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Discussion: Cursed Daughters
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ColumbusReads
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May 17, 2026 06:00AM
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I only want to read it. Just got a copy from library this week. I only have 14 days to read it. I will see if there's an audiobook version, sometimes those are better.
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Oh, almost forgot, the Cursed Daughters discussion. I should pick up the book by tomorrow and will set the schedule once I see how the chapters and/or parts are separated.
Has anyone read this author before? Anyone intending to read the book? Requested a copy from library? Read any recent literature set in Nigeria?
I read this book a few months ago but will refresh myself on it, as well as to review any highlights and notes that I made on this. Look forward to the discussion and comments. Happy June, Happy Pride, Happy World Cup, Happy NBA Playoffs.
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Yes! Go Spurs! World Cup here, too. National soccer training center right in my hood. 😂 ⚽️
I plan on jumping in on the discussion...Happy June
Happy Reading All!
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Part 1 & 2 * 6/3 - 6/5
Part 3 & 4 * 6/6 - 6/8
Part 5 & 6 * 6/9 - 6/12
Part 7 & 8 * 6/13 - 6/17
Entire book open 6/18
Columbus you asked if anyone had read the author before...Just now when looking to procure a ecopy of Cursed Daughters I realized YES! I have read My Sister the Serial Killer. I read it 3 or 4 years ago. I remember it having a contemporary setting and that it was interesting yet not near being a favorite or even a book I would necessarily recommend to another reader.
Braithwaite did have an enjoyable writing style I just did not do cart wheels (not that I ever could) over the storyline.
That being said I almost always give an author a second chance. Cursed Daughters has a much higher rating on GR not that that should matter.
Reading the synopsis this should be fun. I am often ready to take a break with some solid humor.
Hope we all have fun reading and discussing this one!
Now
I agree with Cheryl that I did read the author if it was my sister the serial killer novel.Has anyone read this author before? I guess so
Anyone intending to read the book?
yes, I did audiobook first and then received the eBook version, requested both from Libby app (Public Library).
Requested a copy from library?
yes
Read any recent literature set in Nigeria? Yes, I have. I would have to review the various authors who are Nigerian or staged the books in this location. Too many to name. Syfy (Science Fiction) mainly.
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Drina...you had me doing a shallow dive to remember if I had read any other Nigerian authors.Eureka! I realized that one of the books on My Very Favorite Book Shelf was written by Abi Dare'...
The Girl With the Louding Voice
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this novel.
As I so enjoyed The Girl With the Louding Voice I also read the sequel...And So I Roar. I did not find it anywhere near as good as the first book but it was satisfying to find out where the two main characters were in their lives adventures. It also felt to me that she was setting us up for a third book about Adunni the protagonist and her savior and mentor Ms Tia.
I read this book last month and loved it.
Mod
What’s your initial thoughts of the Faloden clan?
Any thoughts on the prologue?
Oftentimes a city, state or home can play a pivotal part of the storyline? Does the Faloden home do that for you?
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https://www.npr.org/2025/11/02/nx-s1-...
Just downloaded the ebook version of Cursed DaughtersAfter reading Parts 1 & 2 I'll come back and respond to the questions Columbus posed.
When I went to download this just now I read that the book was billed as magical realism !!!
That may explain the way the beautiful cover art flows...works for me
OK then...
Here we go !
Mod
Just now when looking to procure a ecopy of Cursed Daughters I realized YES! I have read My Sister the Serial Killer. I read it 3 or 4 ye..."
Cheryl, I also didn’t know or realize that she had written My Sister The Serial Killer. I read it and I was a little underwhelmed by it. I did see the strong potential though. Lots of people loved it so what do I know.
A copy is ready for me at the library. I'm happy to begin this book.
Yay, Catherine !Finished my first 77 pages last night (Parts 1 and 2)
At our farmers market catching up on GR while waiting to pack up.
Will be ready to post after re-reading the Prelude.
Enjoy your reading y'all...
(I'm a naturalized Texan)
Ok...Here we go...
First off Columbus asked what we thought about the Prelude:
Well for absolutely sure this is where the magical realism is PACKED IN.
Almost wish there were illustrations as what I have conjured as to what Mami Wata looks like is pretty grotesque.
Glad we get to go back in time to see why Mo gave her life. Because I want to know if it's the family curse or simply because Golden Boy did her wrong or perhaps a combination of the two. ???
Ok next...The Faloden Clan
Columbus asks us what we think of them...
Got an hour or two? Haha
Absolutely love books with wacky and quirky characters and this novel is full of them.
Love all the Aunty's, Grand Aunty's, etc. so far.
Enjoying the forced "matriarchal family"...forced because of the Falodun Family Curse.
If I were a male interested in any of the Falodun women I would definitely be staying in the car and waiting on the horn for her to come out. I certainly would not walk across the threshold. If I had known anything about the Curse I probably wouldn't have anything to do with this family.
The relationship between Mo and her younger cousin Ebun is special and quite sweet.
Alrighty then, off to read Parts 3 & 4 so I can jump in when Columbus prompts the next discussion.
Enjoy your reading of Cursed Daughters fellow members of Literary Fiction by People of Color !
Mod
Ebun gives birth while grappling with the suicide of her cousin, Monife. How does the author contrast the immense physical pain and emotional trauma of these two events? One new generation is born coinciding with the elimination (for lack of a better word) with an earlier one. What is the author trying to say here?
Are the Falodun women are truly under a supernatural curse or is something else going on here?
Just curious. Do you see any resemblance to the writing in this book and her previous book, Serial Killer? When the subject matter is so dissimilar it’s really difficult for me to tell at times. However, there are some folks that can detect a certain style, sentence structure or form no matter the subject or type of book.
Wowza!Now that I have read Parts III & IV I can understand why Ebun who was such a pleasant companion to her older cousin Monife has turned into what I in my earlier comments called a grouch...
If your new born baby daughter turned out to be the reincarnation of your cousin Monife you would most likely turn into an irritable individual too.
The author really left us hanging at the very end of Part IV with young Eniiyi (Ebun's young daughter) sitting under an iroko tree. Ebun had instead of waking her daughter as she had been doing followed her daughter to where she was sleep walking which was to the large root of the tree where she sat staring out into the void.
When younger when either hearing folks talking about sleep walking or reading about it I often wondered what makes an individual prone to do such a thing. I know for sure I never considered that person was disturbed because they were a reincarnation of another individual !
This book is getting juicy!
As far as The Falafun Family Curse...
It does make me wonder whether there is a true curse under their roof or if the individuals in the family who believe in the curse bring it to be with their own actions.
If that is so there would most likely have to be a consensus of the family to "break" the curse or have it go away because no one no longer believes in it. I certainly do not forsee this happening.
Greetings AllI just finished reading up through
Parts V & VI
IF YOU HAVEN'T READ UP TO PAGE 208...STOP HERE AS I AM DISCUSSING WHAT I WOULD DEFINITELY CLASSIFY AS SPOILERS.
I AM FOLLOWING THE DISCUSSION GUIDELINES AS LAID OUT BY COLUMBUS EARLIER IN THIS THREAD.
It was surprising to me when Monife went to see the Mamayano (female witch doctor) Especially as she had many times visited the woman attempting to get money back for her mother who had once again purchased some sort of overpriced curse purchased usually trying to get her husband back who had left them for a whole family he had started elsewhere.
Now Mo was doing the same thing as her mother...trying to desperately hold on to a man she loved.
She paid up for the ritual and the accoutrements which she needed in order to perform the rite.
Once she started to go through the steps of the ritual she felt, "She was no better than a witch" herself.
At this point we don't know if their are any results. But that being said... Aren't the Falodun women once again buying into the idea of the family curse?
I really got excited when Mami Wata the ugly fantastical mermaid from the book's opening prelude is mentioned again!
Here it is when Eniiyi questions her new love interest Zubby whom she saved when he was drowning at the beach.
The suggestion is that perhaps Mami Wata called him into the water as Zubby acknowledged he did not know how to swim and had had no intention to enter the water that day. He said that one moment he was at waters edge and the next in deep waters, drowning. But still the reason he found himself out there still remains a mystery.
Absolutely Loved the scene where a wild bird found its way into the Falodun home and all the women's actions and reactions to the event. It reminded me of two separate times when as an adult and a mother birds had entered our home. Having a high pitched great room upon entering our house it was no easy task ridding our home of our unexpected visitors. We watched as there were two separate skylights in that room's slanted ceiling from which the birds thought they could escape.
The section of Monife's two separate meetings with Golden Boy's mother made for infuriating reading. I wanted to reach through the pages of the book and slap the woman's face!
Furthermore we now find Eniiyi starting to really question herself as to whether she could be the reincarnation of her aunt.
Love that she has finally entered Monife's bedroom that has remained untouched all these years with the exception of a water leak. So glad she finds photographs especially the one of Mo which may be the only remaining photo. She sees the very strong resemblance between her image and Monife's.
Also am so excited that even though she is caught in the room she makes off with Mo's notebook📓 (diary).
Can't wait to find out what she will learn.
Happy Reading All.
Certainly hope some others are reading and will at some point also be commenting.
Regardless I am still pleased that I am reading Cursed Daughters. But I do hope others will chime in...at least by books end.
Cheryl wrote: "Ok...Here we go...
First off Columbus asked what we thought about the Prelude:
Well for absolutely sure this is where the magical realism is PACKED IN.
Almost wish there were illustrations as w..."
Good points: was it because she couldn't handle Golden Boy Kaula and the breakup, and ended up with the one his mother wanted for him? Younger people and some cannot handle loss, break-up, it is like a sign of grief, and could have destroyed her. She didn't see herself with anyone else, yet he did move on rather easily.
Or the curse had a major effect on their psyche, or was it spiritual, or due to a ritual? I was told by Jamaicans when I started college that juju, voodoo, or even hoodoo only works if you believe it. So did they believe it was carried down through generations? Could they break this generational curse?
I will have to check out this title you recommended Cheryl.
Drina wrote: "I agree with Cheryl that I did read the author if it was my sister the serial killer novel.Has anyone read this author before? I guess so
Anyone intending to read the book?
yes, I did audiobook..."
We read Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
I recently ordered a Nigerian woman writer, and I'm trying to recall her name since I recently got her sci-fi books.
Well put, Cheryl.I see how the incident with Mama G knowing someone is pregnant plays out. Heard it on audiobook and read it twice as an eBook. I looked at this scene. Who is the mystery guy? Is it Z or Zubby?
I am torn when she meets Z's parents and how Golden Boy and Amara see Mo! Not only reincarnation but repeats through the ancestry line. Mo didn't get Kaula or GB, but now her reincarnated self gets his son@
Libby or an app lets you look up Yoruba words to understand them in English. I have been looking up some of the terms to see what they mean, including mamalawo, and will explain them too. e pele is "please" in English, for example.
Oh my goodness...I cannot believe what I just read!
My Kindle tells me I have only 49 minutes left to read in Cursed Daughters!
This book in Parts 7 & 8 brought out so much emotion from the characters and in me .
I am going to reserve my comments and also reading everyone else's comments until tomorrow when Columbus opens this discussion for the entire book.
Let me just say this...the author can skillfully pen heartwrenching sentences.
Parts 7 & 8 had ALL the feels.
Ok, it's 6.18 and we can spill the beans...the entire 16oz can or 32oz can if you've got more to say. Mine is a 32oz can for sure.
I am going to just spit out my thoughts 💭 as they come to me and in no specific order...kind of like we were sitting together at book club or sharing together on a Zoom screen in a virtual book club 📚 like the one I belong to.
📗Braithwaite left it up to us whether or not curses are real or something that is pronounced on your head or pronounced on your family or group and you put it in motion by simply buying in to it or believing it.
📗 Loved Mary G. the female witch doctor/spiritualist or mamalawo
I can really visualize easily the large breasted woman who lives in sparse shacks where sometimes the women of The Faludon Family visit her to get the items they need to perform rituals…mostly to help them hold on to their men.
📗 Strongly felt that the author really ramped up or amped up her writing in Parts 7 & 8 when the storyline goes deep into the question of reincarnation and why Mo decided to walk into her watery suicide. I really got all the emotions wrenched out of my chest in these sections and through to the end.
📗 I'm sorry but did she have to have Sango pass away on top of everything else?
I guess yes if you think Sango was a symbolic “protector” of the family. I guess he wasn't needed anymore. It just felt like an extra punch in the gut after we were already down.
📗 Did Mo and Eniiyi both fall for their dream men because of the curse?
Or perhaps was the author trying to tell us that there is no such thing as the perfect or dream man.
Perhaps a lover can be a “dreamy” man or woman but certainly not the perfect man or woman as no such perfect human exists.
📗 It sure surprised me when Eniiye realizes that Osagie was her father as I didn't really feel that she was pining for her father.
Did you feel that the fact that both the father and daughter both had vitiligo made them different than the rest of the family? The writer certainly seemed to be using it as a way to tether them together.
📗 Did you get a kick out of the fact that there was a Grandma East and a Grandma West? Or for that matter how about the fact there were East and West wings of the family home?
📗 Thought it was interesting that both Monife and Eniiyi buried their lovers personal items in order to take control of their relationships with the men.
📗 I wasn't too happy to see Eniiyi sleep with Funsho just to prove she was independent. It felt like such a shallow move to me.
📗 Were you surprised that Ebun did not go through with her abortion? I was not at all.
📗 Lastly, I was so very pleased that Eniiye elected to sever the curse by accepting the genetic counselor position in the UK. It seemed like that was the “happy ending” we were being served along with the fact that her father would also be in the UK and has a place for her to stay.
Overall I was pleased had read the book. I found it quite compelling. It was fascinating to think about reincarnation.
We were really challenged with some tough subjects…
Suicide
Abortion
Domestic violence
Infidelity
Reincarnation
For me it was worth the read. This is one were I decided to refuse to give a star rating to my GR review as it was not a perfect book yet it was a damn good book.
Ebun was stubborn; she didn't want to give the curse life, so she decided not only to have the baby, Eniiye, on the day her cousin, Mo, died, but also for her daughter not to know her father until 25 years later. Is this selfish? Or really want to be stripped of the curse of the women?I see GB, Golden Boy, wanted to make amends to the family; yet Mo was dead. He actually wanted the child with her; was this out of guilt or love?
Cheryl wrote: "Ok, it's 6.18 and we can spill the beans...the entire 16oz can or 32oz can if you've got more to say. Mine is a 32oz can for sure.
I am going to just spit out my thoughts 💭 as they come to me an..."
Loved your thoughts
