Date Read: November 23rd 2020
Published: June 2020
Publisher: Jacaranda Books
Pages: 340
The Blurb
#TwentyIn2020 Bad Love is the story of London-born Ghanaian Ekuah Danquah and her tumultuous experience with first love. Marked by this experience, she finds herself at a crossroads – can she fall in love again, or does the siren song of her first love still call?
Against a backdrop of enigmatic nights scattered with spoken-word poetry in London, Venice, Accra and Paris, Ekuah tries to reconcile her personal journey with the love she struggles with for Dee Emeka, a gifted musician who is both passionate and aloof in his treatment of Ekuah. After 18 months together, he disappears from her life, confirming her worst fears about the unstable foundation of their relationship. She attempts to graduate university whilst retreating into herself, searching for new validations and preoccupations from heartbreak.
Life marches on and Ekuah finds personal fulfillment in her poetry and community work. But when she must choose between her first love and the promise of a new, unexpected love, in the form of Jay Stanley, can she handle the vulnerability and forgiveness required? Grappling with her examples of love, Ekuah must forge her own path. With an increasingly successful career, she finds herself travelling around the world. When her rise intersects with Dee’s own fame, the two are pushed to reach a final resolution.
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Review – ★★★ (3 stars)
In case you’ve been living under a rock, Twenty in 2020 is a collaboration between Jacaranda Books and Words of Color, where they dedicate this year to publishing 20 works by Black British writers. The works include adult fiction, non-fiction and poetry. The aim of this trailblazing program is to normalize the presence of diverse literature, characters and authors across all genres and curricula, with the hope that it will be a source of inspiration for a new generation of publishing professionals and authors. Maame Blue’s debut was among the 20 works published by Jacaranda Books, back in June of this year.
Bad Love is more of a 3.5 stars rating (out of 5), for sure! I double-fisted this debut by listening to the book via Audible alongside reading the paperback, which I recently purchased. I really enjoyed the audio narration of this book! The narrator – Vivienne Acheampong, did a superb job. Maame Blue is a stellar writer and I must say – I enjoyed how smooth and lucid the writing was in this novel.
Black Brits – especially Ghanaian-British readers would appreciate this story, as there are nuances only they can fully grasp within the novel. Since I was a child born and partially raised in the Diaspora, I appreciated these nuances – for example, being raised by Ghanaian parents outside of Ghana; going to Ghanaian restaurants in the West and realizing that bad (rude) customer service is one of our trademarks; constantly grappling with double identities; viewing the world through double lenses, etc. At this novel’s core, Bad Love is a coming-of-age cum love story. At the periphery, the story delves into family, marriage, same-sex love and travel. The latter themes intrigued me most.
I’m not really a fan of the romance genre, especially involving young characters. A part of me felt annoyed by Ekuah’s ‘situationships’, her misplaced priorities and her need to feel wanted. Ekuah’s entanglements with Dee and Jay definitely felt real, but were cliché (and slightly triggering!) and I was not moved by their shenanigans. In fact, I actually really disliked those two male characters – especially Dee. Maame Blue’s mastery in her development of these characters allowed me to have strong emotions towards them, which is telling. Perhaps readers aged 17-26 would be more into Ekuah’s love entanglements. However, while reading, a part of me felt compassion for Ekuah, as I journeyed with her into adulthood. She’s just your typical university student finding her way through life while trying to not lose herself in ‘bad love’.
Bad Love takes readers from London to Venice, Paris to Accra, and back to London. I enjoyed being in different settings with Ekuah – descriptions of places and happenings in Italy and Accra were palpable and made me miss spoken word/literary events and musical concerts during this pandemic.
There are quite a number of characters to keep track of in the novel, and I was very much entertained by Ekuah’s parents and their marriage. Ekuah’s Dad in particular was such a different character. What a man! I wonder what a character like Okonkwo from Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart would think of him! Ekuah’s Dad was the complete opposite of the African hyper-masculine stereotype that I’m so used to reading about in literature. Without giving too much away, the evolution of Ekuah’s parents’ marriage was fascinating and I loved the trajectory of that relationship, as it was sooo unexpected.
Overall, the title ‘Bad Love’ may have readers expecting a story laden with sour happenings, but this isn’t the case at all. Bad Love is an entertaining coming-of-age story that follows Ekuah into slowly realizing that she is her own best thing.
★★★ (3 stars) – Good book. I recommend it!
Purchase Bad Love on Amazon
P.S: I’ll be hosting a GIVEAWAY for Bad Love + other goodies, kind courtesy of Maame Blue over on Bookstagram – Monday November 30th to December 4th. Be sure to enter the giveaway at @africanbookaddict on Monday! It’s open to all readers on the African continent. All the details will be posted on African Book Addict!‘s Bookstagram.
Lastly, if you’re still wondering whether you should indulge in Maame Blue’s writing, definitely read her 2018 award-winning short story, entitled – Black Sky. This is probably the 5th time I’m referencing this short story on this book blog. Read it oh!
African Book Addict! 