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You are here: Home / Culture / Books / DARK NEIGHBOURHOOD marks the arrival of an uncompromising talent

DARK NEIGHBOURHOOD marks the arrival of an uncompromising talent

November 10, 2021 Category: Books, Reviews
Vanessa Onwuemezi, Dark Neighbourhood - credit Elizabeth Wicks
Vanessa Onwuemezi - credit Elizabeth Wicks
Dark Neighbourhood - Vanessa Onwuemezi
Dark Neighbourhood – Vanessa Onwuemezi

We’re living in a golden age of the short story: stellar collections abound, making it increasingly difficult for emerging writers to establish themselves as names that demand to be read. But, with her debut book Dark Neighbourhood, Vanessa Onwuemezi has managed exactly that. By turns inventive, poetic, energetic, uncomfortable and uncompromising, these stories mark the arrival of a singular talent.

RELATED: ‘Jan Morris- writer, traveller, first-hand witness to history, and all-around global citizen – reflects on a lifetime of meaning in Allegorizings.’

The title story, in particular, crackles like a firework. It’s a beautifully rendered tale of two friends trying to make their way through a gate that separates one side of the world from the other. Written in visceral prose, with shades of everything from Riddley Walker to Sarah Moss’ Ghost Wall, the story manages to be both otherworldly and a perfect allegory for our fractured times. None of the other stories in the collection quite match the standard set by this opener, but there are plenty of highlights, including the excellent double-whammy of The Growing State and the luminous, desperately sad Bright Places.

Not every story here is a home run – Cuba is good rather than great, and Heartbreak At The Super 8 should have perhaps been cut altogether, but the swaggering assurance of Onwuemezi’s voice makes this book unmissable.

Dark Neighbourhood, Vanessa Onwuemezi (Fitzcarraldo)

Price: £10.99. Info: here

words JOSHUA REES

KEEP READING: ‘Courttia Newland’s Cosmogramma is an excellent collection of short stories illustrated via animalistic observations of humanity.’
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About Noel Gardner

Noel is the listings, reviews, music and books editor at Buzz and has been doing some or all of these things here since the days of dial-up internet. He was raised in Cornwall, lives in Cardiff and that is more or less all he has ever known.
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Tag: buzz book review, Elizabeth Wicks, Fitzcarraldo, joshua rees, vanessa onwuezemi

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