Book Review: Someday, Maybe

By: Author, Onyi Nwabineli

This review comes a bit late. However, it’s better to be late than never. This book covers an acute topic. There is no way for grief to be soft. Even when it’s someone else’s story, it hits hard, and it hurts because even if you don’t relate, you understand that it’s a pain that no one wishes to experience. Suicide many times is so unexpected. I commend the author’s strength to stare into blank pages and pour her heart onto it. In Onyi’s writing she delivered an excellent written portrayal of her confrontation with suicide and grief.

I sympathized with the author throughout the book for reasons I didn’t think I would. Eve’s love for her husband was deep. They were together for over a decade. she thought she knew every inch of him. However, she was forced to come to terms with the fact that she didn’t. He made a choice that couldn’t be undone, and she was left without a reason.

Eve’s stages of grief did not look how one would think it’s supposed to. Onyi was articulate in her writing where she described how she processed this traumatic event. She struggled, immensely without him. I believe it was partly due to the way Que died. It was so sudden and there was no closure. She needed that. She needed to know it wasn’t her fault. He provided no reprieve. As if he wanted his secrets to die with him. As if, whatever he dealt with was too hard even for her to carry and it was just better this way.

The story did not conclude with a happy ending. She did find life for herself on the other side of grief. She did find a new creative outlet where she met a fresh group of people to take her mind away from her reality. She did have a brand-new blessing that would become an extension of Que. However, to say those things made her happy is a reach. Que being by her side would make her happy. It will take more time than the timeline we were given in the book for her to be genuinely happy.

Although, the story in this book is outside of the realm of our normal genre, I appreciate the author for sharing such an honest piece of work. It may have been a way for her to release all of her trauma, but I believe this book has helped many people who are suffering. Just as well as it opened the eyes of many others who may not have dealt with the pain of this experience but helped them to empathize with those who have and still do. I look forward to reading more from this author. Perhaps, she will give us more non-fiction or personal narratives. I’m hoping this is not the last book I read by Onyi Nwabineli.