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This Hostel Life
SHORTLISTED FOR THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS SUNDAY INDEPENDENT NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR'A landmark book by an important new voice in Irish writing' EMILIE PINETHIS HOSTEL LIFE tells the stories of migrant women in a hidden Ireland.Queuing for basic supplies in an Irish direct provision hostel, a group of women squabble and mistrust each other, learning what they can of the world from conversations about reality television and Shakespeare. In another story, a student shares her work with a class only to be critiqued about her own lived experience, and a mother of young twins, living in Nigeria, is at risk of losing her newborns to ancient superstitious beliefs.An essay by Liam Thornton (UCD School of Law) is also included, explaining the Irish legal position in relation to asylum seekers and direct provision.'Fresh, devastating stories . . . Okorie writes with uncomfortable clarity about things we think we already know' LIA MILLS 'Melatu Uche Okorie has important things to say - and she does it quite brilliantly' RODDY DOYLE
112 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 19, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
August 24, 2018
Three important short stories, one which paints the inane routines and frustrations of direct provision, one which positions Irish racism and Irish responses to Irish racism as phenomena that support each other, and one which gives just one example of a gendered persecution that someone might be running from. Well worth a read - Uche Okorie is a voice from Ireland to watch out for.
June 14, 2020
This was a short little thing and worth it for the unique voice it provides through short stories relaying the experience of asylum seekers in Ireland. Uncompromising in its use of pidgin english and the description of various daily racisms. This was very good and now I just feel a bit sad.
April 26, 2022
Hay un activismo de sofá y redes sociales y hay otro de calle. Nunca me he sentido bien sólo con el primero, así es que un buen día decidí implicarme un poco más y colaboré con una ONG, cuyo nombre no quiero mencionar, como voluntaria como profesora de español de las personas que llegaban a uno de sus centros de acogida. Allí conocí, entre otros, a Julius, Mamadou, Harouna y Mahdi, (como los tenéis en esta red os invito a conocerles, a acercaros a ellos), y descubrí cómo funcionan estos centros mal llamados de acogida a refugiados. Deberían llamarse centros de estabulación, porque eso es lo que hacen allí con las personas migrantes. Encerrarlos, privarles de los más mínimos derechos, darles comida que en muchas ocasiones ni siquiera es saludable y no cumple con los preceptos religiosos de quienes están acogidos, hacerles perder el tiempo mientras las clases de español, indispensables para que puedan manejarse en nuestro país, dependen del tiempo libre de voluntarios, tratarlos preventivamente como delincuentes.
Esos centros y ese abuso del sistema se refleja en los relatos de Melatu Uche Okorie. Textos que denuncian la violencia y el racismo estructural de estos centros en los que malviven, como seres de tercera, miles de personas migrantes en Irlanda. Un país como cualquier otro, reflejo de las políticas de migración europeas. Pero los textos de esta mujer migrante nigeriana que comenzó a escribir en uno des centros de provisión van mucho más allá de su experiencia dentro del sistema. También podréis encontrar un par de relatos más sobre el peso de las supersticiones en su país de origen o la forma en la que se choca una niña pequeña con la discriminación en las calles irlandesas.
February 4, 2020
*kindly gifted to me by Little Brown*
Such a powerful selection of short stories, highlighting topics that I didn't know much about before reading this (the direct provision system in Ireland, how everyday racism is waved off as something not that important, and asylum seekers).
The stories always picked us up and left us in a good place, so much so that I wanted to read on and find out what happened to the characters.
I whizzed through this, but it still left quite an impact on me afterwards.
Such a powerful selection of short stories, highlighting topics that I didn't know much about before reading this (the direct provision system in Ireland, how everyday racism is waved off as something not that important, and asylum seekers).
The stories always picked us up and left us in a good place, so much so that I wanted to read on and find out what happened to the characters.
I whizzed through this, but it still left quite an impact on me afterwards.
March 31, 2025
Other reviews described this book as ‘Quietly devastating’ and I completely agree.
The book is a collection of short stories which are gripping and easy to read and also quite upsetting and truly show us that Ireland is not ‘the land of a hundred thousand welcomes’.
The final piece in the book is a short yet succinct explanation of the legal and political decisions that have been made in order to result with systems in Ireland like direct provision.
I am so upset that despite ours being a history of emigration and making a go of it in other countries that our State is failing migrants and refugees so epically in such a non empathic manner.
Highly highly recommend. Easy to read length wise but tough to read content wise.
The book is a collection of short stories which are gripping and easy to read and also quite upsetting and truly show us that Ireland is not ‘the land of a hundred thousand welcomes’.
The final piece in the book is a short yet succinct explanation of the legal and political decisions that have been made in order to result with systems in Ireland like direct provision.
I am so upset that despite ours being a history of emigration and making a go of it in other countries that our State is failing migrants and refugees so epically in such a non empathic manner.
Highly highly recommend. Easy to read length wise but tough to read content wise.
December 2, 2018
All in, I think that I actually liked these stories more than I could first admit. The brutal descriptions of Ireland as a racist and horrible country put me off. That was hard to read but it must be much, much harder to experience.
The First Story
I hoped that the whole book would be a series of vignettes which shed light on what life is like living in a direct provision hostel - "this hostel life" was just 23 pages and i didn't really come away from it with a better understanding. I didn't like the writing in this portion at all. I got so little out of it the first time that I went back to read it a second time. I didn't finish the story with a clear sense of the main character. Is she being depersonalised by the direct provision system or was she just a badly fleshed out character? I think that the author needed to do more within this story. The closed doors of life in direct provision centers need to be opened - those stories need to be told.
The second story
I loved the idea of a story within a story but in spots I found the writing a bit clunky (e.g. "Outside, the weather was as unsettled as her disposition as if it was ruminating on whether to rain or not"). When the story within the story began I started to like it a bit more. Here, I could see evidence of the nuanced writing mentioned in the blurb. I especially liked the line - "You are yet to feel comfortable telling someone something was grand when you didn't think it was". It was unnerving/unsettling to read the descriptions of the racism that Didi experiences. She is a very well drawn character. The lack of support that the author experiences in the writer's group caught me by surprise. At first it seemed fair and reasonable but on further reflection I realised that it was so cold and unsupportive. Again, I wanted the author to do more here, I wanted her to join more dots for me. Not by telling me the story but by showing me more of the story, I found this one too short.
The third story.
I enjoyed this one the most. It was well rounded. The story is solid and it really catches you. The fact that it ends where it does () made it more poignant.
The First Story
I hoped that the whole book would be a series of vignettes which shed light on what life is like living in a direct provision hostel - "this hostel life" was just 23 pages and i didn't really come away from it with a better understanding. I didn't like the writing in this portion at all. I got so little out of it the first time that I went back to read it a second time. I didn't finish the story with a clear sense of the main character. Is she being depersonalised by the direct provision system or was she just a badly fleshed out character? I think that the author needed to do more within this story. The closed doors of life in direct provision centers need to be opened - those stories need to be told.
The second story
I loved the idea of a story within a story but in spots I found the writing a bit clunky (e.g. "Outside, the weather was as unsettled as her disposition as if it was ruminating on whether to rain or not"). When the story within the story began I started to like it a bit more. Here, I could see evidence of the nuanced writing mentioned in the blurb. I especially liked the line - "You are yet to feel comfortable telling someone something was grand when you didn't think it was". It was unnerving/unsettling to read the descriptions of the racism that Didi experiences. She is a very well drawn character. The lack of support that the author experiences in the writer's group caught me by surprise. At first it seemed fair and reasonable but on further reflection I realised that it was so cold and unsupportive. Again, I wanted the author to do more here, I wanted her to join more dots for me. Not by telling me the story but by showing me more of the story, I found this one too short.
The third story.
I enjoyed this one the most. It was well rounded. The story is solid and it really catches you. The fact that it ends where it does () made it more poignant.
June 25, 2019
I was going to give this collection of 3 short stories a 4 stars as the first story is a little confusing. It is good but hard to get your head around. The second and third stories are so powerful I had to give 5 stars.
March 28, 2022
I love Okorie's writing and really appreciate the insight of her short stories. I'm well aware of the awful going's on in direct provision but to read snapshots from someone who actually lived it, that's something else.
September 2, 2022
Observant, Original, Complex.
I bought this book without knowing anything about it. This book is made up of two short stories set in Provision in Ireland.
As they are short stories, I don't want to give any spoilers.
It was a 3 star read for me.
I bought this book without knowing anything about it. This book is made up of two short stories set in Provision in Ireland.
As they are short stories, I don't want to give any spoilers.
It was a 3 star read for me.
January 17, 2021
This slim volume contains an informative introduction, three stories and a final article that provides information on the legal situation of migrants to Ireland. Okorie is a Nigerian migrant to Ireland along with her daughter. Asylum seekers who arrive in Ireland may be categorized as refugees or a person meriting subsidiary protection. Refugees are persons whose fear for safety and their lives is something they face everywhere in their country of origin. There is a distinction made for persons who face persecution in the specific area where they reside in their country of origin. This may be domestic abuse, religious persecution, torture and more that threatens their lives and survival. It is, however, not possible for many to simply move to another part of their country and live safely. Persons who are admitted to Ireland as needing subsidiary protection are placed in a direct provision group. They are not permitted to work. They are required to live in special housing, called hostels.
In some hostels, residents may have cooking facilities, but in most they are served in a cafeteria. In the first story "This Hostel Life", we meet residents of the hostel, the majority of whom are migrants from Nigeria, and other African countries. The story is written in the language these people, mostly women, have created to communicate across their different languages. It is a kind of creole of Nigerian pidgin English, and some American slang. The women gossip about everything in their contained environment. The employees of the hostel exhibit the power they hold over residents, denying them provisions (toilet paper, soap etc.) when a resident complains. Still there are residents who push back, despite the risks. Many face years in these residents, existing in a stateless limbo.
The second story "Under the Awning" focuses on the question of belonging. In 2004 with the Citizenship Referendum, the right of citizenship was withdrawn from children born in Ireland of parents who were not Irish citizens. the title reflects the lengths to which the character in the story goes to blend in. In Nigeria, when it rains, people don't flee the wet. In Ireland, waiting for a bus, the character goes to wait under a shop awning with other waiting passengers, because that is what you do in Ireland. This is a story within a story. A Nigerian woman is called to read aloud her story in a writing class. At the end of her reading, her fellow students' comments reveal their inability to comprehend this simple story. It was particularly interesting to me as a linguist who has studied various types of discourse styles, and how a specific form of storytelling is rewarded in Eurocentric
(including American) traditions, and others are seen as deficient.
The third and final story "The Egg Broke" is set in Nigeria. In this village, despite laws against this practice, twins are seen as not deserving the right to survive. Traditionally they are abandoned in the woods. The young woman in the story has a young daughter, but she and her husband yearn for a son. She gives birth to twin boys.
This is a collection that provides readers insights into the lives of migrants in Ireland. The stories are given context by the Introduction and the final essay. The author Melatu Uche Okorie is currently working on her PhD at Trinity College Dublin. She has a MPhil in Creative writing from Trinity. She moved to Ireland in 2006, and began writing while in direct provision status for eight and a half years. I look forward to reading more from this talented writer and important voice in Irish writing.
In some hostels, residents may have cooking facilities, but in most they are served in a cafeteria. In the first story "This Hostel Life", we meet residents of the hostel, the majority of whom are migrants from Nigeria, and other African countries. The story is written in the language these people, mostly women, have created to communicate across their different languages. It is a kind of creole of Nigerian pidgin English, and some American slang. The women gossip about everything in their contained environment. The employees of the hostel exhibit the power they hold over residents, denying them provisions (toilet paper, soap etc.) when a resident complains. Still there are residents who push back, despite the risks. Many face years in these residents, existing in a stateless limbo.
The second story "Under the Awning" focuses on the question of belonging. In 2004 with the Citizenship Referendum, the right of citizenship was withdrawn from children born in Ireland of parents who were not Irish citizens. the title reflects the lengths to which the character in the story goes to blend in. In Nigeria, when it rains, people don't flee the wet. In Ireland, waiting for a bus, the character goes to wait under a shop awning with other waiting passengers, because that is what you do in Ireland. This is a story within a story. A Nigerian woman is called to read aloud her story in a writing class. At the end of her reading, her fellow students' comments reveal their inability to comprehend this simple story. It was particularly interesting to me as a linguist who has studied various types of discourse styles, and how a specific form of storytelling is rewarded in Eurocentric
(including American) traditions, and others are seen as deficient.
The third and final story "The Egg Broke" is set in Nigeria. In this village, despite laws against this practice, twins are seen as not deserving the right to survive. Traditionally they are abandoned in the woods. The young woman in the story has a young daughter, but she and her husband yearn for a son. She gives birth to twin boys.
This is a collection that provides readers insights into the lives of migrants in Ireland. The stories are given context by the Introduction and the final essay. The author Melatu Uche Okorie is currently working on her PhD at Trinity College Dublin. She has a MPhil in Creative writing from Trinity. She moved to Ireland in 2006, and began writing while in direct provision status for eight and a half years. I look forward to reading more from this talented writer and important voice in Irish writing.
March 7, 2023
A poignant short story collection
This Hostel Life is a collection on the short side with only three stories, but it packs a punch. Melatu Uche Okorie gives us a glimpse of life in a direct provision hostel while discussing racism and discrimination asylum seekers and black Africans face in Ireland. I would say this is a must-read and urge you to pick it up.
•
"Back home, rainfall meant other things to you rather than discomfort. It meant that the flat you shared with your mother’s sister and her husband and your three cousins would not be stuffy. It meant that you wouldn’t go to the well to fill the jelly-cans in the flat with water. It meant that there would be corn sellers lined up along your street selling your favourite fresh roast corn the next morning."
•
"It was Aunty Muna who had told you not long after you arrived that the people in the Western world liked Africans the way you enjoyed animals in a zoo; you could visit them, feed them, play with them, but they must not be allowed outside their environment."
•
"They asked you where you learnt to speak English so well and if it were true Africans lived in trees and how they could never live in a hot country because they would melt. You muttered an empty response, desperate not to show your real emotions, but the sadness would still come when you got home and you would cry into your pillow."
•
This Hostel Life is a collection on the short side with only three stories, but it packs a punch. Melatu Uche Okorie gives us a glimpse of life in a direct provision hostel while discussing racism and discrimination asylum seekers and black Africans face in Ireland. I would say this is a must-read and urge you to pick it up.
•
"Back home, rainfall meant other things to you rather than discomfort. It meant that the flat you shared with your mother’s sister and her husband and your three cousins would not be stuffy. It meant that you wouldn’t go to the well to fill the jelly-cans in the flat with water. It meant that there would be corn sellers lined up along your street selling your favourite fresh roast corn the next morning."
•
"It was Aunty Muna who had told you not long after you arrived that the people in the Western world liked Africans the way you enjoyed animals in a zoo; you could visit them, feed them, play with them, but they must not be allowed outside their environment."
•
"They asked you where you learnt to speak English so well and if it were true Africans lived in trees and how they could never live in a hot country because they would melt. You muttered an empty response, desperate not to show your real emotions, but the sadness would still come when you got home and you would cry into your pillow."
•
July 5, 2024
Tras la introducción, incluye tres historias (dos en Irlanda, una en Nigeria) y una explicación sobre la acogida que da Irlanda a la migración por un autor irlandés.
El primer cuento, Una vida en acogida, habla de una inmigrante congoleña (con un inglés imperfecto) que va al servicio de provisión directa para conseguir comida y productos de aseo y se enfrenta a las veleidades y arbitrariedades de los que llevan el servicio.
Bajo el toldo una chica inmigrante en un taller de narración presenta una historia bastante interesante (donde, entre otras cosas, habla del trato que le dan por ser inmigrante) y le hacen unas críticas de mierda, sobre todo porque el relato es bastante interesante, en segunda persona y bastante bien expresado.
Al romperse el huevo habla de la indefensión de una mujer nigeriana al ver el trato que dan, basándose en supersticiones locales, a los bebés gemelos.
Me ha parecido una autora muy interesante.
El primer cuento, Una vida en acogida, habla de una inmigrante congoleña (con un inglés imperfecto) que va al servicio de provisión directa para conseguir comida y productos de aseo y se enfrenta a las veleidades y arbitrariedades de los que llevan el servicio.
Bajo el toldo una chica inmigrante en un taller de narración presenta una historia bastante interesante (donde, entre otras cosas, habla del trato que le dan por ser inmigrante) y le hacen unas críticas de mierda, sobre todo porque el relato es bastante interesante, en segunda persona y bastante bien expresado.
Al romperse el huevo habla de la indefensión de una mujer nigeriana al ver el trato que dan, basándose en supersticiones locales, a los bebés gemelos.
Me ha parecido una autora muy interesante.
June 22, 2019
Powerful stories about the direct provision system in Ireland and racism in Irish society. Melatu Uche Okorie is an important voice.
October 13, 2021
I inhaled this little book in one sitting. Beautiful!
May 3, 2023
Una vida en acogida, de Melatu Uche Okorie, se cruzó en mi camino en la biblioteca. Título, cubierta y el inicio de la sinopsis me bastaron para llevármelo sin conocerlo previamente (esto tengo que decir que no suele pasar 😅).
En este breve libro se recopilan tres relatos de la autora y un pequeño ensayo sobre la situación actual de los temas tratados en ellos, escrito por Liam Thornton. Dichos relatos nos llevan a Irlanda, y tratan asuntos relacionados con las mujeres migrantes en el país, inspirados por la experiencia de la autora.
Esto último es lo que comentaba que llamó mi atención de la sinopsis, peeeero a mí me ha fallado un poco en su ejecución. El tema es interesante, y el ensayo del final me ha gustado, pero las diferentes historias planteadas, aunque no puedo decir que no me hayan gustado, no me han dicho mucho. Leído y olvidado seguramente en unas semanas, y es una pena porque pintaba muy bien, la verdad.
Es un libro con muy buena nota así que probablemente haya sido cosa mía, que no he conectado con la escritura de la autora. Si os llama la atención os animo a leer más reseñas y si os gusta lo que dicen, leedlo, por supuesto.
5/10
En este breve libro se recopilan tres relatos de la autora y un pequeño ensayo sobre la situación actual de los temas tratados en ellos, escrito por Liam Thornton. Dichos relatos nos llevan a Irlanda, y tratan asuntos relacionados con las mujeres migrantes en el país, inspirados por la experiencia de la autora.
Esto último es lo que comentaba que llamó mi atención de la sinopsis, peeeero a mí me ha fallado un poco en su ejecución. El tema es interesante, y el ensayo del final me ha gustado, pero las diferentes historias planteadas, aunque no puedo decir que no me hayan gustado, no me han dicho mucho. Leído y olvidado seguramente en unas semanas, y es una pena porque pintaba muy bien, la verdad.
Es un libro con muy buena nota así que probablemente haya sido cosa mía, que no he conectado con la escritura de la autora. Si os llama la atención os animo a leer más reseñas y si os gusta lo que dicen, leedlo, por supuesto.
5/10
December 11, 2023
This Hostel Life find itself in the inbetween-ness of the experience of displacement that is migration; here between Nigeria and Ireland. Melatu Uche Okorie is a genius in the way she uses languages from English to the one she created only for her novella which is so impressive. Her experience in a provision hostel gives strength and a sense of hard reality to This Hostel Life. The depiction of all these women and the inane and futility of their weekly queue for ressources is a brutal description of modern ireland immigration system. There is something to be said about language as a tool for alienation as both a pillar of English pop culture but also as a part of the difficulties to make genuine connections the women in the novella experience when their lives are very much precarious in the hostel.
It is definitively a book would recommend people read, especially if they are interested in migration and its intersection with community and language.
It is definitively a book would recommend people read, especially if they are interested in migration and its intersection with community and language.
Read
December 11, 2020Insightful. A perspective of African refugee culture and european immigration experience I knew nothing about. This book is 3 short stories. I found them the perfect length and very independent and each uniquely interesting.
April 1, 2023
Ojalá el último ensayo también hubiera sido escrito por la autora de las historias de ficción.
August 7, 2020
I bought this book with the intention of gaining an inside perspective of direct provision in ireland. unfortunately this book did not deliver on my expectations.
This book is a collection of 3 short stories followed by some legal context at the end. overall i found the first story to be the worst of the 3. the story describes a conversation between women in line waiting at a direct provision centre. during the whole story i found none of the characters relatable which was to be expected, i also found all the characters to be shallow and unlikeable. each character is portrayed as a stereotype of thier nationality. All chracters are openly prejudice towards other etnicities. i fundementally dont understand the point of this story.
the second story details an african women presenting a story of her experiences to her writing group. the experiences she deals with are almost exclusivly misunderstandings, paranoia or from children, as members of her writing group point out.
finally the last story of the 3 details the life of a pregnant women in tribal africa, the story highlights why a person may need to seek refugeee status abroad, this story is easily the most enjoyable of the 3 if not the only enjoyable story. i found a sense of connection with the lead character and felt a strong sense of empaty towards her.
overall i would not recommend this book to anyone which is dissapointing because i was hoping to gain a valuable insight into the life of a refugee in direct provision.
This book is a collection of 3 short stories followed by some legal context at the end. overall i found the first story to be the worst of the 3. the story describes a conversation between women in line waiting at a direct provision centre. during the whole story i found none of the characters relatable which was to be expected, i also found all the characters to be shallow and unlikeable. each character is portrayed as a stereotype of thier nationality. All chracters are openly prejudice towards other etnicities. i fundementally dont understand the point of this story.
the second story details an african women presenting a story of her experiences to her writing group. the experiences she deals with are almost exclusivly misunderstandings, paranoia or from children, as members of her writing group point out.
finally the last story of the 3 details the life of a pregnant women in tribal africa, the story highlights why a person may need to seek refugeee status abroad, this story is easily the most enjoyable of the 3 if not the only enjoyable story. i found a sense of connection with the lead character and felt a strong sense of empaty towards her.
overall i would not recommend this book to anyone which is dissapointing because i was hoping to gain a valuable insight into the life of a refugee in direct provision.
October 23, 2022
La vida de los refugiados de asilo de la Irlanda escondida, Oculta mediante conversaciones, el proceso institucional y sesgo racial además de étnico y/o pertenencia. Donde hacer cola para comer, nos descubre cómo enfrentar a distintas etnias, refulge en los comedores con asilo nefasto, donde las diferencias, el rechazo, y el poder de la UE sigue causando estragos a lo largo y ancho de la Unión.
¿Es un hombre o una mujer de donde nace o de dónde hace su vida?
Lugares como Irlanda, representan otro lugar desde antes 2017 en el que se abstuvo al derecho de nacionalización. Es con una nueva ley que se comprometen a dar un paso adelante, aunque converjan raíces irlandesas o devolución al lugar de origen sin saber ni tan siquiera, qué ocurrirá con la persona o niño, en muchos casos devueltos sin familia. Con la presente situación del mundo con la pandemia, en España la situación cambia. (A peor)
Okorie, resuelve con nota pendiente su libro #thishotellife donde sigue dando de qué hablar sobre el asilo , vidas, culturas, etnias e inmigración.
Muy pronto en mi blog.
Gracias lector por pasar por mi espacio
elrincondekeren.blogspot.com
¿Es un hombre o una mujer de donde nace o de dónde hace su vida?
Lugares como Irlanda, representan otro lugar desde antes 2017 en el que se abstuvo al derecho de nacionalización. Es con una nueva ley que se comprometen a dar un paso adelante, aunque converjan raíces irlandesas o devolución al lugar de origen sin saber ni tan siquiera, qué ocurrirá con la persona o niño, en muchos casos devueltos sin familia. Con la presente situación del mundo con la pandemia, en España la situación cambia. (A peor)
Okorie, resuelve con nota pendiente su libro #thishotellife donde sigue dando de qué hablar sobre el asilo , vidas, culturas, etnias e inmigración.
Muy pronto en mi blog.
Gracias lector por pasar por mi espacio
elrincondekeren.blogspot.com
September 2, 2021
This book beautifully presented by Skein Press @skeinpress. In This Hostel Life (2018) by Melatu Uche Okorie, we read about direct provision, in-deep and in-sight look to immigrant and asylum-seekers lives within the Irish immigration system.
The author spent eight and a half years here where it was supposed to be for only six months. It was while in her hostel that Okorie started to write her experiences in short stories. The result is This Hostel Life, bookended by essays, the first by herself and the last by an academic – Liam Thornton-, with three short stories in between, also written by herself.
This book is an eye-opening about insidious racism experienced by migrant women living in Ireland. Okorie introduces African people into an Irish context with simplicity and often humour. Their voices become important and credible. How many times we ignore the main characters of migration story? Here, we must listen the uncomfortable true.
The author spent eight and a half years here where it was supposed to be for only six months. It was while in her hostel that Okorie started to write her experiences in short stories. The result is This Hostel Life, bookended by essays, the first by herself and the last by an academic – Liam Thornton-, with three short stories in between, also written by herself.
This book is an eye-opening about insidious racism experienced by migrant women living in Ireland. Okorie introduces African people into an Irish context with simplicity and often humour. Their voices become important and credible. How many times we ignore the main characters of migration story? Here, we must listen the uncomfortable true.
November 21, 2025
I appreciate this a lot for the discussions it brought up in class, and for the voice it's giving to people that are at its most simplistic form being let down by Ireland. I'd be tempted to recommend this to many of the residents in my building who love to use our groupchat to spew hatred at the people housed in the direct provision centre that has been opened across from us, but unfortunately they're incapable of engaging in proper conversation.
I felt distanced from the writing though, and finished the book not having been actually moved by the stories, more what they made me think about. So I'm leaving this at 3🌟, and would like to find another book on the same topic that I could feel more from
I felt distanced from the writing though, and finished the book not having been actually moved by the stories, more what they made me think about. So I'm leaving this at 3🌟, and would like to find another book on the same topic that I could feel more from
April 25, 2021
A collection of short stories about African migrant women living in direct provision hostels in Ireland.
The author herself spent eight and a half years living in the direct provision system, a system that is supposed to be temporary but tends to go on for extended periods.
These stories are an insight into immigration, enforced dependency and institutionalisation.
One of the stories is set in Nigeria 🇳🇬, it is my favourite story although a very sad one.
A bonus in this book is an essay called Ireland: Asylum Seekers and Refugees by Liam Thornton an assistant professor of law who regularly blogs on issues of human rights law in Ireland.
The author herself spent eight and a half years living in the direct provision system, a system that is supposed to be temporary but tends to go on for extended periods.
These stories are an insight into immigration, enforced dependency and institutionalisation.
One of the stories is set in Nigeria 🇳🇬, it is my favourite story although a very sad one.
A bonus in this book is an essay called Ireland: Asylum Seekers and Refugees by Liam Thornton an assistant professor of law who regularly blogs on issues of human rights law in Ireland.
August 30, 2021
I read this as part of the #invisiblecitiesproject where we're reading translated fiction from two countries a month.
Recently I've read quite a few translated works from and about Nigeria so picked this as it explores the experiences of migrant women in Ireland . It's a quick read of three short stories and an essay by Liam Thornton as a coda , explaining the asylum system in Ireland and it's short comings.
The three stories are fine enough -two shed a light on the dehumanising experience of migration and the third on cultural practices in Nigeria that may result in exile . The essay is a useful summary and fills me with shame .
Recently I've read quite a few translated works from and about Nigeria so picked this as it explores the experiences of migrant women in Ireland . It's a quick read of three short stories and an essay by Liam Thornton as a coda , explaining the asylum system in Ireland and it's short comings.
The three stories are fine enough -two shed a light on the dehumanising experience of migration and the third on cultural practices in Nigeria that may result in exile . The essay is a useful summary and fills me with shame .
August 25, 2019
An exploration of Nigerian migrants in contemporary Ireland, Okorie's writing is clean and unsentimental, studying how Irish laws of Direct Provision have limited notions of citizenship and belonging. With a scholarly essay that tracks in minute detail the levels of nativist policy that ensure migrants cannot receive easy passage to citizenship, Okorie records the growing inevitability of Irish distrust toward ethnic underclasses. The second and third stories in this collection are especially strong.
December 25, 2022
ONLY READ EXCERPTS FOR UNI
I found interesting the use of the pidgin to narrate the story. I also enjoyed the themes/issues tackled throughout this piece (life under direct provision, power issues, immigration, isolation, fight for equality, lack of help...). I felt a bit lost in some parts bc I could not connect with the characters... Maybe it is bc I read too little, but I felt as if they were too similar I couldn't figure out who was talking (and how they were) unless the narrator specified who it was.
I found interesting the use of the pidgin to narrate the story. I also enjoyed the themes/issues tackled throughout this piece (life under direct provision, power issues, immigration, isolation, fight for equality, lack of help...). I felt a bit lost in some parts bc I could not connect with the characters... Maybe it is bc I read too little, but I felt as if they were too similar I couldn't figure out who was talking (and how they were) unless the narrator specified who it was.
March 3, 2023
3,5
Pequeño gran libro. Nos encontramos tres relatos en los que la autora da voz a esas mujeres de origen africano que llegan a Europa como migrantes reflejando las diferentes etapas de esa odisea. Como epilogo nos encontramos un pequeño ensayo que ayuda a entender en mayor profundidad la situación de la migración en Irlanda. La propia escritora tuvo que pasar por las situaciones que refleja en el libro cuando llegó a Irlanda. Las historias están muy bien escritas y el mayor defecto que le encuentro es que se me ha quedado corto en su extensión.
Pequeño gran libro. Nos encontramos tres relatos en los que la autora da voz a esas mujeres de origen africano que llegan a Europa como migrantes reflejando las diferentes etapas de esa odisea. Como epilogo nos encontramos un pequeño ensayo que ayuda a entender en mayor profundidad la situación de la migración en Irlanda. La propia escritora tuvo que pasar por las situaciones que refleja en el libro cuando llegó a Irlanda. Las historias están muy bien escritas y el mayor defecto que le encuentro es que se me ha quedado corto en su extensión.
May 20, 2024
I just really did not like the way each story was written and they were all so short that they were done before you even got started. But I still got a glimpse for the world that's inaccessible for me and subject that was unknown. And that little possiblity to see this part I found valuable. It's not a happy, but it is something that needs work in so many levels. Ideal world there would not be stories like this, unfortunately we are not living in one. I'm glad she did wrote this.
March 26, 2020
This collection packs a punch. The only issue I have with it is that I wish more of her stories were available—the kind of issues she highlights and way in which she relates them is effective and heartbreaking. The essay included in the back is also invaluable. This should be required reading for Irish studies courses.
December 22, 2020
I'm not sure why these three sparse stories were turned into a book. They came across more like stories you would write for a writers' group, just like the second story portrays. I was left feeling that the author is still getting the lay of the land as a writer, and that the narratives were a bit undeveloped.
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