Happiness, Like Water

“Happiness is like water,’ she says. ‘We’re always trying to grab onto it, but it’s always slipping between our fingers.” ― Chinelo OkparantaThis is one of the few books where I found myself wondering why the author had chosen this title and what it meant. In my mind I had imagined water in its river form, and interpreted it as happiness is like water because it varies in flow. Sometimes it is an overwhelming river, and other times it is a slow and steady stream. My original theory, as you can see, is totally different from this revelatory quote. I have to say that I like this interpretation better than mine! Although more cynical than my original thought. I have been really appreciating the sleuth of Nigerian authors that I have had the opportunity to read thanks to BookBub and BookRiot! Definitely nice to see a diversity of books being represented in these daily book deals. This book was a true delight to read. The stories were intricate and different, but at the same time they seemed to tie together well. All beautiful short stories of Nigerian women interacting with America in different ways and dealing with various life stages. It's impossible not to connect with at least one of the characters. I know that I particularly identified with a secondary character, with whom one of the characters falls in love with. There's a scene where this young woman talks about love and tells her professor (the main character of the story) this:"‘Really in love,’ she says, ‘the kind where every part of you feels like you could spend forever with the person. And you wish that forever could be more than a lifetime. The kind where you don’t see all the things that are wrong with the person, all the negatives that should have prevented you from falling for the person in the first place’". Chinelo Okparanta imparts much wisdom through her characters and raises even more questions than she answers. She is the type of author that is able to create short stories that are satisfying. I am usually not a fan of short stories because they always leave me wanting more, but with Okparanta, she gave me just enough to be satisfied while still ensuring that she created thought provoking narratives. Through her stories she does leave you with the sense that happiness is like water. It is a hard thing to grasp and it isn't meant to last forever. So whatever happy moments you get, enjoy them for they are fleeting. They will always escape through your fingers but that doesn't have to be negative. As long as you enjoy the moments for what they are and understand that there will be more happiness to come. "Because, as if in rebellion, certain emotions become amplified at the exact moments when you are expected not to feel them at all." - Chinelo Okparanta

Chinelo Okparanta has woven here a vibrant tapestry of stories about the unique and varied life experiences of African women … rich and poor, married and single, mothers and daughters. The women demonstrate strength and resilience in the face of poverty, pregnancy, childlessness, and emotional and physical abuse. Most of the stories are uplifting or at least hopeful in some way, and a couple have unexpected twist endings. Not all of them work quite as well as others, and some non-Nigerian readers may find the Nigerian names difficult to follow who’s who. But overall, I didn’t find that distracting, as the universality of Okparanta’s themes were actually deepens by the culturally specific overlay.

I read this book right after I read Adichie's Americanah, so it might be why it started off slow for me (because Adichie is just so good), but it picked up by the time I got to America. This is the first story in the book that I thought was very well written and I wanted to keep reading and not put it down. The story also has deep meaning. With Shelter, I found I had tears in my eyes by the time I was at the end, so I had to put it aside for a while before I continued. The stories that followed were ok, not quite as good, until I got to the last one. This one definitely had me and I found myself willing and rooting for her to leave and stop helping her father; because this book, after all, is based on her experiences. I'm glad her story ends triumphantly and I'm looking forward to her next work. Happiness, is indeed, like water. It's the first time I've heard anyone describe it that way and I like it. Happiness, like water.

Happiness, Like Water are short stories concerning Nigerian women and their families. There were several themes concerning the symbolism for water, for instance fertility. A husband threatened to nullify the marriage if his wife did not conceive. Freedom: The wife that left her husband, who loved material wealth more than her. She freed herself from his religiosity, and the realization abundant riches cannot make you happy. Water can mean handling difficult life scenarios, such as the daughter that in a relationship considered taboo in the church and Nigerian society, and could have her imprisoned or stoned to death. The daughter left the country. There were other stories concerning being freed from physical abuse, freed from financial burdens that cost a young woman her virginity and the loss of her chronically ill mother. The story called Fairness was surprising. A young teen in a middle class family wanted to have fair skin. Her self-absorbed mother compared her and the darker skinned housemaid to the attractive housemaid, who had fair skin. Her mother never mentioned skin color, but the daughter believed this was the mother’s meaning. Dire consequences erupted when the daughter used liquid bleach on one of the housemaid.I was not drawn into these stories. There were no vivid or powerful openings. I gave this book three stars.

I had a difficult time getting through this book. Some of the short stories were difficult to read and the characters hard to relate to. However, the further I got in the book, the better the short stories became. My lesbian reading group selected this book and I guess I expected more LGBT stories. There are only 2. However, there are a lot of women's stories, stories of domestic violence, or the life women are subjected to in other parts of the world. Those were fascinating. I guess I'm docking it one star because two of the stories were difficult for me to get through. So I guess I could give it 4. 5 stars. That seems more appropriate.

I got it as a present, and enjoyed it, so got it for my mate. Came on time, so great.

Chinelo Okparanta came to my attention after her story, "America', was a finalist for the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing. It tells the touching story of a very special friendship between two young women that challenges Nigerian traditions and social conventions... 'America' has been published as one of ten stories in this, her first collection, Happiness, like Water. Okparanta is without a doubt becoming a promising representative of the new generation of Nigerian and African writers who are giving growing prominence to the field of African short fiction writing.Chinelo Okparanta's engaging stories in this book, some set in Nigeria, some among Nigerian immigrants in the US, explore a wide range of topical subjects and concerns. Mostly told through the eyes of a first person protagonist, she writes with confidence and sensitivity, her language is subtle, yet also lucid and powerful.Despite of the short fiction format, her characters are realistically drawn and we can comprehend the challenges of their various circumstances. While her stories are rooted in her Nigerian background (she moved with her parents from Nigeria to the US at the age of 10) she addresses such issues as love, longing and betrayal, faith and doubt, and inner-family and inter-generational tensions and violence in such a way that they move beyond the specific and become stories of human struggle and survival. Yes, there is happiness too - fleeting moments that need to be savoured, hope for a future where it can establish itself...Do I have favourites among the stories? Maybe I do, but each reader will find those that feel closer to home or that affect us individually more deeply than others. Fortunately, I don't have to choose. [Friederike Knabe]

I love short stories and I was pleasantly surprised about the topics in this book. Domestic violence, homosexuality, forced marriage were just a few and Chinelo's writing is superb. I look forward to reading more of her work.