Lucky Girl is a fascinating look at a young Kenyan woman who comes to America for college and confronts the differences between her mindset and those of her Black American friends.
Soila was raised by her wealthy, deeply religious mother in Kenya. She manages to convince her mother to let her study at Bard College in NYC. There, she comes face to face with the differences in the cultures. The blurb describes the book as “at times, uncomfortably frank”, which is an apt description, especially when Soila confronts the racism in this country. But she is also made aware of how her own beliefs harbor their own form of prejudice. “But it seems to me like poverty should motivate you to succeed in school and find a good job, to lift yourself up. It makes no sense to me that poverty would make you give up.” Muchemi-Ndiritu uses conversations between Soila and her male Black American friends and lovers to discuss our “racially charged society”. I love books that open my eyes to different cultures and this one did just that.
The book also covers other important issues like sexual predators, abortion, Alzheimer’s, religion, filial duty and finding joy. It would make an excellent book club selection.
Muchemi-Ndiritu has created a whole cast of excellent characters that are fully fleshed out.
My thanks to Netgalley and Random House -Dial Press for an advance copy of this book.

Just finished this book and really liked it The author did a great job of character development. The mother/daughter relationship was unusual and interesting. I’ll look forward to other books from this author. So glad I was able to read a pre-release copy for honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and the author for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In most cultures, down thru the ages, mothers have been revered, their word honored. It’s not always easy to honor your mother when she is rigid in her rules and no one else is right. This problem faced by Soila, raised in a privileged family in Nairobi by her parents and a house full of well-meaning aunts. Although Soila has a gift for photography, her mother sees no future, and insists she study business in college. Her final straw is when she is assaulted by a family friend; so she takes her secret and moves to New York to study.

After graduation, she gets a prestigious job she doesn’t enjoy doing, but her mother is happy. Navigating business pressures, love, friendships, racism, and her loyalty to her mother, Soila must decide how she feels about her life and how far she will go to please her mother-possibly losing the love of her life. This book sheds an emotional light on racism, bombing of the Twin Towers, abortion, Alzheimer’s, and a myriad of family issues. There is a lot to learn from this book! Kudos to the author for following her dreams and succeeding.

Lucky Girl is a beautiful, powerful, and emotional rollercoaster ride of a novel. Following the main character, Soila, we get to watch her journey from childhood to adukthood as she navitages through life, family, and school. To watch her as she tries to overcome difficult and sometimes complicated relationship with her mother even as she moves away to America. Soila experiences many ups and downs and realizes the stark contrast of growing up black in Kenya as opposed to growing up black in America and living in New York is truly a cultural shock for her that she has to learn to overcome.

"White fragility. White privilege. Black consciousness. Until I came here, I never knew any of these terms. I know now that the assumptions I had about race when I first came to this country were wrong. I’m more sensitized and I’ve seen enough to know it’s all very real and painful. I have moments at work where I feel tinges of racism directed at me."

Even as we see Soila move to another country we still see how she is tied to Kenya and her family. The novel goes back and forth between those two locations throughout the course of her journey. She gets into romantic relationships through her college years and struggles with pursuing her passions versus pursuing the career that her mom is wants her to do.

In different and very challenging circumstances Soila has to learn to grow up in a very fast way. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel it opens up a lot of conversations due to the different topics it discusses. the whole novel is a larger conversation about race, identity, culture, black diaspora, and family. There is a lot to tackle in this novel because of howhandle so many issues but I felt it was written well into Soila’s narrative and the overall story.

I feel like this novel written represents culture shock and what it means to be immigrant in America. It discusses experiencing a life in a place that is so different from where you were raised and trying to learn to assimulate but also not lose your cultural identity. I really enjoyed reading about Solia and the support system she has in the United States as well as her very loving but sometimes over-bearing auntie’s back at home and Kenya.

I’m very picky about reading literary fiction in general, but this one really appealed in the way it was written and the topics explored. This is a novel that I would highly recommend any other reader.

I could not get into this book. I tried and tried but was unsuccessful. The synopsis looked great but was not my cup of tea.

Thank you to Random House for the ARC! I enjoyed this story a lot, it was fascinating to follow along as Soila's life unfolds. It was interesting to see how someone from another country lived and made decisions etc. It was eye-opening seeing the interactions between Soila and her peers that were Black and grew up in the United States versus her upbringing in Africa. For anyone who loves a book where life happens, I'd pick this up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for making ME a lucky girl with the early copy. (Too cheesy? Too obvious? Don't care -- I felt really lucky to get my hands on this one!)

This was a truly lovely coming-of-age story about a young woman in Nairobi. She lives a semi-charmed but sheltered life with her widowed mother and several aunts. As soon as she's old enough, she escapes to school in New York, where she learns about a completely different type of class system. She has strong beliefs, strongly held, and she finds herself conflicted about America's race relations.

I won't say too much else about the winding journey this novel takes, but it's intricately woven and gives voice to a perspective I haven't personally read about before. Highly recommend, although it felt like a much longer read than its 330 pages.

This book has a lot – racism, colonialism, sexual assault, 9/11, grief, illness (to name a few). It’s the story of Soila, who grows up in Kenya with an overbearing and controlling mother, her aunts and grandmother. Over time she learns family secrets, goes to college in the US, forms deep friendships, becomes an investment banker giving up her dreams of photography, falls in love and faces her mother’s decline into Alzheimer’s.

It’s a beautiful story with interesting discussions of racism and family history from different perspectives. I enjoyed watching the characters develop. Soila spends much of her life balancing what she wants and her mother’s expectations. Is Soila a lucky girl? I think it depends on perspective and to me that is what the book is about. I enjoyed this novel and think it is definitely a worthwhile and enjoyable read.

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for providing me with the chance to review.

Lucky girl is about Soila, who grows up very privileged but extremely sheltered in Kenya, and moves to America for school to get some freedom from her overbearing mother.

She struggles a lot at first to understand the African American experience and relationship to blackness and racism because it's so different from her own African experience. I really admired the way that although she had a hard time understanding where her friends were coming from, she quickly recognized that there were things she didn't understand and that she needed to put in effort to learn and view things through different lenses and let go of her own biases and misconceptions. She struggles with this throughout the book but you can also see her making huge progress with it. As a white Canadian, the difference between the African immigrant and African American experience isn't something I've ever given much thought to and it was super eye opening for me. I definitely feel that I gained a greater understanding of both cultures through Soila.

Soilas struggle with her mother's expectations was portrayed so well, it was so difficult for me to see her hurting herself and giving up things that were important to her in order to make her mother happy, but I was able to understand where she was coming from even though there was a lot I would have done differently. I loved the people in her life. Her aunts, grandma, friends and partners were all so loving and supportive and they all added so many different things to her life.

Lucky Girl deals with so many things in such a short book; racism and colourism, terrorism, sexual assault, grief, and a lot more than that too. It deals with a lot of heavy subjects and I definitely shed a few tears while reading, but it was also such a beautiful and hopeful story I honestly feel privileged to had read it. I can't believe this is the author's debut novel, I definitely can't wait to read more from her in the future. Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy!

Lucky Girl is a book that touches on a wide range of topic including poverty, racism and assimilating to a new country. The author's descriptions of Kenya are vivid and she is able to convey the warmth of the people. The challenges and difficulties of immigrating to the United States are also presented and includes the discrimination faced by people of color. This is a moving story that readers who have faced adversity will relate to. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

Lucky Girl

4.5 ⭐️

I am so glad I got to read this story. Lucky Girl is a beautiful story about a Woman from Kenya finding her own way. She navigates through college in New York, relationships, racism as an African in America, grief, and caring for a terminally ill parent. There is so much in this story.

Though this book at some very deep topics, I thought it was handled with such grace. Soila’s bravery as so navigates her relationship with her mother at the end was inspiring.

Thank you to @netgalley for this ARC.

Lucky Girl is a well-written novel centering on Soila, a young Kenyan woman, and her mother. Soila's mother supports her extended family and has high expectations for her daughter. When Soila leaves Kenya to study in the US, she encounters the inevitable clash of the two cultures. I was rooting for Soila every moment of her journey through young adulthood as she encountered racism in the US, had her heart broken and eventually decided to follow her own dreams. There were a few points where the narrative lagged a bit but just as I was getting concerned that the story would bog down, a major event occurred to pick up the pace.

First, thank you to publishers Dial Press Trade Paperback and Random House Publishing Group, and as always NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of LUCKY GIRL.

WOWZER! This book is amazing and just pulls you in immediately to the family drama and just can’t wait to see what happens next.

Soila is raised in Africa and has one controlling mother who pours on the Catholic guilt while withholding affection. She is surrounded by aunties who love her and try and act as a buffer between her and her mother. She is haunted by her father’s death and longs to know the truth. It is a tragic story her mother finally reveals and it is gut wrenching to hear of her father’s suicide.

Soila longs to go to America and study and start a new life. This part is beautifully written and eye opening as she talks about being in New York and what she sees, thinks and feels. I never thought about what a hard transition it would be coming to the US until reading through her eyes. The author did this magically and made you think and feels things from a new perspective.

The struggle with how to have a relationship with her mother and be her own person and find her own happiness is so well written and you can feel the struggles she faces and the turmoil that it causes her between trying to do the right thing for family and wanting to do what she loves and be true to herself.

This book is such an emotional read but so worth it! Must read!

A profound, truly emotional journey of a young woman as she makes her way from her home in Kenya, to her new life studying in NYC.

Soila, an only child to a single mother in Kenya, is raised in a tough love style where she desperately wants affection from her mother but also wants to make her own path in life. Going to Columbia in NYC is that step for her, but as she makes her way on her own for the first time, the expectations set up for her by her mother never truly leave her conscious. This story, which winds its way from when Soila is a young girl throughout her life, is heartbreaking and so emotionally wrought, I just wanted to reach out and hug Soila as she lives through stupendous trauma and coming into her own.

I cried multiple times, there are some trigger warnings for sexual assault as well as terrorist activity, but I loved going with Soila on her journey. My empathy for the character grew with every page and I hope other readers share in her incredible journey. I also really appreciated how the author used Soila as a foreigner to examine complex understanding of race relations in America, and it’s a great POV in order to learn from and sit with some of the prejudices that Soila comes to the US with.

I thought this would be a solid read alike for His Only Wife, its definitely much more class conscious than that title. A solid purchase for most mid to large size libraries.

4.5 stars rounded up

Lucky Girl broke me in the best way possible. This book follows Soila who grew up in Kenya. She has a mother who has worked hard to provide Soila everything she needs, except for love... at least in a way Soila sees. Anxious to get away from her overbearing mother, Soila leaves Kenya to attend college in the US. It's during this time that we see Soila struggle - struggle to become her own person, struggle to understand what it means to be black in the US vs black in Africa and struggle to really let go of her past.

This book is beautifully written. I found myself feeling for Soila and her struggle to try to figure out who she is, where she belongs and how she balances the relationship with her mom. I am so thankful I got my hands on this ARC.

Thanks, Netgalley!

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. Can a book both move too fast and too slow? Apparently for me the answer is yes. I've really enjoyed books by some of the authors who blurred this book like Maame and Black Cake, but I really struggled with this one.

If I had to pinpoint it, the main character was pretty dull to me. Especially compared to every other character in the book who were all bursting with personality. Solia -- and I honestly forgot that was her name several times -- was very uninteresting to me. I found the setting and time period for her time in New York interesting since I'd also moved the the city around the time she had, but she felt like such a blank slate to me.

She spends so much time pushing back against her mother only to do a 180 later and turn herself into a martyr. Maybe I found it hard to relate other family dynamics but that doesn't usually hold me back from enjoying a book like it did here.

However, I fully expect I'll me in the minority here and that many more people will have enjoyed the book. This is just one person's opinion and in this case this book was not for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC: Lucky Girl chronicles the coming of age of Soila who is raised by a hard working but emotionally rigid single mother in Nairobi. Soila's extended family of grandmother and aunts provide the affection she craves. Soila is privileged and is able to come to the US for college. The book chronicles her struggles with pursuing her artistic dreams vs. the business training her mother desires. She befriends and becomes romantically involved with Black Americans and struggles with the differences between African attitudes towards racism compared to American Blacks. Ultimately her family ties create a pivotal moment. Although the book covers a lot of topics and Soila's coming of age in detail, at times the characters felt barely realized--especially towards the latter portion of the book. Overall, this is a promising debut.

Lucky Girl is a very compelling novel that speaks on all the things that one person has to endure to be with the person they love even with an overbearing parent. This is a story of loss, love, friendship, sisterhood, family, racism, and career.

A great novel that take you from Africa to America and the differences in the culture.

⭐️: 4/5

Raised in upper class Kenya by her conservative mother and loving aunts, Soila yearns to find her place in the world. After an assault by a family friend, she leaves Kenya to attend college in New York City. Once at college, she is shocked by the different culture in America, and the very different legacy of slavery and Blackness plaguing Black Americans. When she falls in love with an artist and a man who her mother would never approve of, she is forced to choose whether to honor her Kenyan roots or forge a path for herself in a foreign country.

First off, I wish I had a physical copy of this book just due to how beautiful the cover is. I love a good, colorful cover. For a debut, this book was really good. It brought light the dichotomy and contradictions that exist in America between those who identify as African American and African immigrants. Although I try to read a lot of coming of age, immigrant stories, I think this is the first one that really highlighted that dynamic, as opposed to the more commonly covered one of foreigner v. white America. Although the dialogue discussing these race issues is heavy handed sometimes, I think that in this context, for the purpose of conveying the message that the author is trying to communicate, it is a necessary amount of explanation. Soila is a frustrating main character to read at times, due to her naïveté towards the beginning of the book, however I think that makes the evolution of her character that much more moving and interesting to follow and read about. The dialogue in more general terms could use some polishing, especially including the overuse of the exclamation of “argh” actually written into the quotations, instead of using some sort of qualifier before or after a character speaks, such as “she groaned” or something. I really enjoyed this unique, coming of age story, and I might just buy a physical copy when it comes out because of the cover!

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!