A Broken People's Playlist Book Review: A Heartfelt Literary Gem
We just finished reading a beautiful, heart-rending collection of stories from the book "A Broken People’s Playlist". Written in the first person or second person narrative linked by love, family, happiness, trauma, A Broken People’s Playlist includes every spicy detail of human life particularly as a Nigerian. There are 12 short stories that touch various themes but centre on the feeling of pain. Chimeka Garrick’s wordplay is smooth, emotive, and reads almost as a cautionary tale.
Each story is named after songs which, according to Chimeka, were chosen at random and inspired him to write. The book is accompanied by a playlist which you can listen to on Spotify. We thought the idea to be genius and unique from any book or author we have come across this year. Short stories are perfect for those who want something quick to read or just want a little break from typically long novels and we particularly enjoyed this short story collection as each story was engaging and felt complete.
With quick character development, we still felt that there was a lot of depth in each character. We found the book extremely immersive with vivid imagery that often had us reflecting on life, highlighting key takeaways such as making the most of the time we have on earth instead of waiting for everything to be perfect.
We enjoyed the humour Chimeka infused in most of the already sad stories which was very Nigerian and necessary. In one of the stories called "Song for Someone", a favourite quote we noted was from Ukela, a girl who is getting attention from a rich man she wasn’t interested in. The man used money to try and win her over, yet her response was ‘keep your money, say something intelligent’ which we loved because he struggled to give a response.
In conclusion, A Broken People’s Playlist is a literary gem that deserves a place on every bookshelf. For lovers of literary fiction, this collection is must-read.
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