#chimeka garricks

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Ongoing Thoughts

About halfway through I started to roll my eyes every time a man was revealed to be cheating on his wife. And it was most, if not all, of the men. Having a serial cheater/self-proclaimed womanizer say another man's cheating, which involved both sex and romantic love, was him not understanding and respecting "the game" was a huge eye roll. Every man was a cheater and every woman was being cheated on, but I liked the agency that Garricks gave most of these women. Some women stayed because they knew their husband was the kind to cheat before they even got married and had different expectations for their marriage as a result (and different ways of handling the cheating); some of them left his ass, kicked him out, froze him out of their life, and some of them cursed their man to never be able to get it up for anyone except his wife. Queen behavior lmao.

Reading further, it's fascinating hearing Kokoma also refer to the process of cheating in a relationship as understanding the game. This exchange is between Kokoma (first one speaking) and Wobia, whose husband recently cheated on her:

"In the early days, he was a bit sloppy, and I found out a few. I felt so disrespected that I played my equalizer."

"What's that?"

"It's complicated to explain. First, you need to understand the power you have over a man who truly loves you and has given himself to you. You know his core, the thing that contains his essence, the place of his biggest fears and insecurities. You hold it in your hands every day, nurse, and nurture it. An equalizer is basically you holding a knife to it. Cut wisely. Do you nick, slash, or saw through his soul so deep that he bleeds out? It's up to you how you use your power. It's different for every man. For Tonse, I told him that I slept with my ex in revenge after I found out about his girlfriends."

My hands flew to my mouth to stop it, but the loud gasp had already escaped. "You slept with your ex?"

Half smiling, she gave me a cryptic, "What do you think?"

I gasped again. "How did he take it? What happened? Did he throw you out?"

Her laugh was a beautiful, pearly thing. "That's impossible. He's not that kind of man, and we both knew we can't function without each other. Plus, he understands the game. Long story short, eventually we talked, cried, forgave, had make-up sex, and everybody promised to be of good behavior. He still carries on sometimes, but he's smoother now, so there's no disrespect." (pg 129-130, "Beautiful War"

I guess, even though it gets annoying as hell to read about every man being a cheater, the game of chess everyone seems to be playing is interesting to experience. And Garricks clearly isn't afraid of a mess. There is, ironically, an honesty with which he writes, a genuine exploration into how chaotic people can behavior in relationships, love, and sex. Revenge, forgiveness, the break down, the rebuilding, and the evolution of a person and a couple who is trying to move forward.

I also just fuck with this quote:

"Fifteen minutes later, you are sitting in your car, but you can't bring yourself to drive. You are hollowed out, desolate. You realise a truth so profound, it breaks your heart—you've lost the Wobia you knew, and though this new Wobia will love you, it will be a cold, jaded thing, a sorry substitute for the life force her love was to you. You need the old Wobia, and it would take a miracle to bring her back.

Brittle Paper introduces free master classes with “The Writing Room.”

The Writing Room, a new initiative from Brittle Paper, featuring masterclasses from some of the most respected personalities in African writing was introduced on July 20, 2022. Brittle Paper is an online platform centering African literary narratives since it was founded by Nigeria-born USA-based academic Ainehi Edoro-Glines in 2010. Apart from publishing work from writers and poets, it also…

A review of Chimeka Garricks Tomorrow Died Yesterday

Book: Tomorrow Died Yesterday

Author: Chimeka Garricks

Publisher: Paperworth Books

Year of publication: 2010

Number of pages: 428

Genre: Thriller

Chimeka Garrick’s debt novel Tomorrow Never Comes tracks four characters Doughboy, Amaibi, Kaniye and Tubo who grew up in the oil rich Niger Delta and how their lives end up as they deal with the oil companies that are the biggest force in that part of…