Review: Speak No Evil

Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If this book only centered around Niru like Part I, I would have given it 5 stars, but Part 2 is narrated by Meredith. In the audio version, I was okay with it because I had to know what happened to the main character. But I was a tad frustrated. I wanted to hear from O.J., the older brother, perhaps instead.

Niru is Nigerian-American, and Harvard bound. He never has lived up to his older brother's perfection, and now he can't bring himself to even kiss his girlfriend Meredith. When he finally admits to himself that he's gay, he has such a difficult time with the guilt. He does his own share of mental gay-bashing, since his family and religion do the same, and even travels with his father to Africa to get the evil spirits pushed out of him.

This would be an easy push to older high school kids--track star, college admissions, first love, pressure from peers to drink, pressure from parents to succeed, and immigration. This really reminded me of an Alex Award read. The last bit throws in police brutality and white lies/black lives which seemed a bit rushed and added in?

As for the audio version, I didn't hear any mistakes. I loved the Nigerian accents from family members, and was glad a different narrator was used for Meredith. I think the audio really elevated the book, judging by the Goodreads reviews.



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