A Broken People's Playlist || Book Review

When I picked up this book, the first thing I thought to myself was, “Truly, Tess, you do love torturing yourself.” The title alone was a dead giveaway that I was in for a world of pain and I needed none of that. Lol, not like anyone needs pain at any point. The first story broke me so bad, I suspended the entire book for two weeks. What I didn’t expect was for the same book that broke me to be the one that healed me, in a realistic bitter-sweet way. Presenting to you, my lovely readers,

A Broken People’s Playlist by Chimeka Garricks

This book consists of twelve interlinked stories, with their foundation as music, set in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, which is where Garricks was raised. It is in truth, a part homage, part love story to Garrick’s hometown. It was originally published in 2020 and has about 180 pages.

Summary of the Novel

There are a lot of themes in this story, but the two most profound ones are love and pain. The first story, Lost Stars was about love accepted far too late and the pain and acceptance that came with dealing with eternal loss. In Music, we saw raw family drama where music was used as a coping mechanism. A man leaves his wife but because the new woman is beautiful, he is pardoned. In Hurt we meet Dami who we can call self-destructive at best. A life filled with love, hate and regrets has become the bane of his existence. In Song For Someone we see Ukela, a woman who lives a life filled with pain, till she finally learns to love, let go and heal.

In In The City, we are placed face to face with the sad reality of our existence involving police brutality and how till date, there is no significant change. I Put A Spell on You brings to light cheating husband and how their wives have found an effective way to checkmate. I’d Die Without You is filled with pain and grief so raw, it’s nearly tangible. The aftermath of wrong decisions made glaring in each line. In Beautiful War we meet the most ironical of cases where the cheating husband tells his wife the truth. But does that validate him? In River we see the consequences of misplaced youthful exuberance and the grief that comes with University confraternities.

Love’s Divine and Desperado enlightens us to the impact of men defiled as minors or have misplaced identities and the challenges and trauma that follow the victims. And last but not least, there is You Suppose Know, which shows the kind of love anyone would want to experience. Beautiful, sweet, raw, home. Twelve stories so uniquely crafted, you’re filled with emotions that leave you troubled yet at peace.

My Review and Rating

I’ve dropped bits and pieces of what I think of this book as I wrote so there’s not much to say. I got hooked to the musical aspect of this story. Because each story was inspired by a song that author was listening to, and that got to me because I can’t count the number of stories I’ve written that were inspired by the song I was listening to at the time. You can find each of the songs on Spotify, so it made reading the story a memorable experience for me.

The author also made use of the first person and second person story-telling technique. And I can’t begin to tell you how that crystallized the reading journey for me. Of course, I sat up tighter with the stories that used second-person narrative because I just knew how deep my emotions would bleed. I was never wrong. Using the both narrative techniques was chef’s kiss by the writer.

Then what each story made me feel. I don’t know if it was intentional, but the first and last stories did something to me. For one, I cried the most reading them. Because love, till the end of time, will be the most beautiful phenomenon to exist on the earth. And seeing pain and loss which are the other sides of love incorporated into these stories, set my heart aflame. I clutched my chest, and read the story to the end. The tears flowed but they were healing tears. And I was grateful for that.

All in all, A Broken People’s Playlist is a must-read for anyone who wants to let go of toxicity and hold onto peace, lost in the embrace of excellent and memorable writing. You’re in for a delightful treat on the pages of this book. Giving this amazing book 4.8/5 stars. Another star for Nigerian authors.

Jhymi🖤

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