Lesley Nneka Arimah’s What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky (great title, by the way) opens with The Future Looks Good, a story that feels like the author warming up—testing the waters with style and narrative form before hitting her stride in later, more memorable pieces.
The title is ironic, which will become most apparent with the dramatic ending that I will not spoil here. Arimah plays around with time, intertwining past, present, and future through a fragmented structure centered on Ezinma, the female protagonist. We are presented with a convoluted family history, intergenerational trauma, and the lingering effects of the Nigerian Civil War. Themes of womanhood, sibling rivalry, and misogyny also play a major role in the story. Stylistically, the tonal shifts and disjointed narrative style is a little jarring and contrived, which detracted from the emotional impact for me. It's a decent story, just not one that will linger in my mind for very long.
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