Book Review of Lucky Girl

And a little life update.....

The final push to me writing this post was this tweet below by Ifeanyichukwu.

Also, third year is wrapping up very soon and I don’t want my first two blog posts of 2024 to be about starting 300 level and ending it. It looks somehow😅 (like girl, what happened in the middle🌚).

Well, since my last post here, I’ve been trying to grow my Instagram account (more reason you should follow me if you aren’t doing so already- click here to do so).

I got Lucky Girl last year at Ake Festival after listening to a book discussion by it's author- Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu. I was interested in reading more African non-Nigerian books and my choice was worth it (lucky dancee💃🏽💃🏽)

Lucky girl follows the life of Soila- a Kenyan girl who was raised by a stern and unyielding mother. Soila grew up with her aunties living a very sheltered life. After a sexual assault by a close family friend, her stance on studying abroad became stronger. New York offered her an escape from her mother’s overbearing parenting, the emotional trauma of sexual assault and the overwhelming presence of her aunties.

In America, Soila is shocked by the vast differences between Nairobi and New York. She struggles to understand racism and hostility to black people. At first, she feels racism is the last thing an African would complain about when there are better opportunities in America as opposed to their home country. The roads are better, the government is better, the system is working so why do you have to complain just because someone touches your natural hair without permission? Or someone holds their purse a little tighter when you get on the bus because you’re black? Or someone insists on speaking to your white boss at the store? Just focus on making it and everything else would be fine.

And while I get where she is coming from as a NIGERIAN living in NIGERIA, racism should never be excused. Anyways, Soila learns about racism and let me say her eyes of understanding were opened by Leticia, her African-American best friend and Alex, her Kenyan-American boyfriend. To be real, I really liked Alex and Soila’s relationship, it was cute and enjoyable to read (young love>>>), but there was a plot twist in her love life which I’m not going to say because I want you to read the book😉

Soila and her mother’s difficult relationship worsen as the book progresses. Her mum wants her to pursue a career in economics so she can take over the family business but photography tugs at Soila’s heart. It was really nice to see Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu highlight careers a lot of African parents would want their kids to pursue in the university either home or abroad and the necessity of children breaking away from the shackles of their parents. Lucky Girl shows the average African boomer reasoning and it’s quite interesting that a lot of the sentences written in the book were things people around me would say.

Thankfully, mother and daughter relationship got better albeit it took an unfortunate incident for that to happen💔 Lucky Girl is a book on family, love, hurt, parenting and adulthood. I really enjoyed reading this one.

Up Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu🙌🏽 (I’m buying your next book when it comes out and I owe you a big hug the next time we meet♥).

So, what have I been up to since my last post in January👀

1. Omo, a lot has happened oo and a lot is still happening lol. I’m currently in my last posting in preclinicals (lucky danceee💃🏽💃🏽😂) which is Neuro and I can see the finishing line on this side of medical school. I look back to 100 level and I thank God for how far he has brought me and where he’s taking me.

2. I’ve written a couple of exams. The first one being my COBES posting exam (COBES stands for Community Based Experience and Service). It was a very fun posting, catch all the highlights of my COBES posting here. The last exams I wrote were my Git/Ugs/Endo/Extremities exams. It was a lot but I’m trusting God for excellent results.

3. I’ve decided to start reading fiction again. Well, it’s not as if I took a break but I think I got carried away by the shenanigans of medical school and I didn’t know when I stopped doing the things I enjoyed. As a result of this, I got weary but thanks to God, I’ve moved on from that phase and I’ve decided to make more important use of my study breaks (which tbh is me logging off Twitter more 🙈🙈).

4. If you haven’t heard about Medictales- I’m here to share the good news. Medictales is a platform that talks about the lifestyle of medical students and incorporates storytelling in conveying important public health messages. Medicatales is a fast-growing platform and we would love you to connect with us🤗

   Find us on Instagram , Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

This was a long-ass post (I guess this is what happens you go off for too long💀) and if you read up to this point, I’m really grateful. I hope my readers are doing well and I hope you guys didn’t miss me teww muchh😂

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Yours in love,

LamLam♥

P.S. Most importantly, I’m proud of myself for writing and releasing this post, writing this felt so good ngl. Continue to have a great week and thank you for reading♥