spirited Yoma. This is obvious in his pride at her intelligence and ambition, his anger when he finds out she has no intention of taking his last name when they marry, his generosity in doing things that are special for her, his overprotectiveness, and his inability to understand that she isn’t willing to drop everything that matters to her the second he wants her undivided attention as the man of the house.
I enjoyed reading as Wolo learns how to process his grief. But even though the book couldn’t exist without Yoma dying, Mbue does such a great job of giving the reader insight into the type of person she was that I couldn’t help but feel sad throughout the book that I was only getting to see who she was instead of who she is and would become. Her telling Wolo she had no intention of taking his last name and handling his utter inability to understand why she shouldn’t have to was absolutely priceless for me.
This book will probably make you sad. You will probably have mixed feelings about his decision to meet Victoria. I lost my mother to cancer, so I didn’t have another person to blame for losing her at a relatively young age, and I don’t know what decision I would have made if I had been in Wolo’s position. I for one (unlike his mother) feel like his choice is the impetus he needs to start living again, which can be the most difficult step to make in losing a loved one, because you fear it means leaving that person behind for good.
A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
The arrival of the letter causes a variety of reactions among Wolo and his family, both in the United States and in Cameroon. Most of the family, including Wolo initially, are vehemently opposed to him meeting Victoria, convinced that she is an entitled white woman who has been allowed to get away with murder. But meeting her and getting answers continues to dwell in Wolo’s mind, and surprisingly, the little support for doing so comes from an unexpected person, his father-in-law.
Wolo does decide to meet Victoria, and it does give him the push he needs to really start living again. As he begins this process, the reader is also taken back in time to when he first met Yoma, up until the accident, and learns that Wolo himself has made several decisions in his own life that he seeks his own forgiveness for, reminding the reader that people are complicated human beings who sin just as they are sinned against, making judgment and blame a fine line to walk.
Sometimes I don’t think Wolo (or his family for that matter) consider their choices in a matter involving one of his younger siblings to be as grievous as Victoria’s involvement in Yoma’s death, something that takes up a large part of the earlier timeline in the story. This is an interesting exploration of not just the act of doing harm to another, but also the intent behind it and the consequences that are a result of it.
I am not African, so several of the things that I struggle with when I read books written by African writers is the cultural difference between the relationships parents and children have, and the open belief that women should be obedient to men, because these are views so different from the ones I was raised with.
Mbue shows Wolo as a transitional character who still has the ways of his Cameroonian family engrained in him, but after being raised primarily in America, has viewpoints that start to diverge, especially as he falls in love with the very independent and spirited Yoma. This is obvious in his pride at her intelligence and ambition, his anger when he finds out she has no intention of taking his last name when they marry, his generosity in doing things that are special for her, his overprotectiveness, and his inability to understand that she isn’t willing to drop everything that matters to her the second he wants her undivided attention as the man of the house.
I enjoyed reading as Wolo learns how to process his grief. But even though the book couldn’t exist without Yoma dying, Mbue does such a great job of giving the reader insight into the type of person she was that I couldn’t help but feel sad throughout the book that I was only getting to see who she was instead of who she is and would become. Her telling Wolo she had no intention of taking his last name and handling his utter inability to understand why she shouldn’t have to was absolutely priceless for me.
This book will probably make you sad. You will probably have mixed feelings about his decision to meet Victoria. I lost my mother to cancer, so I didn’t have another person to blame for losing her at a relatively young age, and I don’t know what decision I would have made if I had been in Wolo’s position. I for one (unlike his mother) feel like his choice is the impetus he needs to start living again, which can be the most difficult step to make in losing a loved one, because you fear it means leaving that person behind for good.
A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Every Story is a Love Story is a unique, deeply sad, and moving story. Wolo is a Cameroonian American, spending his youngest years in Cameroon before moving to the US to study with his mother, Keka. Wolo’s father remains in Africa with his second wife, Jokeh.
We learn early in the book that Wolo’s wife, Yoma, pregnant with twins at the time, was killed in a tragic car accident. Wolo, understandably, is distraught, still living in “darkness” three years after the accident. When he is finally starting to feel more stability and that he could consider enjoying pieces of life again, Wolo receives a letter from the woman, Victoria Snow, who killed Yoma. In that letter, Victoria begs Wolo’s forgiveness. To say this letter upsets Wolo’s equilibrium is an understatement. His entire world is set off kilter as he debates whether to meet Victoria or not, if meeting her could offer some resolution to his biggest questions about Yoma’s death, if he can ever forgive Victoria for this greatest harm.
The story travels back and forth between current day and Wolo’s grief, his family’s grief, and how that intertwines with Victoria’s own grief and guilt and the early days of Wolo and Yoma’s relationship.
While Wolo is the story’s protagonist, Yoma and Keka are vibrant, incredible women who steal the show. I loved both of their characters so much! Family and forgiveness play equally important roles in this story. It’s hard to imagine how terrible anyone might feel in a circumstance like Wolo’s, but Mbue does a beautiful job writing those very emotions. I loved this book and couldn’t put it down.
This is my third book by Imbolo Imbue and I will continue to read everything Imbue puts out. I love Imbue’s writing style and cadence and the deeply flawed humanness she is able to capture on the page.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Favorite quotes:
“he knew people-pleasing had always been Shiraz’s vice and virtue;“
“Whoever sent you to annoy me this evening, go right back and tell them that you couldn’t find me.”
“There’s no such thing as breaking up in the nicest way possible,” Dikaki said. “A heart makes a loud, ugly sound when it’s broken, don’t matter shit how sweetly it’s done.”
“Someday I’m going to be a mother,” she said. “If I go about acting the way I feel, what do you think will happen to me and my children? We’ll suffer. No matter how I feel, I have to act the way I need to act in every moment. I don’t have the luxury of being weak.”
“Later, he promises himself, he’ll tell her about the advice his mother gave him vis-à-vis posing questions of a personal nature to feed his curiosity—make the question closed-ended; never ask at the beginning of a conversation, wait for an appropriate opening. His mother, and being an immigrant, are the reasons why he never asks people where they’re from; he has yet to meet an immigrant who loves that question. He asks, instead, Are you from here? Here being whatever town or city or neighborhood they’re having the conversation in. He never asks couples how they met. He asks if they’re in the same line of work, if they went to the same college. They tell him yes, they tell him no, they tell him more if they so choose, and he follows their lead. He never asks if anyone is married or has children. He is grateful for those who don’t ask him. He is grateful for all who tell him their stories without asking for his in return.“
“Except you don’t know what is best for all of us, Wol’ami. You’re the child, we are the mothers. You do not get to come up with the solutions, it does not work like that, my dear. The way it works is that you tell us your problem, we advise you on how to fix it. You don’t then go behind our backs and not only ignore our advice but also find new ways to complicate our lives.”
We learn early in the book that Wolo’s wife, Yoma, pregnant with twins at the time, was killed in a tragic car accident. Wolo, understandably, is distraught, still living in “darkness” three years after the accident. When he is finally starting to feel more stability and that he could consider enjoying pieces of life again, Wolo receives a letter from the woman, Victoria Snow, who killed Yoma. In that letter, Victoria begs Wolo’s forgiveness. To say this letter upsets Wolo’s equilibrium is an understatement. His entire world is set off kilter as he debates whether to meet Victoria or not, if meeting her could offer some resolution to his biggest questions about Yoma’s death, if he can ever forgive Victoria for this greatest harm.
The story travels back and forth between current day and Wolo’s grief, his family’s grief, and how that intertwines with Victoria’s own grief and guilt and the early days of Wolo and Yoma’s relationship.
While Wolo is the story’s protagonist, Yoma and Keka are vibrant, incredible women who steal the show. I loved both of their characters so much! Family and forgiveness play equally important roles in this story. It’s hard to imagine how terrible anyone might feel in a circumstance like Wolo’s, but Mbue does a beautiful job writing those very emotions. I loved this book and couldn’t put it down.
This is my third book by Imbolo Imbue and I will continue to read everything Imbue puts out. I love Imbue’s writing style and cadence and the deeply flawed humanness she is able to capture on the page.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Favorite quotes:
“he knew people-pleasing had always been Shiraz’s vice and virtue;“
“Whoever sent you to annoy me this evening, go right back and tell them that you couldn’t find me.”
“There’s no such thing as breaking up in the nicest way possible,” Dikaki said. “A heart makes a loud, ugly sound when it’s broken, don’t matter shit how sweetly it’s done.”
“Someday I’m going to be a mother,” she said. “If I go about acting the way I feel, what do you think will happen to me and my children? We’ll suffer. No matter how I feel, I have to act the way I need to act in every moment. I don’t have the luxury of being weak.”
“Later, he promises himself, he’ll tell her about the advice his mother gave him vis-à-vis posing questions of a personal nature to feed his curiosity—make the question closed-ended; never ask at the beginning of a conversation, wait for an appropriate opening. His mother, and being an immigrant, are the reasons why he never asks people where they’re from; he has yet to meet an immigrant who loves that question. He asks, instead, Are you from here? Here being whatever town or city or neighborhood they’re having the conversation in. He never asks couples how they met. He asks if they’re in the same line of work, if they went to the same college. They tell him yes, they tell him no, they tell him more if they so choose, and he follows their lead. He never asks if anyone is married or has children. He is grateful for those who don’t ask him. He is grateful for all who tell him their stories without asking for his in return.“
“Except you don’t know what is best for all of us, Wol’ami. You’re the child, we are the mothers. You do not get to come up with the solutions, it does not work like that, my dear. The way it works is that you tell us your problem, we advise you on how to fix it. You don’t then go behind our backs and not only ignore our advice but also find new ways to complicate our lives.”
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I was drawn to Every Story is a Love Story because I enjoy literary fiction, and the premise suggested that this was going to be the type of introspective novel that gets me thinking about deeper ideas. Initially, I assumed the title would reflect a story about learning to move forward after the person you love is gone. What I found was a morally layered book about love, perspective, and forgiveness.
Wolo Lifafa is grieving the death of his wife, Yoma, who passed tragically after she and her unborn twins were hit by a car while out running. Three years later, Wolo receives a letter from Victoria, the woman who was driving the car, asking to meet. Though everyone in his life has a different opinion about what he should do, Wolo decides to meet her but is caught off-guard by Victoria’s grief and remorse. The book is told in dual timelines alternating between Wolo’s younger years in the past and the present where Wolo is trapped in his grief and has to learn how to move forward after an unimaginable tragedy.
I really enjoyed the structure of the novel, which alternated consistently between past and present to give the reader background context about Wolo’s culture, family and his relationship with Yoma. I thought this was effective because Mbue shows the reader Wolo’s past instead of simply telling the reader about it in the present. This alternating structure shows where Wolo came from, starting as someone who believed there was a right and a wrong way of doing everything, to becoming someone more open to considering that life may not have a fixed path. I think this served a bigger purpose because Wolo’s triumphs and failures in both timelines seem to ask: if he cannot be defined solely by his best or worst decisions, should anyone?
I found Wolo’s character to be, particularly in the past timeline, a bit difficult to empathize with. His internal thoughts, particularly about women, felt overly judgmental. This was less noticeable in the present timeline, which I think helped showcase a more noticeable difference between who he was as a young man and who he becomes after Yoma is killed. Though he wasn’t always likeable, this characterization helped advance the idea that people can’t be reduced to one quality.
There is a plot development at about 75% that I personally struggled with. This development is morally and emotionally difficult and is presented to the reader for consideration. Each character finds their own way to move forward by the end of the book and Mbue leaves the reader to decide whether they’re okay with the development or not. I found this difficult because it challenged an existing belief I didn’t realize I had about love, forgiveness and what happens when someone hurts you. I thought love and forgiveness were inherently connected. This plot development made me realize that we don’t have to understand everything in life, but we can learn to live with the realities of it.
Every Story is a Love Story broadened my understanding by showing me that love does not require forgiveness, and forgiveness does not need to happen in order to move forward.
Readers who enjoy stories that make them reconsider their own assumptions and readers who are interested in exploring complicated moral dilemmas that don’t provide any clear-cut answers would really enjoy this.
Thank you to Random House for providing me with an advance copy of this book via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Wolo Lifafa is grieving the death of his wife, Yoma, who passed tragically after she and her unborn twins were hit by a car while out running. Three years later, Wolo receives a letter from Victoria, the woman who was driving the car, asking to meet. Though everyone in his life has a different opinion about what he should do, Wolo decides to meet her but is caught off-guard by Victoria’s grief and remorse. The book is told in dual timelines alternating between Wolo’s younger years in the past and the present where Wolo is trapped in his grief and has to learn how to move forward after an unimaginable tragedy.
I really enjoyed the structure of the novel, which alternated consistently between past and present to give the reader background context about Wolo’s culture, family and his relationship with Yoma. I thought this was effective because Mbue shows the reader Wolo’s past instead of simply telling the reader about it in the present. This alternating structure shows where Wolo came from, starting as someone who believed there was a right and a wrong way of doing everything, to becoming someone more open to considering that life may not have a fixed path. I think this served a bigger purpose because Wolo’s triumphs and failures in both timelines seem to ask: if he cannot be defined solely by his best or worst decisions, should anyone?
I found Wolo’s character to be, particularly in the past timeline, a bit difficult to empathize with. His internal thoughts, particularly about women, felt overly judgmental. This was less noticeable in the present timeline, which I think helped showcase a more noticeable difference between who he was as a young man and who he becomes after Yoma is killed. Though he wasn’t always likeable, this characterization helped advance the idea that people can’t be reduced to one quality.
There is a plot development at about 75% that I personally struggled with. This development is morally and emotionally difficult and is presented to the reader for consideration. Each character finds their own way to move forward by the end of the book and Mbue leaves the reader to decide whether they’re okay with the development or not. I found this difficult because it challenged an existing belief I didn’t realize I had about love, forgiveness and what happens when someone hurts you. I thought love and forgiveness were inherently connected. This plot development made me realize that we don’t have to understand everything in life, but we can learn to live with the realities of it.
Every Story is a Love Story broadened my understanding by showing me that love does not require forgiveness, and forgiveness does not need to happen in order to move forward.
Readers who enjoy stories that make them reconsider their own assumptions and readers who are interested in exploring complicated moral dilemmas that don’t provide any clear-cut answers would really enjoy this.
Thank you to Random House for providing me with an advance copy of this book via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
It began with a baby shower. Wolo’s wife Yoma was attending the shower with his mother, Keka, as it was closer to her house than Yoma’s. She knew the party would run late so she spent the night at her mother-in-law’s house and Wolo would pick her up the next day. She brought her running shoes over with her-even though she was pregnant with twins, she insisted on at least a three mile run every day. Wolo was nervous about her running but Yoma was a modern free spirit who did what pleased her. At a corner, a car stopped at a stop sign, and as Yomo ran in front of the car it accelerated and hit her. She and her unborn children were killed.
We meet Wolo three years after the tragedy. He has not even begun to get over the loss of his beloved wife and their unborn children. He was a civil engineer who was born in Cameroon to a close upstanding well-off family. While studying at the university, his father was given the opportunity to complete his master’s degree in America and he took his wife and son with him. Wolo attended school in America until the eighth grade, completed his high school education at a private high school in Cameroon and his college degrees at an American university. His mother stayed in America where she earned her bachelor’s, master’s. and doctoral degrees. When his mother heard that a young Cameroonian woman was coming to study mathematics as a green card lottery winner, she made Wolo call her up, and that was the beginning of their love story-he married her soon after with the happy consent of both families.
We also meet Victoria Snow, the young woman in the car that killed Yoma. What she did that day colored every other day of her life-she was horrified and contrite and all she wanted was to tell Wolo how sorry she was. She was given the opportunity to do that when she ran into a friend of Wolo at a party-she asked him to take a letter to Wolo with her apology, but Wolo has other ideas. He decided to meet her in person to find out the real story of the “accident.” Who fixed the police investigation for her? Was she drunk or on drugs? Did she do it on purpose? But when they did meet, she was contrite and sad, but also adamant that it was just a tragic accident. Yolo’s friend also spoke to her and said he believed her.
As they slowly learn more about each other, Wolo begins his exploration of the concept of forgiveness. The characters have their own ideas of who merits compassion and who will never be able to earn it. Family alliances, different personalities, and reason and emotions, all play into their level of acceptance of an untenable situation.
This book is incredible-I knew Mbue was a wonderful storyteller after reading her debut novel, Behold the Dreamers, but this one is absolutely stellar. The author shapes a philosophical debate as a real story of love and loss, which drives home her points much better than any dry essay would. If you don’t experience the full range of emotions on this one, then I have to pity you.
We meet Wolo three years after the tragedy. He has not even begun to get over the loss of his beloved wife and their unborn children. He was a civil engineer who was born in Cameroon to a close upstanding well-off family. While studying at the university, his father was given the opportunity to complete his master’s degree in America and he took his wife and son with him. Wolo attended school in America until the eighth grade, completed his high school education at a private high school in Cameroon and his college degrees at an American university. His mother stayed in America where she earned her bachelor’s, master’s. and doctoral degrees. When his mother heard that a young Cameroonian woman was coming to study mathematics as a green card lottery winner, she made Wolo call her up, and that was the beginning of their love story-he married her soon after with the happy consent of both families.
We also meet Victoria Snow, the young woman in the car that killed Yoma. What she did that day colored every other day of her life-she was horrified and contrite and all she wanted was to tell Wolo how sorry she was. She was given the opportunity to do that when she ran into a friend of Wolo at a party-she asked him to take a letter to Wolo with her apology, but Wolo has other ideas. He decided to meet her in person to find out the real story of the “accident.” Who fixed the police investigation for her? Was she drunk or on drugs? Did she do it on purpose? But when they did meet, she was contrite and sad, but also adamant that it was just a tragic accident. Yolo’s friend also spoke to her and said he believed her.
As they slowly learn more about each other, Wolo begins his exploration of the concept of forgiveness. The characters have their own ideas of who merits compassion and who will never be able to earn it. Family alliances, different personalities, and reason and emotions, all play into their level of acceptance of an untenable situation.
This book is incredible-I knew Mbue was a wonderful storyteller after reading her debut novel, Behold the Dreamers, but this one is absolutely stellar. The author shapes a philosophical debate as a real story of love and loss, which drives home her points much better than any dry essay would. If you don’t experience the full range of emotions on this one, then I have to pity you.
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