To preface my review- I’m really not confident I understood or “got” this book fully.

I found 50% of it hard to follow and confusing, while the other 50% was a unique storytelling experience detailing the complexities of the parent-child relationship and immigration. Owusu is definitely a talented writer and poet, but I found this disjointed.

The book reads more like a memoir than a novella, even though it is a fictionalized version of the characters' experiences. The style changes throughout the book, with certain sections being poetic and abstract. Even with the changes in style I could still follow along and I appreciated the son's tone which added some necessary exposition. Overall, a quick and thought-provoking read! I would recommend it if you enjoy novellas, memoirs, and poetry.

Losing the Plot is a jumpy, episodic account of a woman who moves from Ghana to London: confusing and playful; jarring and poetic; this reads like a love letter from the woman’s son (who acts as narrator, providing explanatory footnotes throughout), and while the whole is difficult to parse — and especially with untranslated passages in the woman’s native Twi — that would seem to be the point: how could a young man, born and raised in London’s Tottenham neighbourhood, possibly understand his mother’s immigrant experience at an intimate level? Although quite short (I read it through twice, back to back), author Derek Owusu has created something weighty and intriguing here, and I loved the whole thing.