There are three reasons I picked up this book. The first would be because of the title. I mean who wouldn’t be curious to read the contents of a book with such a title? The second reason was because said book was written by Damilare Kuku, the writer of the bestseller, “Nearly All The Men In Lagos Are Mad.” Any book written by the woman is already a winner for me. Her dexterity with words and exquisite plotline are out of this world, so it made me even more convinced that I had to read the book. The third reason was because the very first line had me hooked. Guys! Bibliophiles alike....this book begins with the second point of view.
I don’t know who else is jumping with me but I remember the first time I heard of the second point of view in Literature class and I fell in love with it even though I’d never read a book like that. The second person point of view uses “You” as subject and pronoun, instead of the more common, “I” or “He/She.” I kept envisioning how that would turn out in my little creative mind and was sure that whoever wrote a book using that technique and wrote it well would certainly be creating a masterpiece. So the moment I saw....
I could have cried tears of joy. Lol
Anyway, I may go deeper into the techniques of this book without at least giving you the gist of what it’s about so I’ll just get right into it. A two-hundred paged novel by Damilare Kuku, and recently published on the 18th of July, 2024, I present to you...
Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow (2024)
Twenty year old Temi has a problem, a problem she’s crossed her heart to solve the best way she knows how. Fresh out of the university, her plans for life are clear. She would move from her hometown in Ile-Ife to the City that never sleeps, Lagos and would surgically enhance her backside which has been the bane of her existence for as long as forever, and from there, she believes without a doubt that her life will drastically change. She would meet a man there who would love her senseless – notbecause of her newly enlarged backside – and live happily ever after.
The problem now is how she would relay this exciting piece of news to her very Nigerian family consisting of her mother, newly-returned older sister and aunties at her father’s funeral. When she eventually makes the announcement, it causes an uproar. As typical of mostly every Nigerian family, your business is not private, even if said business is about your.... behind. And so each member of the family from their own point of view tries to find ways to cure Temi of what, according to them, is nothing short of insanity. But in the process, long buried secrets, unknown truths and hidden lifestyles are revealed. Could Temi, per chance, be the sanest one after all?
My Review and Rating
Like I said in the beginning, one of the things that endeared me to this book was the use of the “You” pronoun to narrate Temi’s story. But contrary to my thoughts and what I would consider literary ingenuousness, Damilare deployed the other pronouns to narrate the other characters’ point of view. The beauty to this was that even with the characters that we, the readers, didn’t like at first instance, we got to understand them a bit, maybe not entirely agree with their choices and decisions in life but nevertheless understand what made them take those decision. Every one suddenly became relatable and maybe a bit more likable with this technique and I enjoyed every bit of it.
And now to the subject matter. The power of the behind! Hehe. I think it’s exceedingly crazy the way the world has tipped into an enlarged behind becoming the focal point of human existence. Both to the men and women. To the men in the sense that most of them feel this is the ideal body shape of a woman and anything else makes her less of a woman and the women that are not particularly endowed in this body part going all lengths to get for a whole variety of reasons but most of them similar to what Temi’s reasons were.
I wouldn’t want to enumerate just how I feel on this sensitive and controversial subject but my baseline thought on this which was surprisingly recounted by the author in the end was that...If you’re going to do it, at least do it for you. Do it because you believe with all your heart that doing it would make your innermost self happy and maybe even fulfilled. And that was how the book ended. With all the judgements, criticisms and condemnations from all sides, Temi – by her own making - was made to think of how well she truly wanted this and just how much it would innately make her happy.
The book uses simple but profound and evocative language to narrate something that most people in our society today would find remarkably relatable. It was a joy to read in all counts and I was more than glad to let loose for the couple of hours that I did and soak in this scintillating tale of love, family, secrets, friendship, loss, hope and everything in between. Would one hundred percent recommend this dramatic, coming of age tale to people of all ages, races and orientations. A 4.4/5 rating from me. Damilare Kuku in Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow, outdid herself.
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Other images are screenshots from my e-library.
