Even though I consider myself a pretty experienced reader and fairly capable of discussing literature like the competent layperson that I mostly am, sometimes the emotional expression of a story is so overwhelming that I find it difficult for quite some time to react to it other than on a limbic level. Virginia Woolf wrote of Charlotte Bronte: "So intense is our absorption that if some one moves in the room the movement seems to take place not there but up in Yorkshire. The writer has us by the hand, forces us along her road, makes us see what she sees, never leaves us for a moment or allows us to forget her." and that would be a decent description of my experience of Nnedi Okorafor's Who Fears Death, if you exchanged Yorkshire for post-apocalyptic Africa. Okorafor, via Onyesonwu, her protagonist, whose name means 'Who Fears Death?' in Igbo (or 'an ancient tongue' in the world of the book), is the strong personality and emotional force that drives the story swiftly and surely to its conclusion.
Who Fears Death is set in a post-apocalyptic Africa that bears a strong resemblance to post-colonial Africa. Onyesonwu inhabits a world with sorcery, spirits, and shape-changers, but she also faces racism, genocide, weaponized rape, patriarchy, and female genital cutting. The book is narrated as if it were a transcript from an interview, and the story falls roughly into two sections. The first is a coming of age story centered in the village of Jwahir, which is far enough away from the violent clashes of the Nuru and the Okeke -- the two warring tribes whose history and destiny are central to the story -- that Onyesonwu can have a relatively normal childhood. The second part of the book deals with Onyesonwu's discovery of her epic destiny, and her hero's journey to the center of the conflict.
It's easy to be a bit jaded when it comes to the Campbell-esque quest, and I did find the book slightly less engrossing when it was focused on jumping through hero hoops; however, the main character is a young African woman whose strengths include getting angry and turning into a vulture, so I was willing to forgive the formula to an extent. I found the story more fascinating when it concerned the developing relationships of the intrepid band Onyesonwu takes with her. I wanted more time with Mwita and Luyu and poor Binta, and more of the constant negotiation that it takes to have a loving, equal relationship in a hostile and biased world.
I did find the conclusion rushed and not entirely satisfying, and I had a problem with the flow of information. It's not at all uncommon for the mostly-ignorant Chosen One to get led around by the nose via prophesy and wizards, but I nonetheless found it frustrating and distracting. I really wanted Onyesonwu to have less power and more agency, especially at the end.
Okorafor wrote Who Fears Death after the death of her father, but she was also inspired by an article about weaponized rape in the Sudan, so the story comes from and addresses both personal grief and political motivation. While it's sometimes difficult and disturbing, it is also an enjoyable book and an important work.
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