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by Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo
For readers of Americanah, a heart-rending debut novel about a Nigerian immigrant as she tries to find her place at home and in America-a powerful epic about love, grief, family, and belonging.
The Tiny Things are Heavier follows Sommy, a Nigerian woman who comes to the United States for graduate school two weeks after her brother, Mezie, attempts suicide. Plagued by the guilt of leaving Mezie behind, Sommy struggles to fit into her new life as a student and an immigrant. Lonely and homesick, Sommy soon enters a complicated relationship with her boisterous Nigerian roommate, Bayo, a relationship that plummets into deceit when Sommy falls for Bryan, a biracial American, whose estranged Nigerian father left the States immediately after his birth. Bonded by their feelings of unbelonging and a vague sense of kinship, Sommy and Bryan transcend the challenges of their new relationship.
After some time together, Sommy and Bryan visit the bustling city of Lagos, Nigeria for the summer break, where Sommy hopes to reconcile with Mezie and Bryan hopes to connect with his father. But when a shocking and unexpected event throws their lives into disarray, it exposes the cracks in Sommy's relationships and forces her to confront her notions of self and familial love.
A daring and ambitious novel rendered in stirring, tender prose, The Tiny Things Are Heavier is a captivating portrait that explores the hardships of migration, the subtleties of Nigeria's class system, and how far we'll go to protect those we love.
"A young Nigerian woman's graduate school sojourn in Iowa affects things with family and friends on two continents—but mainly changes her relationship to herself ... A fresh bildungsroman rich in complex relationships, from familial to intimate." —Kirkus Reviews
"An expansive first novel about a woman searching for home, love, and belonging ... Okonkwo asks her readers to reflect upon class, privilege, race, gender, and their interlocking power structures, as well as the importance of place to one's sense of self. The Tiny Things Are Heavier is thought-provoking and unforgettable." —Shelf Awareness
"Okonkwo's ability to skillfully narrate the triumphs, upheavals and disappointments of young love defies comparison to any other writer; the fact that The Tiny Things Are Heavier is Okonkwo's debut is hard to believe given the fully realized scope of her prose." ―Vogue
"A gracefully told and sharply observed debut. Okonkwo has produced a beautiful study and story of what we owe to our families, friends, lovers, and ourselves. Complex characters, wild intimacy ... this one doesn't shy away from the truth of devastation." ―Kiley Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Such a Fun Age and Come and Get It
"An incredibly moving portrait of a woman becoming. Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo has gifted us profound writing and an exquisitely-realized cast of characters." ―LaToya Watkins, National Book Award-nominated author of Perish and Holler, Child
This information about The Tiny Things are Heavier was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and a fourth-year PhD student in Creative Writing at Florida State University. Her works have appeared in Isele Magazine, Southeast Review, and Catapult. She's a recipient of the 2021 Elizabeth George Foundation Grant and a 2024 Torch Literary Arts Fellowship. Home for her is Lagos, Nigeria. She lives in Tallahassee, Florida.
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