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Happiness Like Water Chinelo Okparanta Books

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Happiness Like Water Chinelo Okparanta Books

“Happiness is like water,’ she says. ‘We’re always trying to grab onto it, but it’s always slipping between our fingers.” 
― Chinelo Okparanta

This is one of the few books where I found myself wondering why the author had chosen this title and what it meant. In my mind I had imagined water in its river form, and interpreted it as happiness is like water because it varies in flow. Sometimes it is an overwhelming river, and other times it is a slow and steady stream. My original theory, as you can see, is totally different from this revelatory quote. I have to say that I like this interpretation better than mine! Although more cynical than my original thought. 

I have been really appreciating the sleuth of Nigerian authors that I have had the opportunity to read thanks to BookBub and BookRiot! Definitely nice to see a diversity of books being represented in these daily book deals. 

This book was a true delight to read. The stories were intricate and different, but at the same time they seemed to tie together well. All beautiful short stories of Nigerian women interacting with America in different ways and dealing with various life stages. It's impossible not to connect with at least one of the characters. I know that I particularly identified with a secondary character, with whom one of the characters falls in love with. There's a scene where this young woman talks about love and tells her professor (the main character of the story) this:

"‘Really in love,’ she says, ‘the kind where every part of you feels like you could spend forever with the person. And you wish that forever could be more than a lifetime. The kind where you don’t see all the things that are wrong with the person, all the negatives that should have prevented you from falling for the person in the first place’". 

Chinelo Okparanta imparts much wisdom through her characters and raises even more questions than she answers. She is the type of author that is able to create short stories that are satisfying. I am usually not a fan of short stories because they always leave me wanting more, but with Okparanta, she gave me just enough to be satisfied while still ensuring that she created thought provoking narratives. 

Through her stories she does leave you with the sense that happiness is like water. It is a hard thing to grasp and it isn't meant to last forever. So whatever happy moments you get, enjoy them for they are fleeting. They will always escape through your fingers but that doesn't have to be negative. As long as you enjoy the moments for what they are and understand that there will be more happiness to come. 

"Because, as if in rebellion, certain emotions become amplified at the exact moments when you are expected not to feel them at all." - Chinelo Okparanta 


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Happiness Like Water Chinelo Okparanta Books Reviews

This is a lovely, heartbreaking collection of stories that will keep you thinking big and feeling big right through the end.
Sometimes the best stories are the ones that leave the destiny of the characters wide open for interpretation. However, sometimes you just want to know what happens to them. That is how I felt at the end of many of these stories - wishing I knew how their conflicts resolved. Great writing and the stories were raw and unsentimental. I found myself truly invested in the lives of these characters, even though their stories were so brief.
It seemed the author wrote stories and left you hanging, especial on the story "Designs". I think she wanted to talk about sexism in Nigeria but was trying not to offend anyone there, IMHO.
I enjoyed reading the book. I had a feeling that the stories would be feminism orientated and it was. It wasn't over charged though, it was rather subtle and I liked that
I read this book right after I read Adichie's Americanah, so it might be why it started off slow for me (because Adichie is just so good), but it picked up by the time I got to America. This is the first story in the book that I thought was very well written and I wanted to keep reading and not put it down. The story also has deep meaning. With Shelter, I found I had tears in my eyes by the time I was at the end, so I had to put it aside for a while before I continued. The stories that followed were ok, not quite as good, until I got to the last one. This one definitely had me and I found myself willing and rooting for her to leave and stop helping her father; because this book, after all, is based on her experiences. I'm glad her story ends triumphantly and I'm looking forward to her next work. Happiness, is indeed, like water. It's the first time I've heard anyone describe it that way and I like it. Happiness, like water.
Some of the stories are rather too real. For example, I thought the story with the oil spillage was rather far-fetched until I read a CNN article that same day that deplored Shell's impact on Nigeria's waters. Suddenly took the author more seriously. May not be Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie or Chinua Achebe but worth a trial.
Happiness, Like Water are short stories concerning Nigerian women and their families. There were several themes concerning the symbolism for water, for instance fertility. A husband threatened to nullify the marriage if his wife did not conceive. Freedom The wife that left her husband, who loved material wealth more than her. She freed herself from his religiosity, and the realization abundant riches cannot make you happy. Water can mean handling difficult life scenarios, such as the daughter that in a relationship considered taboo in the church and Nigerian society, and could have her imprisoned or stoned to death. The daughter left the country. There were other stories concerning being freed from physical abuse, freed from financial burdens that cost a young woman her virginity and the loss of her chronically ill mother. The story called Fairness was surprising. A young teen in a middle class family wanted to have fair skin. Her self-absorbed mother compared her and the darker skinned housemaid to the attractive housemaid, who had fair skin. Her mother never mentioned skin color, but the daughter believed this was the mother’s meaning. Dire consequences erupted when the daughter used liquid bleach on one of the housemaid.

I was not drawn into these stories. There were no vivid or powerful openings. I gave this book three stars.
“Happiness is like water,’ she says. ‘We’re always trying to grab onto it, but it’s always slipping between our fingers.” 
― Chinelo Okparanta

This is one of the few books where I found myself wondering why the author had chosen this title and what it meant. In my mind I had imagined water in its river form, and interpreted it as happiness is like water because it varies in flow. Sometimes it is an overwhelming river, and other times it is a slow and steady stream. My original theory, as you can see, is totally different from this revelatory quote. I have to say that I like this interpretation better than mine! Although more cynical than my original thought. 

I have been really appreciating the sleuth of Nigerian authors that I have had the opportunity to read thanks to BookBub and BookRiot! Definitely nice to see a diversity of books being represented in these daily book deals. 

This book was a true delight to read. The stories were intricate and different, but at the same time they seemed to tie together well. All beautiful short stories of Nigerian women interacting with America in different ways and dealing with various life stages. It's impossible not to connect with at least one of the characters. I know that I particularly identified with a secondary character, with whom one of the characters falls in love with. There's a scene where this young woman talks about love and tells her professor (the main character of the story) this

"‘Really in love,’ she says, ‘the kind where every part of you feels like you could spend forever with the person. And you wish that forever could be more than a lifetime. The kind where you don’t see all the things that are wrong with the person, all the negatives that should have prevented you from falling for the person in the first place’". 

Chinelo Okparanta imparts much wisdom through her characters and raises even more questions than she answers. She is the type of author that is able to create short stories that are satisfying. I am usually not a fan of short stories because they always leave me wanting more, but with Okparanta, she gave me just enough to be satisfied while still ensuring that she created thought provoking narratives. 

Through her stories she does leave you with the sense that happiness is like water. It is a hard thing to grasp and it isn't meant to last forever. So whatever happy moments you get, enjoy them for they are fleeting. They will always escape through your fingers but that doesn't have to be negative. As long as you enjoy the moments for what they are and understand that there will be more happiness to come. 

"Because, as if in rebellion, certain emotions become amplified at the exact moments when you are expected not to feel them at all." - Chinelo Okparanta