BOOK REVIEW - BUTTER, HONEY, PIG, BREAD

Butter, Honey, Pig, Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi

Format: Trade Paperback

Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press

Published: October 2020

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Queer Literature

Setting: Nigeria, Canada, UK

Rating: 5 Stars

Synopsis:

Spanning three continents, Butter Honey Pig Bread tells the interconnected stories of three Nigerian women: Kambirinachi and her twin daughters, Kehinde and Taiye. Kambirinachi believes that she is an Ogbanje, or an Abiku, a non-human spirit that plagues a family with misfortune by being born and then dying in childhood to cause a human mother misery. She has made the unnatural choice of staying alive to love her human family but lives in fear of the consequences of her decision.

Kambirinachi and her two daughters become estranged from one another because of a trauma that Kehinde experiences in childhood, which leads her to move away and cut off all contact. She ultimately finds her path as an artist and seeks to raise a family of her own, despite her fear that she won't be a good mother. Meanwhile, Taiye is plagued by guilt for what her sister suffered and also runs away, attempting to fill the void of that lost relationship with casual flings with women. She eventually discovers a way out of her stifling loneliness through a passion for food and cooking.

But now, after more than a decade of living apart, Taiye and Kehinde have returned home to Lagos. It is here that the three women must face each other and address the wounds of the past if they are to reconcile and move forward.

My Thoughts:

When I started reading this book, the lingering question on my mind was ‘why the title?’ And I was so focused on unearthingthis, now very obvious mystery, that I wasn’t aware of the aromas, the infusions, and recipes as they snuck up on me from the pages, making me constantly hungry. Food is central, cross-culturally, in nurturing, mending, starting and building relationships. World over, intimacies are nurtured over cooking and sharing of meals. Families commune and bond through the very act of preparing and sharing food. Think about it, almost all relationships begin with an invitation to a shared meal. And so the choice of this title is a no brainer. It’s no surprise that Ekwuyasi used food so cleverly and deceptively to tell the story of Kambirinachi and her estranged twin daughters - Taiye and Kehinde.

Kambirinachi is an ogbanje, (a non-human spirit who haunts their mother by repeatedly dying in childhood and returning) who chooses to stay in the human realm and raise a family. There is however a cost to her choice which will torment her so long as she remains in this realm. When her identical twin daughters are 12, a traumatic incident occurs fracturing their relationship. Once very close, they become estranged, moving to different continents to embark on separate journeys. 10 years later, the twins return to Nigeria where mother and daughters have to confront the demons that pulled them apart.

Butter Honey Pig Bread is told in alternating chapters/perspectives of the three characters (but surprisingly, only Kehinde gets a first person narration) and follows their lives as they move across continents, building separate lives and relationships. I found the plot quite realistic, allowing the reader to paint a vivid mental picture of the family set-up and the ensuing dynamics. It’s not an uncommon phenomena - to have relatives who have been extended the grace of boarding to cause the host family such grave harm that will most often go unspoken and unaddressed. Ekwuyasi moves from past to present skilfully fleshing out this story, of each characters and their motivations and slowly unravelling the circumstances surrounding their long standing and continued disconnect and separation.

As someone who is extremely close to my sisters, I felt very deeply for Taiye and Kehinde. Taiye, whose loneliness was so searing and palpable, even as she hopped from country to country to continent trying to find that one thing that would fill the void. Every self-destructive behaviour almost excusable. Each letter to Kehinde, heartbreaking. I was engulfed in deep loneliness with her and was so glad when ‘Our Lady’ her apparition, appeared and offered some semblance of companionship. I felt deeply for Kehinde, who always felt abandoned and in her rationale couldn’t understand why her sister ‘left’ her in her time of need. Her explosion at the end moved me to tears. I bled for Kambirinachi, battling spirit and mind. Fighting against all odds to stay in the human realm because her daughters that she chose and loved, needed her. Loving and losing so much.

The book tackles heavy themes – generational trauma, mother-daughter relationships, interracial/intercultural relationships, intersectionality and identity. Aspects of sexuality and politics of identity were subtly addressed through the characters which I thought was genius. Through secondary characters such as Timi and Hachim, Ekwuyasi deftly highlight aspects of intersectionality – of existing as African, black and queer which was brilliant.

The writing is so melodic, simple and beautiful. I found myself re-reading entire chapters and marking pages I wanted to return to. Almost every sentence is quotable. I simply cannot find fault with the book.

My free advice to anyone living and breathing is this – pick up this book. It’s the best thing you will do for yourself this year.

This is a solid 5 star debut