#53: The Beauty of the Mundane

A Review of Bucket List by Ayobami Adetayo

A cup of tea on a cold day is an ordinary thing. Wrapped in a blanket while sipping the tea is as normal as it gets so it is not something many people would appreciate or yearn for. We barely see the beauty in such moments because we have had them too many times. 

An ordinary life is not something many people want. It seems too little and that there is nothing special about it. They don't see how beautiful these things are and how they make life make sense. Bucket List is about a young woman who wants the simple, mundane things in life and finds a way to get them, no matter what she has to give up.

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Princess feels like a caged bird in her parents’ large house and she desperately wants to be free to have a life as basic and simple as possible, even if it was only for a day. She has an awakening and decides to take her life into her own hands. Writing this reminds me of the princesses in MULAN 2, who wanted an ordinary life because they saw the beauty in it.

Princess has all that anyone could ever want but she is unsatisfied with such a life because of the restrictions that come with it. “You’re a Sanders,” she was often reminded whenever she did something that wasn’t expected of her. She escapes from home and soon realizes that when life presents an opportunity for a change, you grab it with both hands, even if it’s in dirty, stinking green overalls.

Cole is Princess’ boyfriend and he appears to love her as much as she loves him. He is a very brilliant man, handsome and blessed with the oral prowess Yoruba men are famed for. However, things change in their relationship when he lies to her. When the chance to make things up to Princess presents itself, he grabs it.

“He had a way with words and I was nothing but a fool in love with a Yoruba man.”

Princess knows she’d be found sooner or later so she comes up a list of all the things she wants to do before she is whisked back to her prison and Cole obliges her. In her short time away from home, she had learnt that you don't wait for life to sort you out, you get up and sort life out. The opportunity may not be pretty or nice but if it is your only option, grab your copy now.

There are other characters who make a mark in this book like Jola, Cole’s sister. She meets Princess in one of the grandest coincidences ever and decides to help her. Not many people around Jola understand her but she does not let it get to her. It is why she believes that when “life throws you stones…you throw them back.”

Perhaps the most important characters are the parents because they cause the entirety of the drama in the characters’ lives. Princess’ father, Senator Sanders is a politician who sleeps with any woman and his wife, Labake helps in clearing up his mess. Baba Kolawole and Adekemi are Cole and Jola’s parents. When Jola witnesses her father abusing her mother, her view of him changes and she leaves home only to return for his burial.

Somehow, Ayobami brings these characters together and we see Princess happily ticking off the things on the bucket list. This moment does not last for long as the author pulls the rug from under our feet and unleashes a bombshell on us leaving us with no choice but to wonder how that happened. 

There are quite a number of societal issues the author deftly confronts with this novella. For example, the way parents keep certain important information away from their children hoping that whenever they can, (which almost never happens), they would inform the child. This “secret” then blows up in the most dramatic way possible and it usually leads to a rift between the child and their parent. 

“That Adekemi had scars, scars that still hurt if you poked hard enough.”

Another societal issue the story explores is victimisation. One person may be the victim of a crime but that person usually does not suffers alone. Although that person may bear the brunt, other people are typically affected as well. In this story, one woman suffers and her family suffers along with her. There is something hinged on her pain and she hides it for so long till she no longer can.

This story is beautifully crafted and entertaining. It felt like watching a Nollywood movie. It’s like Ayobami tells us to take our lives easy, gently, breezy and sweetly because we only have one life to live. She uses Princess’ life to show us that our lives no matter how ordinary, and that it is remarkable in some way or the other.

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Have you read this book? What did you think about it? Kindly leave a comment.
If you read this book after reading this review, come back and share 😊

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