5 disco balls

Published: March 6, 2018 by HarperAudio
Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi & Julia Whelan
Length: 6 hours 21 minutes
Category: Literary Fiction, LGBT

I have been on an audiobook roll lately and hope to keep up the momentum. I am one who prefers to read an actual book, but likes to listen to audiobooks during my drives (or to make doing chores more bearable). There have been a few times where I felt that I had a better experience listening rather than reading and this here is one of them!

Narrator Prentice Onayemi starts the first part of this book and he was absolute perfection. I felt as though I was listening to Prentice – as Niru – tell me his story; as if I was grabbing coffee with him and we were engaged in a conversation. He made Niru real, lent a voice to his story and his family. My goodness was this story beautifully written: there is no doubt that author Iweala is extremely talented. 

Niru and Meredith are best friends, both living in wealthy neighborhoods, both with parents that do not understand them; but one set is absent and the other overbearing. Both teenagers crave acceptance and feeling, it will be their unraveling.

After Niru tells Meredith he is gay, his quiet internal life becomes quiet externally as well. He is angry, sad, alone. His religious, homophobic father will find out and Niru will blame Meredith, causing Niru to lose his only person in this world – now more alone and misunderstood than ever.

When the audiobook cuts to Part II: ‘Meredith’ about ¾ of the way through I was confused and actually scared. The events that will happen are not what I expected; goodness did it knock me off my axis a bit. You will not be able to stop and pause without listening to the last 1.5 hours – you just can’t.