26a Book

What a ride. The writing was amazing, the story fascinating, the characters highly likable and interesting - but it was SO depressing.

The first half of the book feels like a sweet coming-of-age story. Our main characters, two sometimes too-cute-to-be-true twins, grow up between London and Nigeria in a seemingly happy family. As the story progresses, however, we learn that everyone is fighting their own demons. The parents' marriage is broken as the mother is daydreaming of a better life back in Nigeria. The father turns to alcohol and the alcohol turns him into a violent monster. There are child pregnancy and sexual abuse. There are things that kids don't understand and with them comes sadness.

26a explains how experiences during our childhood determine who we become later. How a brief moment of incredible fear or sadness as a child can trigger anxiety as an adult. How everything around us shapes us, every relationship we witness, whether it is our own or someone else's, moves us towards ourselves. The book takes us on a journey, from that last moment of innocence, the moment when you stop being a child, to where we learn to accept that your world has changed forever.

We are there with the twins when they laugh, cry, have their first boyfriends, start feeling disconnected, become someone else, lose themselves and find hope again - but we only realise the full impact of those dark nights when it is already too late. We, as the reader, can trace their problems back to moments of abuse, of hate and loneliness, but we can also see how there is no going back. We know that, just because you know what went wrong, doesn't mean you can fix it.

The writing is outstanding, truly inspiring. Diana Evans is a highly skilled writer, guiding us through the story so beautifully. The pacing was great, the time we spend with each character is perfect. Yet, I found the second half of the book extremely depressing. I was contemplating whether I should stop reading although I really wanted to know how it ends because I just couldn't handle it. It was not sad in an "awww-this-is-so-sad"-way, it was completely and utterly depressing. It ruined my mood for about three days.

If you can deal with that, read 26a. It is a truly unique piece of literature. I might have had a few down-days but it has given me more than that, like a lesson or a message. An outstanding debut by Diana Evans, I'll make sure to read more of her work!