TL;DR: What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky is a fantastic collection of short stories. These stories are about mothers, daughters, fathers, sons, lovers, friends, and enemies. It’s about the people you love, hate, admire, fear, envy, and respect. They touch upon resilience, grief, hope, and joy, but most of all, these are stories about women and girls with fire in their bellies and who refused to be stamped out. No matter whether they’re set in the past, present, future or other reality, these stories are so utterly human and realistic. The author doesn’t treat you to abstract pretensions, but gives these stories to you straight, and I love this collection more for it. Light is by far my favourite, but The Future Looks Good and Windfalls are fantastic as well. Overall, this was a beautifully written and well connected short story collection that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend!

I’m not much of a short story collection reader because I always feel that the stories are too disjointed. However, with this, I felt the threads of connection through all the stories. Arimah does an excellent job capturing human nature and big emotions as she explores various relationships, especially between that of parent and child, and they’re explored wonderfully through the lens of Nigerian culture and history. While there was something to appreciate in all the stories, I thought the set in the first half were stronger. I tried my best to briefly capture my thoughts on each story, and also my ratings for each one:

• The Future Looks Good – That ending SHOCKED me—it literally had me gasping out loud! But what an incredibly captivating way to start off this collection of short stories. I love how the author layered the histories as the thing these characters didn’t see coming behind them that leads to that shocking end. I thought it was a clever way of talking about the stories that follows us, the things we carry through generations, knowingly and unknowingly. So well done! ★★★★★

• War Stories – Heartbreaking. The long-lasting impact of war, the visible and invisible scars it leaves behind, I’m guessing child soldiers? Being forced to fight for a home and a place but can you say they really understand it? I didn’t know about Biafra and the Nigerian Civil War, so this was very illuminating. ★★★★½

• Wild – Ngl, Ada was pretty unlikeable and I’m not sure she wanted to be likeable. Chinyere was also not great. But at the same time, it’s pretty horrible how Auntie Ugo treats her daughter. An interesting look at mother-daughter relationships to make you thankful for the relationship you may have with your own. The grass is always greener? ★★★½

• Light – This was absolutely beautiful. This put such an ache in my chest! It’s touching, heartbreaking, and so emotionally pure. This is a father who loves his daughter, who wants to protect her and ensure her light never dims, and yet he’s forced to see it happen and it breaks his heart. My favourite line out of all the stories so far: “Before she quiets in a country that rewards her brand of boldness, in her black of body, with an incredulous fascination that makes her put it away. […] He does not yet wonder where she gets this, this streak of fire. He only knows that it keeps the wolves of the world at bay and he must never let it die out.” ★★★★★

• Second Chances – This was really sad. Again, it explores the relationships between mother-daughter (but can also be read as mother and her children) and highlights the complexity of these relationships. So much guilt, pride, anger, but also a bone-deep sadness and regret that, if you look at it straight on, would shatter you so completely you might never be whole again. ★★★½

• Windfalls – HOLY GRANOLA. This was the most heartbreaking, sickening, infuriating one of the lot so far. It’s a horrifying (yet captivatingly written) cycle of abuse and that ending had me gasping and the tears flowing because how in the hell can you still call yourself human—a mother?! No. This was sickening but wow, it was fantastic storytelling. ★★★★★

• Who Will Greet You at Home – A desperate story about motherhood, being a daughter, and the expectations of society towards women, especially in Nigerian culture. Loved the inventiveness of this story about how you make a child, but this was definitely weird and went in a horrifying direction I didn’t expect. Can’t lie and say I wasn’t riveted though! ★★★★☆

• Buchi’s Girls – A painful story about loss, grief, a mother’s desperate love for her daughters, and a daughter’s first experience recognizing her mother as a fallible human. This was heartbreaking because life is heartbreaking, and it shows the lengths a mother would go to give her daughter the life that she deserves, even if it means breaking your own heart. ★★★½

• What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky – I have to admit that I was a little whelmed by the titular story. It was interesting, no doubt. What a fantastic concept this human ability to remove someone’s pain, sorrow, grief. But I also felt a little whelmed by that ending. I expected it to hit a little harder, but maybe with all the stories that came before it, especially in the first half of this book, I had too high expectations? It was okay, I would’ve loved to know more, that ending was a little… I don’t know. Not satisfying to me, unfortunately. ★★★½

• Glory – Another one that I didn’t entirely connect to. Glory was difficult to like, but the author still made it possible for me to empathise with her. Didn’t leave a lasting impression on me really. ★★★☆☆

• What is A Volcano? – This story had the most magical realism and was probably the most abstract/metaphorical and I wonder if it was inspired by Nigerian folklore or a wive’s tale? It’s very different in tone to the previous stories, but I actually quite enjoyed this departure from “reality”—it was unique and weird, but also, I love stories about horrible deities, so of course I enjoyed it. I think it shows the power of a mother’s grief and painted a very beautiful visual. ★★★★☆

• Redemption – Wow, this was good! It’s so interesting how the author writes girls who are hard, a little mean, spiteful, jealous, petty even—but you still root for them anyway. They live hard lives and harsh truths, especially in Nigeria where women are expected to act a certain way: to be obedient, quiet, and unseen. This story wasn’t new or surprising, but it was no less infuriating. This quote though: “Girls with fire in their bellies will be forced to drink from a well of correction till their flames die out.” ★★★★☆

Have you read What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky or is it on your TBR?

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