Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli

 

This book is the perfect example of why the oversaturation of the illustrated cover trend has gotten some people so frustrated. If you didn't read the summary for this book, you might assume that you had gotten your hands on a chick-lit or a contemporary romance, and NOTHING-- I repeat, NOTHING-- could be father from the truth.

SOMEDAY, MAYBE is the story of Eve, a woman who has just found out that her husband unalived himself. In fact, she was the one who discovered the body. She handles her loss very poorly, falling into a depression that alienates her from her large and loving family, self-medicating with alcohol and substances, and dialing it in at a job that she never really loved. The plunge into this deep and profound grief is like a bleak and all-consuming ocean, and it shows how everything can end up being a trigger for someone who has spent many years of their life with someone who is suddenly and cruelly torn away.

The writing is great and I think the portrait of Eve and her family is done really well. Her mother in law, Aspen, is also truly awful. I kept waiting for a punch to the face that never came. There is a certain dark wit to the writing but it's not a humorous book. If anything, this is a book that shows how grief makes some people turn ugly and feral, kind of how CRYING IN H MART did. That book was also marketed as being funny by some people, and was also depressing as all get out. I don't know what it is with people marketing grief memoirs and grief books as "funny" but it says something disturbing about how people consume stories about women's pain, don't you think?

SOMEDAY, MAYBE is not a book I'd read again and I think you should go into this very carefully, especially if you have experienced a recent loss or are feeling very depressed yourself. But it's a very human and honest book and I'm not sorry I read it. Nwabineli is clearly an author to watch and I can't wait to read more from her.

3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars