Nnedi Okorafor – Kabu-Kabu

Making a resolution to read more diversely, to discover authors from places other than Europe or North America, is one thing. Actually discovering them is another story. I didn’t think I would be this glad to read fantasy by writers from different places of the world. But Nnedi Okorafor swept me away with the amazing Who Fears Death and, while very different from that novel, the short stories in Kabu-Kabu have cemented my appreciation for her as a writer.

KABU-KABU
by Nnedi Okorafor

Published by: Prime Books, October 2013
ISBN: 160701405X
ebook: 264 pages
Short story collection
review copy via NetGalley
My rating: 7/10

First sentence: Lance the Brave stood on the edge of the cliff panicking, his long blond hair blowing in the breeze.

Kabu Kabu – unregistered, illegal Nigerian taxis – generally get you where you need to go, but Nnedi Okorafor’s Kabu Kabu takes the reader to exciting, fantastic, magical, occasionally dangerous, and always imaginative locations. This debut short story collection by award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor includes notable previously-published short work, a new novella co-written with New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster, and a brief forward by Whoopi Goldberg.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk about the danger of the single story still rings in my ears every time I read a book or story featuring a non-white protagonist. This collection by Nnedi Okorafor – go read the beautiful Who Fears Death – is the exact opposite of the “single story”. The range and diversity of these short stories is like a breath of fresh air. Given Okorafor’s own background, most stories feature Nigerians, but not exclusively. Some are set in Nigeria, some in America, some in completely different places. Most of her protagonists are women, but again, they are as diverse and different as they come.

But Okorafor doesn’t romanticize Nigeria either. The tales in this collection show off a range of situations and settings, many aspects of culture and character. You will find folktale-like stories without a clear setting or time, intentionally flat characters, and horrific plots, you will find others that are clearly set during modern times, showing all the wonders and horrors of Okorafor’s chosen locations. I’ve mentioned Nigeria a lot, but it isn’t the only place featured in these stories. Just the one that she keeps coming back to.

The author’s favorite topics clearly shine through. Nigeria is one of them, windseekers another. There are not two, but three tales about windseekers, two of which tell essentially the same story. I felt a little cheated and, honestly, it gave the impression that the author’s ideas are quite limited (or that she is really obsessed with windseekers) – she also wrote a novel called Zahrah the Windseeker (which I have yet to read). In all fairness, the third of the windseeker stories, simply called “Windseekers”, did show a different side of these people, born with dada hair and the ability to fly, and I ended up liking that one best.

Of all the stories, “Spider the Artist” was easily my favorite. It is not only a great science fiction short story but would make a brilliant beginning for a novel. A young and unhappily married woman sits next to the pipeline at night and plays music. She ends up befriending one of the terrifying, robotic creatures who protect the pipeline from thieves and bond with it over their shared music. I loved every bit of this story and wouldn’t mind reading what happened after…

In “The Black Stain”, the author changes her tone to that of a cautionary tale. There is little characterisation, events happen quickly, but their repercussions leave you thinking about the horrors humans are capable of inflicting on others. It is a sort of fairy-tale like origin story of Ewu, children of mixed race, who are considered demons, and another one of Okorafor’s favorite themes, seeing as Onyesonwu, the protagonist in Who Fears Death, is Ewu.

The titular story “Kabu-Kabu” was co-written with Alan Dean Foster. It is the story of a lawyer named Ngozi trying to catch a plane to go to her sister’s wedding in Nigeria. Late as she is, she jumps into a kabu kabu, a taxi that shows up out of the blue and whose driver promises to get her where she needs to go… there are just a few errands he has to run first. This story did so many things so well. Ngozi is a wonderfully relatable protagonist who mostly just asks herself WTF? The fact that she meets curious creatures and isn’t sure if she can trust her taxi driver is just a complication in a fun story with a slightly predictable ending.

As with any collection, not all stories were up my alley, and some I didn’t like at all. The bulk of them were great, although I do think short stories are not the author’s strength. Nnedi Okorafor is definitely trying to make a point with this collection. In the afterword she tells the origin of her story “The Magical Negro” and I understand that she wants her readers to see that being branded magical or exotic or barbaric is not something Africans enjoy – yet it still happens all too often in SFF fiction. But perhaps she is trying to get that point across too hard. By no means did this happen in every story, but every so often, I would feel like the author was standing behind me, looking over my shoulder to see if I understood what she’s telling me about race and gender. Yes yes, I get it! I’m on your side! Stop hitting me over the head with the morality hammer already!

I picked the book up because I absolutely loved Who Fears Death. It fits neatly into my Read Around the World challenge, and I honestly think that I learned tons of new things and broadened my horizons – even if a lot of the stories took place in imaginary or alternate settings, not the real world. Okorafor shows the good and the bad, both exploitation and hope, strength and evil of the people. And she adds a healthy dose of magic to the mix.

Recommended, although I personally look forward to cozying up with one of Okorafor’s novels again.

MY RATING:  7/10  – Very Good!

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