The name of Nadia Owusu appeared in all the Armenian newsfeeds suddenly, with the publication of her book – Aftershocks. The blurbs and bios started with the dazzling geography of her identity: Ghanaian-American-Armenian, who lived in Italy, Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania and went to school in the UK.
When we acquired the book for the Armenian Institute’s library I picked it to leaf through quickly, and couldn’t put it down: it took me on such an unusual, honest and courageous journey, one rarely seen in memoirs. The book is an emotional and intellectual rollercoaster - a candid and touching story of her life, combined with a serious examination of her own identity and belonging. Right after its publication, Aftershocks was included in many prestigious ‘best book’ lists, including The Oprah Magazine, Vogue, Time, Vulture, and the BBC - it was even a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice.
What touched me immensely was how Owusu, first as a child and then as a young woman, navigated the endless changes and shifts that defined her life with a heartbreaking but also brave fragility. The book starts with earthquakes – an actual, real one in Armenia, which I myself witnessed in 1988, and an emotional one in the little girl’s heart when her estranged mother unexpectedly turns up to see Owusu and her younger sister. The tremors of these earthquakes accompany Owusu all her life, whether visiting the ancestral lands of her family in Ghana or worrying about her brother – a young black man – in the US.
When I picture an earthquake, I picture an earthquake. And, I picture my mother’s back and my father’s tumor and planes crashing into towers. When I picture an earthquake, I picture orphans in Armenia and child soldiers. I picture myself, safe, behind guarded walls. I picture an absence. I hear thunder and silence. An earthquake is trauma and vulnerability: The earth’s, mine, yours”.
Owusu’s writing is exquisite, navigating through the timelines and countries, but keeping the reader’s attention with her lyrical storytelling, and leading through a fairytale-like journey of a young girl, searching for a place, for identity, for peace of mind. And while it’s a book written with raw truthfulness about pain, depression, heartache and loss, it is mostly a book about strength, grace and love.
Review by Tatevik Ayvazyan
Originally written for Zanazan Magazine Issue 2