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A review by proudlocks
Coconut by Florence Olajide
5.0
I’m not one for memoirs, biographies- anything like that. I’m a fiction gal through and through, that was until I saw this on kindle deals and clicked on it. Sold.
SO good. I love learning about different cultures and lives. It was hard to remind myself through this that it wasn’t fiction and it was actually someone’s reality. Trauma, abuse, family, tradition, hardships..
Florence, born to Nigerian parents in London was raised by a white woman called Nan for a part of her childhood (fostered by her so her parents could work and provide a better life for their family) - suddenly she was taken from all she had known and landed in Nigeria. Life was about to change.
The book follows her life in Nigeria and her struggles to acclimatise to this new way of life, her missing Nan and London and her plan to get back there when she’s old enough. Through school, home life, boyfriends. The birth of her kids and her eventual return to the land of her birth.
Where does she fit in? Has life made her a coconut? (Dark outer, light inside).
I’m not ashamed to say I cried. Florence is honestly a badass - a true role model. I’m glad she made peace within herself and who she is. Everyone deserves to do life as their authentic self.
SO good. I love learning about different cultures and lives. It was hard to remind myself through this that it wasn’t fiction and it was actually someone’s reality. Trauma, abuse, family, tradition, hardships..
Florence, born to Nigerian parents in London was raised by a white woman called Nan for a part of her childhood (fostered by her so her parents could work and provide a better life for their family) - suddenly she was taken from all she had known and landed in Nigeria. Life was about to change.
The book follows her life in Nigeria and her struggles to acclimatise to this new way of life, her missing Nan and London and her plan to get back there when she’s old enough. Through school, home life, boyfriends. The birth of her kids and her eventual return to the land of her birth.
Where does she fit in? Has life made her a coconut? (Dark outer, light inside).
I’m not ashamed to say I cried. Florence is honestly a badass - a true role model. I’m glad she made peace within herself and who she is. Everyone deserves to do life as their authentic self.