Review: Coconut

I found this engaging, and became heavily invested in the story once i started reading.

"Who was I, really? Nigerian, British, both? The difficult years had hardened me in many ways, but beneath the brusque, uncaring facade I presented to the world, I cared about life and the people important to me. The image of a coconut floated through my head, with its tough, brown outer shell and its fleshy, white, inner core. It was known as the tree of life, every part useful. Surely that was the key? I didn’t need to be one or the other. I could be both and happy. But which of the two countries would let me?"

Coconut is an emotional roller coaster for the reader as well as for the author Florence Olajide. It is the story of a young Nigerian girl fostered out to a white family in London in the 60’s and then returning to Nigeria with her family. It is the story of a young girl struggling to find out who she is and being able to adapt to those findings. The contrast of the different cultures as she is growing up helped shape her into the woman that she became. I would urge everyone to read this.

Coconut speaks beautifully and honestly about having a foot in two different cultures and the difficulty of fully immersing oneself in either. i love memoirs and think this one would also be great on audiobook. Florence's story isnt an easy read but it is an inspirational one.

Coconut by Florence Olájídé

‘Who was I, really? Nigerian, British, both? The difficult years had hardened me in many ways, but beneath the brusque, uncaring facade I presented to the world, I cared about life and the people important to me. The image of a coconut floated through my head, with its tough, brown outer shell and its fleshy, white, inner core. It was known as the tree of life, every part useful. Surely that was the key? I didn’t need to be one or the other. I could be both and happy. But which of the two countries would let me?

‘Years later, I heard that ‘coconut’ was a racial slur used to describe Black people who denied their Black heritage in favour of a white one, but what did I care? I had chosen my own interpretation’

Coconut is the story of a girl born in London to Nigerian parents, who is fostered by a white family for a few years before moving to Nigeria with her family when she is six. She then spends the next few decades trying to figure out who she is, and which influences she wants to carry forward into her adult life.

This book caught my eye when it was first published a couple of years ago and the other evening I decided I must read it immediately, and was reaching for it every chance I got since.

A fascinating story, well told, which touches on transracial fostering, Nigerian and Yoruba traditions, social faux pas, education, racism, family, friendships, and determination.

It can sometimes be difficult to review or rate a memoir as it is one person’s experience, but Coconut is so well rounded and perfectly paced; I never lost interest and became so invested in the story.

I also enjoyed the smattering of Nigerian political history, which tied in nicely with our Tired Mammy Book club May book, Africa is Not A Country by Dipo Faloyin.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone, particularly if you are interested in: memoirs, stories about fostering, and / or Nigerian culture. Also, if you read / enjoyed My Name is Why by Lemn Sisay or Raceless by Georgina Lawton.

Coconut is an emotional roller coaster for the reader as well as for the author Florence Olajide. It is the story of a young Nigerian girl fostered out to a white family in London in the 60’s and then returning to Nigeria with her family. It is the story of a young girl struggling to find out who she is and being able to adapt to those findings. The contrast of the different cultures as she is growing up helped shape her into the woman that she became. A must read.

This was a book I did not want to put down once I got started. The author tells a compelling story about her life as well as some of the race relations she was put through. Now some of what she went though was truly abusive ( Although its cultural, it still wasn't right), but the author persevered and fought for herself and her family and persisted, even when people tried to dissuade her. I really enjoyed this book and her life's story.

A really engaging story of a young girl’s struggle to find where she fits it. Fascinating tales of culture clashes, alongside the trials and tribulations that come with growing up. I really enjoyed this book.

"A Black girl fostered by a white family in the 1960s and her search for belonging and identity" this is what made me want to read this in the first place. It was such a well done memoir and I appreciate the author sharing their story with us. Thank you.

What a refreshing memoir! Coconut tells the story of Florence Ọlájídé from her North London upbringing, being fostered by a white family and the impact of separation from her foster family as she is taken to Nigeria by her parents. It's a book that is insightful as it is emotional, written with such vulnerability and authenticity. Florence's story isn't by any means unusual, but it certainly pulled my heartstrings as I read about her search for belonging and identity.

Wow, how do I even do this book justice in a review? I absolutely loved this book.

We start off in London, where Florence is fostered by Nan, who is a really caring foster parent. I had no idea that parents had to have their children fostered out because they had no childcare.

Everything changes then when the family return to Nigeria, which is a huge culture shock for Florence. I found the contrast really fascinating. They had very little in terms of material goods, but there’s a very strong culture of family, of respect for elders, and of hierarchy. With political turmoil and civil war, it was not an easy place to live.

Florence is a really strong and inspirational person. She faces prejudice and difficulties with admirable strength. Although I don’t know her personally, I felt so proud of what she has achieved in her life so far.

I would recommend this book to everyone, it’s an important and powerful memoir, and very thought-provoking, but it’s also eminently readable, and completely captivating and fascinating. A stunning book.

Not just a personal account but an exploration of race, racism, assumptions and prejudices. This book addresses humanity’s habit of seeking to categorise people and the impact when a person’s identity will not be decided by someone else. I recall a friend of mine as a child being called a coconut and asking what that meant. I think that was my first encounter of racism in action so this book really called to me. As well as being a genuinely interesting and challenging account, this book is very well written. With no sense of self indulgence which can come with autobiographical works, the author demonstrates talent in telling a story in a way which is engaging and thought provoking. An excellent book which could teach all of us a lot about identity.

A very moving story of a young Nigerian girl being torn between two cultures. Initially, brought up by a white lady in the UK, this little girl is given a rude shock when her parents take her back with them to Nigeria.
There, exposed to a totally different culture, she feels like an alien and must get used to the hardships of life in Nigeria. She finds it really hard to adapt and to make matters worse is abused by her grandmother.
In all it's a story of courage and survival and trying to establish an individual identity while being caught between two diverse cultures.
I liked the simple, matter of fact style of writing which made the story much more believable and moving!

There is no doubt that Florence Olajide has lived an extraordinary life, her story is in some ways a familiar one particularly to immigrants or the children of immigrants but it is her tenacity that really stand out as she perseveres despite the many challenges she encounters along the way to achieving success.

We start with Florence's life in the UK as a young child when she was looked after for a while by a white foster family. This foster family instil in her the Western values which will be the cause of the conflict she faces within herself when her family decide to move back to Nigeria. The cultural expectations of Florence in Nigeria continue to frustrate her as she moves through life from her father's house to her husband's. At every turn, it seems she fails to meet others' expectations but she does not let this deter her and works to secure an education in the face of obstacles that may have caused others to give up.

The bulk of the memoir focuses on Florence's time in Nigeria as a young woman all the way through to when she eventually returns to England decades later now as a mother in her own right. While I found learning about what life in Nigeria for her was like against the volatile political landscape of frequently changing military dictators, I thought this section went on a bit too long. I got the feeling I get when someone shows me pictures from their holiday or of their baby. The first few are sweet but then your eyes start to glaze over and you begin to wonder when it will end and when the person will get to the point.

Florence spent a lot of time detailing the minutiae of life in Nigeria but relatively little time exploring her emotional response to the things that were happening to her. Seemingly life-changing events were glossed over or dismissed within a couple of sentences and this kept me at a bit of a distance from her. My favourite types of memoir are those where I feel the writer has laid bare a piece of their soul, I want to feel as though they've given me a glimpse of their personal diary. Unfortunately, I didn't get that sense from Coconut. The story felt curated with the more difficult emotions edited out to avoid too much unpleasantness but, for me, it is in the unpleasantness that the humanity lies and I wish Florence had allowed us to see more of hers.

Towards the end of the book we get some insight into how Florence came to reconcile the two sides of herself, the Nigerian and the English. She comes to embrace the word coconut - once used against her as a slur -choosing instead to see it as a reflection of her reality as someone who has been influenced by two cultures both of which form a part of who she is. It is ultimately this duality that allows her to achieve the success she does and it is something she, rightly, chooses to claim as a strength rather than a weakness.

I absolutely loved this memoir. It started in the 60’s in London and we were then transported to Nigeria for a descriptive story of the authors life.
The cultural differences between England and Nigeria are written about a lot and the authors struggle with finding out who she really is. A strong, courageous and smart women who fought to be herself in a country and culture which had plans for her.
I learnt a lot of things from this book and have recommended it to many friends and family.
Definitely the best non fiction book I have read

Coconut is a touching memoir of a young girl who is reared in both England and Nigeria. She has trouble adapting when her family,over back to Nigeria due to familial clashes. I thought her story was intriguing. I like to read about other cultures and learn different things. Eventually she moved back to England with her own family and witnessed new challenges, especially from her children. I applaud the author for sharing her story as I like reading memoirs to absorb other people’s experiences.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this in exchange of an honest review.

Reading memoirs/biography type books has never really been something I've been drawn to picking up but when I seen the cover for this and read what it was about I was instantly intrigued.

For me I found this book to be educational to the cultural differences between the UK and Nigeria as it's never something I've really thought of before. Reading about Olájídé's experiences both in the UK and Nigeria was heartbreaking, shocking and eye-opening. However, it also had its heartwarming moments as well.

Reading about her experiences throughout her life growing up both in Nigeria and the UK really did open my eyes to how different things are between the countries and definitely made me feel so grateful for the things I have and the privilege that we have here as well.

I couldn't recommend this enough. It was a fantastic read!

Coconut is a thoughtful account of the life-changing events that encompass Florence Ọlájídé’s childhood. Her journey from childhood to adulthood is a mish mash of British & Nigerian cultures, which later proves to be an integral experience that moulds her ideologies and beliefs in her adulthood. Her recollection begins with her fond memories of Nan & Pop who were her foster parents in London, when her parents were struggling to make ends meet in a foriegn land. Soon her family’s financial situation becomes challenging in London and Ọlájídé’s parents decide to relocate to Nigeria to live & prosper in a land of their own. With this decision, Ọlájídé is displaced from her Nan and her British upbringing to the vast and contrasting culture in a land where everybody looks like her but is completely unfamiliar to her understanding of life as a child. From here, she describes the various situations that exposed her to the Nigerian collectivistic culture, which had its own pros and cons when compared to the British individualistic way of life.
As a reader, I enjoyed this book and was fairly intrigued by her early life in Nigeria. However, I wouldn’t characterise this as a memoir, but more as a simple event to event recollection of her past. I personally thought that the parts of the book in which she described her childhood days in Nigeria were the most interesting. While I loved the overall message of this book, I would have loved to read a bit more about how as an adult she tries to decipher and reflect on the past experiences described in the book. I also thought the editing could have made the read cohesive and compact. It was maybe 100 pages too long.
Overall, I enjoyed reading Ọlájídé’s personal story and how she strived to achieve the status and position that she holds now. Great job Thread publication for getting real & simple stories out there and Netgalley for giving me an opportunity to read it.

What makes this book different from all others?
I read this book primarily to help me understand my own family - I have black relations who were fostered/adopted into a predominantly white family at teh same time as Florence's story unfolds. However, in 'meeting' Florence, I have been introduced to a quite different story from that of my own family history - I was not even aware of the history of Nigerian families fostering out their children while they studied in England. I have learned so much from reading this book, on so many levels - I learned far more about the Nigerian culture than I knew before; I got a real insight into the struggles of bouncing between cultures (again, useful insight into my own family currently as well as opening my eyes to the feelings and experiences of those who experienced this historically. However, more importantly, perhaps, I read an incredible story of an amazing, strong, tenacious woman who fought to be herself. She tells this story with passion, with humour, and with the bones of her experiences laid bare. There were places I was shocked; places I was saddened; places I was amazed, and places where I laughed. It's not a sad story, although it has sad parts, but it is a story that shows us where we can still do so much better. It is an important story to tell, to realise that people are different and people are the same. I surprised myself by realising how similar my own life has been to Florence's life, once we take out 'Years spent in Nigeria and a lot of caning.' There is much that will linger with me, but above all, it is Florence's personality that shines throughout this book, and she will be a true inspiration for not just black people, or people who bounce between cultures, or women, or under-privilged people, but for anyone who needs to be reminded that it's ok to stand up for what we believe in.
I was asked 'As an educator, would I share this book with my students?' I have already discussed it with a 7-years-old ESL student, before I even finished reading. We need to share stories like this, and start to fix the problems we have caused through far too long dividing people instead of uniting them. This deserves to be read in classrooms everywhere. Florence is now right up there at the top of my mental list of 'inspirational people'.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
I had a hard time getting into this book at the beginning but it definitely got more interesting. The author has been through an atypical situation of being born and partly raised in London with a foster family and then moving to Nigeria with her birth parents at a young age. The culture shock must have been really shocking but she adapted well. On her return to London as an adult, she pretty much had to go through another culture shock since she was experiencing London from an adult point of view and things were not as she remembered them as a child. She really juggles her Nigerian culture and her British culture to see what fits best for her and her family. Ultimately she does well and seems to have a successful career.

I have read a lot about the fostering of Nigerian children in British homes before but this memoir did a good job of making it really seem real. I thought the language was a bit spare but you got a great sense of how bewildering and challenging this is for all involved.

A wonderful narrative that explores the tricky navigation of cultural differences that comes from being caught between two worlds.

Born in London of Nigerian parents, Florence Olajide spent the first years of her life with white family. This odd arrangement made it possible for her parents to work and finish their educations. At six she moved from a life with a family that wasn't her own to live in. Lagos with her parents and extended family.. To say that she experienced culture shock is an understatement.

The differences from her life in London to life in Lagos were vast. The differences were not so simple as running water versus going to the well, indoor plumbing versus communal plumbing. She went from life with a nuclear family, albeit a foster one during most of her life in London, to a life with a sometimes hostile, always mysterious extended family.

A writer who is unknown or someone who is writing a biography of someone not well-known needs to grab the reader by the throat from the beginning? The best example that I can think of is how Lauren Hillenbrand made everyone want to know about Louie Zamperini in the first few pages of the great Unbroken. I am fascinated by stories of culture clashes, immigrants and identity, so I had high hopes for Coconut, but was ultimately disappointed. If the intention was to capture a child's voice, then Olajide did, that; the writing was simple and straightforward. I sometimes thought that I was reading a YA memoir because her story moved from experience to experience and seemed to lack adult reflection. Despite the story of a childhood rarely seen in print, the lackluster writing keeps Coconut from being a truly memorable memoir.