Blessings – Chukwuebuka Ibeh.pdf a stunning debut novel charting the coming-of-age of a young gay man in 2010s Nigeria, from a young rising star in literary fiction.
When Obiefuna father witnesses an intimate moment between his teenage son and the family’s apprentice, newly arrived from the nearby village, he banishes Obiefuna to a Christian boarding school marked by strict hierarchy and routine, devastating violence. Utterly alienated from the people he loves, Obiefuna begins a journey of self-discovery and blossoming desire, while his mother Uzoamaka grapples to hold onto her favorite son, her truest friend.
Interweaving the perspectives of Obiefuna and his mother Uzoamaka, as they reach towards a future that will hold them both, BLESSINGS is an elegant and exquisitely moving story of love and loneliness. Asking how we can live freely when politics reaches into our hearts and lives, as well as deep into our consciousness, it is a stunning, searing debut.
“Blessings is a stunning and exceptionally moving story of love, shame, redemption and fierce familial bonds. In sublime, evocative prose and from alternating points of view, Ibeh tells the story of Uzoamaka and Obiefuna as mother and son come to transformative realizations about themselves and each other. Ibeh has an elegant and passionate way with language, from the depictions of the Nigerian cultural landscape and its tense reckonings with queerness to the gorgeous mundanities of the protagonists’ home lives and the various dynamics of religion, class, and school boyhood.
I’m grateful that this beautiful book exists, and I will return to it again and again as if for the first time. A sensitive, quietly powerful coming-of-age tale. A young gay man navigates a family, school, and an entire country that holds him in contempt. Ibeh’s potent debut novel centers on Obiefuna, who in 2006 is 15 years old and living with his family in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt.
“Blessings is as raw and heart-wrenching as it is beautiful and delicate. A masterfully executed story about love, faith and sexuality that clenches your heart and doesn’t let go until the very last page. Ibeh is a once in a lifetime talent. When Obiefuna father sees a brief, intimate moment between his teenage son and a boy apprenticed to the family, Obiefuna is sent away to a strict religious boarding school.
Torn from his mother Uzoamaka’s side, with whom he has a close and loving relationship, and cast into a world of tough boys, each trying to survive in their own way, Obiefuna has no choice but to grow up fast, all the while learning more about who he is and what he wants. Blessings is a coming-of-age story of a gentle, sensitive soul in several environments, each hostile to him in their own way. The golden child, the firstborn son, he has a happy early childhood until a growing inability to fit in with his male peers lowers him in his father’s eyes, creating a rift in their relationship.
In the boarding school, life under strict routine, and cruel and unpredictable schoolboy rules, leaves its mark on him, as he is torn between fitting in, and expressing himself freely. As a young adult, he is finally finding his footing and place in the world just as there is a growing crackdown across Nigeria on same-sex relationships, or anyone suspected of being in one.
Through each stage we see him navigating friendships and relationships, learning and growing. Alternating between Obiefuna and his mother’s perspectives, this is a tender, moving and beautifully written debut looking at identity, masculinity, self-discovery, sexuality and desire, and how to live when we need to mask our true selves; at love, loneliness and the power of human connection when we most need it; at questions of religion and faith; and the struggles within families, between parents, when a child doesn’t fit in. While Obiefuna is the main protagonist, his mother’s storyline lends its own strength to the story, as we see her dealing with his absence and confronting the silences within her household, the social and political unrest around her, and considering her relationship with the men in her own family, as well as the situation in Nigeria for young men. Despite the bullying, oppression and violence within the story, there is also a lot of quiet tenderness, and there are many invaluable moments of connection, exploring the way people can hold each other up, and also the way people can seek to make amends where they let others down. A powerful yet sensitively written story, and a striking debut.
There is music to the way Chukwuebuka Ibeh writes. There is balance. Blessings pulled me into a world I’m extremely unfamiliar with, yet somehow made it comfortable, even resonant. The intimate storytelling, the powerful dialogue, and the well-paced narrative all made it one hell of a heartbreakingly joyous read.
Each chapter of this debut novel enthralled me, pushing me to the next, eager to share the road with its unforgettable protagonist right up to the ending, which made me want to start from the beginning again. On top of it all, Ibeh has provided a meaningful representation of queer Nigerians one that opens borders and breaks barriers.
An opportunity for many not only to see what Obiefuna and his mother see, but also to feel what they feel. Run, don’t walk, to get this book.
