To Fill a Yellow House - Sussie Anie

AUTHOR: Sussie Anie

GENRE: Literary fiction

RATING: 2.5 stars

In a Nutshell: Had great potential but the writing style makes this book a tough one to enjoy. It is interesting and atypical. Literary fiction lovers *might* enjoy this. The GR blurb isn’t accurate.

Story Synopsis:

Young Kwasi has always lived with his mom and his various ‘aunties’ who keep coming and going out of his home. When his family shifts to a new side of London, Kwasi’s life is uprooted, leading to mixed feelings in him. His only place of solace is the ‘Chest of Small Wonders’, a charity shop run by an eccentric old man named Rupert, who is battling his own demons. The story covers Kwasi’s adjustment into his new lifestyle, Rupert’s battle of wills with those who want him to give up the shop, and the connection and unlikely parallels between their lives.

Where the book worked for me:

👍There are quite a few interesting characters in the story. Both Kwasi and Rupert are unusual and strong characters, and they carry the plot well on their underconfident shoulders.

👍I loved the idea of the ‘Chest of Small Wonders’. A book set around a small independent store always has a strong local flavour, and this novel is no exception. It brings to life the high street of London that it is set on. The vividness and variety of the activities and objects in the shop is a further attraction.

👍Many elements in the plot highlight the value of having a strong local community spirit. Enjoyed all of these.

👍The characters of Kwasi and Rupert are quite contrary to each other, and yet both seem to be dealing with similar issues, trying to fit in a world that demands a certain behaviour from them. Kwasi’s dreams of becoming an artist and Rupert’s insistence on being allowed to run his shop the way he wants to are written very well.

👍The ending is somewhat bittersweet, but it worked for me. Might not work for everyone.

👍The author is a British-Ghanaian writer, and she explores both sides of her national identity well in this book. I haven’t read a book with Ghanaian characters, so this was a decent first look. However,…. (continued below)

Where the book could have worked better for me:

👎 (continued from above)… I did expect to learn more about Ghana considering the author’s heritage. But the references are very casual and vague, and I learnt just a bare minimum of what could have been possible.

👎 Other than the main duo and a couple of the other characters, the rest are somewhat unidimensional and predictable.

👎 After a strong start, the book delves into repetition and doesn’t recover from the stagnancy until almost the final quarter. This makes the middle part tedious.

👎Several facts are touched upon but never explained. Most of these are connected to Kwasi’s aunties – I never quite figured out their exact role in the house.

👎The blurb promises “an unexpected friendship develops between man and boy”. This makes the story seem warm but the reality is quite the opposite. It becomes pretty dark and gloomy at times, and the supposed ‘friendship’; is more like a strange connection than anything else.

👎The book is too slow and the plot, meandering.

Overall, quite mixed feelings. The characters and their situations are good, but the plot and the writing required more work. 50% good feelings, so a 50% good rating.

My thanks to Mariner Books and NetGalley for the DRC of “To Fill a Yellow House”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.