Review: Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala

**Contains Spoilers**

Not even sure how to put this book into words. The ending was unexpected to say the least.

I enjoyed this read. It was my first LGBT book and it was intriguing from beginning to end. My heart felt for the main character Niru and his struggle to come out to the world as a gay young man. I feel like so many kids aren’t able to freely be themselves because of the pressure and demands put on us by family, friends and society.

Although it’s not as openly discussed, many kids are sent away to be “fixed” but people of religious authority. It’s truly saddening that kids can’t be loved and accepted for who they are. It was interesting to see Niru battle with this as his Nigerian parents (mainly his father) was not having it any other way. Niru’s father was ashamed of him for being gay and while his mother wouldn’t openly say it, you could see that she empathized with her son.

I was happy that Niru had a tiny encounter with Damien so that he could live a little and enjoy being himself, even if only for a short period of time. Damien brought out a spark in Niru that had been missing for some time now. It was like Damien was comfort food. A  familiar happy place that had been buried deep. Home.

And Meredith. Really disliked her in this book and found her to be extremely selfish. She was always more concerned with her need to be loved and wanted by Niru rather than helping her best friend through his mixed emotions and struggle of being a gay young man. When he was murdered (hello surprise ending), I blamed her completely for it and was actually satisfied in knowing that she would have to live with that guilt for the rest of her life. A case of another young man who’s bound to be successful in life was taken away in the blink of an eye, like dust blowing in the wind. My heart aches for the pain felt by his family (especially his dad who never had the opportunity to build a proper relationship with Niru) and the fact that Niru never got to live life as an out of the closet, gay young man.

I gave this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ . Definitely a book that kept me on my toes. Starting to really enjoy books that are told from multiple characters perspectives.