Blessings
When Obiefuna's father witnesses an intimate moment between his teenage son and the family's apprentice, newly arrived from the nearby village, he banishes Obiefuna to a Christian boarding school marked by strict hierarchy and routine, devastating violence. Utterly alienated from the people he loves, Obiefuna begins a journey of self-discovery and blossoming desire, while his mother Uzoamaka grapples to hold onto her favourite son, her truest friend.
Interweaving the perspectives of Obiefuna and his mother Uzoamaka, as they reach towards a future that will hold them both, BLESSINGS is an elegant and exquisitely moving story of love and loneliness. Asking how we can live freely when politics reaches into our hearts and lives, as well as deep into our consciousness, it is a stunning, searing debut.
Source: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/454618/blessings-by-ibeh-chukwuebuka/9780241618271
Keywords/Themes
Coming of age, homosexuality, self-loathing, pain and sadness
Book Review & Recommended Use in Classroom
A beautiful and heartbreaking coming-of-age story that captured our attention from the very first page. The novel is told through alternating perspectives of a mother and her son. It is beautiful, sad and hopeful, all at the same time. The fast-paced snapshots of different scenes made us feel as though we could actually see Aboy doing the laundry or Sopulu in her green dress.
The book could be read in its entirety, or individual chapters/sections of the book could be used, that capture the essence of the book, while avoiding some of the more graphic/violent scenes. The teacher could give students the historical background and enrich the readings with classroom discussions. The following chapter are beautifully written and can stand on their own: Chapters 13, 14, 24, 25, 27, 28.
We recommend this book for older students (class 12) due to the complexity and layered nature of the relationships portrayed, (e.g. love and friendship, power dynamics at school, the relationship between the two brothers). Possible guiding questions include: what are the characters relationships like and why?
We’d also discuss representations of masculinity and homosexuality – what different types of men do we encounter – and discuss the context they are living in: How is Nigeria represented in the novel? How is Nigeria represented in the media? And how is Nigeria perceived in Europe? Which similarities are there to Germany? How does our upbringing shape us? There could be a creative writing activity imagining what Obiefuna’s experiences might be like if he had grown up in Germany (city/countryside)?
(Alexandra and Mirjam, October 2025)
Sensitive Content
Sexual scenes (unwillingly loosing virginity to a prostitute, oral sex scenes). Physical Violence (e.g. getting beat up).
About the Author
Chukwuebuka Ibeh grew up in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, the middle child of three in a family where his father ran a bookshop and his mother worked in fashion — a home steeped in oral storytelling passed down from his grandparents. A life-changing moment came shortly after his 18th birthday, when he attended a creative-writing workshop in Lagos led by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, which helped him realise he wanted to tell stories himself. Despite unreliable electricity during his university years — which forced him to write much of his early work by hand — he persisted in writing, sometimes locking himself away “from morning till evening, nothing else mattered.” That persistence eventually led him to a fully funded master’s-programme in the US at Washington University in St. Louis, where he completed his studies and polished his writing.
