Better late than never. Thank you so much for granting me early access to this wonderful collection.
Okonkwo masterfully animates the bustling cityscape of Lagos, capturing the vivid energy of its markets, the close-knit dynamics of communal spaces, and the often understated struggles and victories of everyday life. Through her intricately detailed and empathetic storytelling, readers are invited into a Lagos that is as complex as it is captivating, revealing a city of many layers and textures. This collection attests to Okonkwo’s prowess as a storyteller and her profound insight into the intricacies of the human experience.
A Kind of Madness is essential reading for those in search of a nuanced and richly rendered exploration of Lagos.

A Kind of Madness by Uche Okonkwo is a powerful collection of ten stories set in contemporary Nigeria, delving into themes of community expectations, familial conflict, and the daily struggle for survival. Each story explores various forms of madness—both literal and metaphorical—that arise from unspoken emotions like desire, desperation, hunger, fear, shame, and longing. Through her richly detailed and evocative prose, Okonkwo offers an unflinching look at the tensions that lie beneath relationships, particularly those between mothers and daughters, friends, and family members.

One standout story in the collection follows a young woman and her mother as they become the object of their village's envy after receiving a marriage proposal from a Belgian doctor. However, when the proposal falls through, that same envy threatens to turn against them, exposing the fragility of their status in the community. Another gripping tale tells of a teenage girl from a poor background who is mesmerised by her wealthy, charismatic friend. As the friend’s behaviour spirals out of control, the girl is faced with the difficult decision of whether to cover for her or seek help.

Okonkwo’s prose is beautifully smooth and precise, drawing readers into each story with a polished, literary style. For those who appreciate subtle, psychological tension, several stories will resonate deeply, as they explore the horrors that lie within the human mind rather than relying on external scares. Though this book isn’t marketed as horror, its emotional and mental intensity could appeal to fans of the genre who enjoy stories that probe the darker sides of human nature.

The emotional weight of A Kind of Madness is undeniable, particularly in its exploration of mother-daughter relationships, which are some of the most heart-wrenching parts of the book. The vivid details and finely tuned character dynamics kept me captivated from start to finish, making this collection hard to put down.

Okonkwo’s debut is an impressive literary achievement, and I look forward to seeing more of her work in the future. This is a must-read for anyone who appreciates strong, character-driven stories that don’t shy away from life’s difficult truths.

Read more at The Secret Bookreview.

I am going to start by saying that I thought this was a darkly clever and emotional collection that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I thought the prose was at times stunningly poetic, while maintaining an accessibility and widespread appeal that, on occasion, more lyrical prose can prevent.

However, I think the true glory of this collection was how Okonkwo uses dialogue to create a strong element of realism and intense immersion for the reader. Dialogue can be something that can easily lose a reader when used excessively or unnaturally, yet throughout these stories, I thought it was done artistically. One of the true achievements of this dialogue was that it enabled us as readers to get a very clear and early understanding of each of the characters we encounter. The fast-paced and captivating conversations meant that we very quickly establish the natures of each of the characters, something which can be a challenge in short-form narratives.

I loved the title of the collection and thought it was a perfect tie for all the stories to come together as one piece of artwork, while all retaining their individuality and narrative freedom.

While I did think that some of the stories felt stronger, and gripped me more of some of the others, this did not disrupt my reading and enjoyment of the collection too much.

Overall, I thought this was a very impressive collection of stories that I thoroughly valued reading - I am excited to encounter Okonkwo’s next work!

Many thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for the digital ARC.

These short stories were delightful and clever. Uche Okwonko has written stories about Nigerian society, and manages to make them both feel Nigerian and universal. We follow several characters - a young woman and her mum, excited by an impending marriage proposal from a friend's son who has moved to Belgium to become a doctor; two little girls in boarding school, little Kemi who has incredible stories to tell but seems lonely; a preacher who despairs at his empty church and doesn't understand why everyone is going to the new megachurch that Daddy-Too-Much has opened next door; a brother and a sister who find their father's adult movies; a little girl worries for her friend with sickle cells; a little boy who grows very attached to the one-eyed chicken that his mother intends to kill and cook in her pepper soup... They all felt different but warm, they all talked about expectations and navigating the world meeting these - or the consequences if you don't. I liked that many of the characters were children, it can be difficult to write characters that are both very young but feel developed and deep enough to be interesting, but Okwonko has written beautiful stories that were moving and intelligent.

Initially I was bored with the book because everything felt unfamiliar as I have no knowledge of African language and their culture (except food. Jollof rice and injera FTW), but as I read on, I began to understand why this was hyped up. The stories are funny and unsettling, and in some ways relatable. The small acts they deemed safe were blown out of proportion, and their obsession with religion & keeping up appearances in public affected their relationship with their peers, partners, and children. Some stories offering different perspectives felt like a gift, especially from a perspective of a certain man in one of the stories, who I thought was weaponizing incompetence. For sure I will re-read this someday.

Thank you Netgalley for the free copy!

Firstly, this cover…wow! Bright, bold, eye catching and does its job of catching your interest.
I usually don’t read short stories, but I’ve been making a concerted effort over the last 6 months or so, to read books outside of my comfort zone.
Whether it’s a different genre, style of writing, short stories and so on, just to expand my reading experience. By doing so, I’ve found many wonderful authors and books that I’d normally pass by.
This collection is the authors debut and I feel that it shows.
By that, I mean that out of the 10 stories featured, roughly half were a good solid read, and of those, maybe 1 or 2 that I remembered a week or more after finishing. The other half were a good starting point, but felt like there were things that could be done to elevate them to the next level and beyond.
I’m extremely happy to have read this book, and it did leave me feeling satisfied afterwards. Which tells me that on the whole, It was a good read and one I’d recommend to others.
If this is a glimpse at what the author can do, I look forward to reading more from them in the future.
Many thanks to the author and publisher for allowing me this ARC. ( 3.5 stars rounded up to 4).

This collection of short stories follows the lives of people in Nigeria. Mostly set in Lagos, the stories at times venture into boarding schools and villages. One of the things that immediately sets it apart from many hyped up Nigerian novels which make it to the UK market is that A Kind of Madness is not focused exclusively on rich people, we met people of all walks of life, from ambitious preachers to families whose chief ambition is to marry into families any sorts of foreign connections.

My copy did not contain short story titles, so I will refer to them by their concepts. There is a lot to enjoy in these stories. Some of the stronger ones really pushed that 4-5 star mark. Okonkwo's strength is in capturing the nuances of human phycology and human interactions. Uozoma's story, for example, does an excellent job of showing a faltering marriage from the perspective of both spouses. Okonkwo is quite good at writing children narrators in texts aimed at adults. Buchi and Auntie Ifueko's story did a very good job of capturing that coming of age moment. I was impressed by how unflinching Okonkwo is in dealing with the complexities of children's sexual awakening - in one of the stories, we follow a couple of preteen siblings who discover their father's pornography and are fascinated by it, whilst not understanding the most basic things about their own bodies. That dichotomy was captured perfectly. The last story, focusing on a woman who thinks that her young daughter is possessed by spirits, is written from the daughter's perspective and is heart-breaking. The story of the private school student Kemi stands shoulders above the rest. I really enjoyed the complex character of Kemi, her ambiguous social position and her lashing out behaviours.

This collection is too uneven to show Okonkwo only at her strongest. There are 10 stories in the book, and only 5-6 are truly memorable. Most of those are in the second half of the collection, which does not do it any favours - I had considered DNFing before getting to the really good stories. I would rather have read a shorter collection without some of the filler stories. The prose, even in the strongest stories, is perceptive and precise at times, but quite middling overall. My biggest problem was that though some of the specific scenes and character work was excellent, I was not convinced by the author's ability to write short stories specifically. It is a very difficult format, in my opinion, more so than novellas and novels (and it is telling that the stronger stories in this collection are the longer ones). A good short story is made by its ending, by the final twist, the final sentence. Okonkwo's narrative structure either ignores that element altogether, or executes it in a very MFA student manner. I would say only one or two stories really stuck the landing in the whole collection.

Even taking these issues into account, Okonkwo comes across as an interesting author with tremendous potential, and I am excited to see what else she has to offer.

Thank you NetGalley and Verve Books for an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A brilliant collection of short stories that leave you guessing right to the last page. Each character has a level of depth and evolution not easy to portray in so few pages but each story leaves you with plenty of food for thought and definitely wanting more!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my digital ARC!

I’m always down for a good short story collection, and while I wasn’t blown away by this debut collection, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. It’s a very solid collection, all the stories fit nicely together. They’re all slice-of-life, exploring various relationships and dynamics across contemporary Nigeria. We see mothers trying to marry off daughters, nephews trying to mend an auntie’s broken heart, young boys doing all they can to survive on the streets, little girls engaged in the usual tumult that is tween friendships. Corruption within the church, mental health, classism, reflections on these themes and more can be found in these pages. They’re all very much character driven, as Okonkwo peels back the layers of Nigerian society to lay bare the madness that resides there. That title really is perfect!

Sometimes with short story collections the various plot lines can begin to feel either repetitive or jarring. However, 'A Kind of Madness' does not fall into either extreme. Each story is deeply engaging, all of the various characters feel developed, and each narrative is unique. It is a brilliant collection of tales about family, friendships, and what it means to be human in contemporary Nigeria.

A collection of short stories in a patchwork of Lagos; stitched together with a staccato of emotions - high, low, resigned. From an account of a marriage arrangement to a fledging preacher's (my personal favourite of the bunch) contrasted inner life and outer reality. These are vivid stories that run the gamut of human experiences. A truly enveloping read

A Kind of Madness is a collection of 10 stories set in modern Nigeria.
I have read only a handful of Nigerian literature, and I am in awe every time I read a book about the culture(s) in Nigeria.
Okonkwo tells the stories of children and adults who experience many emotions and struggles of being a human.
Prose is excellent, and the stories are richly different from each other.