A Girl is a Body of Water by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: A Girl is a Body of Water (aka "The First Woman")
Author: Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Release Date: 9.1.20
Publisher: Tin House

My Review:

I have the hardest time writing reviews for the books that I love and *wow* did I love this one. When I finish a book I really enjoyed I tend to sit and think about it for too long and sometimes I let the time pass, not writing a review at all because I feel I just can't do it justice. This is exactly the predicament I have been in for the last week. A Girl is a Body of Water is a blend of Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀'s Stay with Me, Bianca Marais' Hum If You Don't Know the Words and If You Want to Make God Laugh, and Mariama Bâ's So Long a Letter. Kirabo is a character who will never leave me. She is smart, feisty, challenging, frustrating, and I loved her stubborn independence. I found it refreshing that author Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi did not hold my hand and go into detail to describe local phrases and traditions. Instead she drops us into a world and starts telling her story, fully immersing us in the customs, slang, and relationships among the people in the village of Nattetta in Uganda. If you are looking for a novel to transport, entertain, and educate you then you have got to grab this one. It is one of the best 2020 releases I have read and is tied with Luster by Raven Leilani for the number one spot. While this might not be the best review I've ever written or give the amount of praise I wish could heap on this novel, I hugged it when I was finished. Any true book lover knows that feeling and I can't always put that feeling into words. 

Goodreads Summary:

In her twelfth year, Kirabo, a young Ugandan girl, confronts a piercing question that has haunted her childhood: who is my mother? Kirabo has been raised by women in the small village of Nattetta—her grandmother, her best friend, and her many aunts, but the absence of her mother follows her like a shadow. Complicating these feelings of abandonment, as Kirabo comes of age she feels the emergence of a mysterious second self, a headstrong and confusing force inside her at odds with her sweet and obedient nature.

Seeking answers, Kirabo begins spending afternoons with Nsuuta, a local witch, trading stories and learning not only about this force inside her, but about the woman who birthed her, who she learns is alive but not ready to meet. Nsuuta also explains that Kirabo has a streak of the “first woman”—an independent, original state that has been all but lost to women.

Kirabo’s journey to reconcile her rebellious origins, alongside her desire to reconnect with her mother and to honor her family’s expectations, is rich in the folklore of Uganda and an arresting exploration of what it means to be a modern girl in a world that seems determined to silence women. Makumbi’s unforgettable novel is a sweeping testament to the true and lasting connections between history, tradition, family, friends, and the promise of a different future.