Bitter Honey by Lola Akinmade
“Power corrupts. When you have tasted power, everything else tastes bland.”
In 1978, Nancy became consumed by her professor, Lars. A man who appears to know her, her culture, her mothers tongue. But is all really what it seems with Lars? Nancy's life will become destabilised by all that she does not know of Lars. Decades later, these very secrets will have a detrimental effect on her daughter Tina, who struggles to find herself & her place in this unforgiving world.
Lola really did the big one with Bitter Honey. The dual narratives were complimentary to each other. As an author, it must be so hard to find the balance between telling the story of 2 characters who are struggling to reckon with their pasts, as well as finding their way to new solid ground. Nevertheless, Lola found a way to bring these characters back to each other & themselves.
This story also reminded me of why we can & must enforce our boundaries with others, but also that our parents are infallible. They live many lives before we ever come to know them. While their choices & how to love us may hurt us, the seed of hurt is placed in soil long before we grow. Bitter Honey tells readers a balanced & thoughtful journey of a young woman who is preyed upon, fetishised & compromised by an ideal of love - Lars may you never know peace, in this life or the after-life. This hurt spreads years later to her daughter Tina. Trauma has an ugly way of infiltrating our bloodline.
I remember thinking that Nancy was rather quaint, but now it all makes sense. Nancy suffered one of the biggest bookish betrayals that I have read in a long time.
Identity is a central theme to this story. I still find it so interesting that as a Black woman, Lola is able to paint the picture of the identity crisis through her storytelling.
I could say so much more, but for now...
More books like this, please! This was such a capitaving read, which took me on many journeys, all of which landed me back on the singular path: Forgiveness.
It's only taken me about 5 months to find my 2nd 5 star read of the year, but here it is 😮💨💪🏾
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I highly recommend you add Bitter Honey to your TBR