Black Sunday sounded like it would be a great book. I read the synopsis and was really intrigued. While it certainly had good parts, I thought the execution of the book didn't meet my expectations.

Set in Lagos, Nigeria the book follows 4 siblings over 2 decades. The sisters are identical twins, considered to be magic and to share one soul in the Yoruba culture. The book is narrated through the perspectives of each twin and their younger brothers. With 4 voices there should have been more depth to the characters. Instead I could barely differentiate between the brothers. I think the book could have explored the same themes and events through the perspective of the twins alone.

The novel started off strong. I really enjoyed the first two chapters. And the last part was great. But most
of what happened in between felt disjointed. There were some major occurrences and life-changing events that were spoken about once and then never touched on again. The chapters of the siblings rarely interlaced, and it sometimes felt like I was reading a collection of short stories rather than one novel.

In saying that, I still liked the book. It brought up some interesting ideas around hypocrisy, misuse of power in religious groups, the struggles of families living in poverty, and very briefly touched on the refugee experience.

It's certainly a heavy read. There's family abandonment and far too much sexual abuse.

The fourth part was the strongest part of the whole book but it left me with lots of questions. Throughout the story the things that are left unsaid play an important role in how the characters lives develop, and I think that idea is reflected in the ending too. The ending doesn't wrap things up neatly, instead leaving it up to interpretation.

Overall I felt disoriented by Black Sunday. I wanted more and I'm not sure if I missed the important details or if they just weren't included in book at all.