I Before We: A Book Review

Last week while scrolling on my twitter TL I came across a book giveaway and me being me I entered.

February is the month of love. In honor of love. I will be giving out a copy of my book to one reader. All you have to do is comment with a red heart ❤️ on this post! Thank you 💚

Announcement of the winner is this Friday pic.twitter.com/3uAjub3YZl

— Oluchi The Author (@oluchiwrites) February 2, 2021

Guess what!? I won! The book arrived on Tuesday and imagine my surprise when I opened it found it was signed! Nothing feels better than the smell of a new book. It really made my day.

At first I really wasn’t sure about the book. I am not one for self care books. I am more in the fantasy spectrum of the book reading community. I get bored easily. I recently delved into the world of African fantasy and it seems to be monopolising my reading. I Before We was therefore a necessary breather.

The book has 10 chapters that are interlinked and aimed at making you take a step back and introspect. It makes you question why you are the way you are and what you are going to do about it. One of the things I loved most about it (I loved a lot of things about it) was that it was so relatable. It didn’t make me feel overwhelmed or out of touch with the concepts being put across.

In one of the chapters, Forgiveness, a Xhosa saying ‘umenzi uyalibala’ made me think of the Shona saying ‘chinokanganwa idemo’ which both essentially mean the doer forgets when they do something to the other but the receiver never does. It further elabolates on why forgiving by the receiver is important. I don’t want to spoil the read so let me stop here.

Things I loved about the book:

1. I loved that it was such a short read with only 73 pages. It didn’t overwhelm me or make me feel like I was about to dose off.

2. I loved the easy to understand simple language. I wasn’t intimidated by what I was reading so it made it easier for me to read and understand.

3. I loved that it forced me to introspect at the end of each chapter. The activities at the end of the chapters make you think even if you don’t want to. They also serve as mind cleansers for you to recentre before diving into the next chapter and all that it comes with.

4. I loved how she put her personal life experiences as examples for better understanding. It made me feel like I am getting advice from an older sister. Although at some points it did feel like I was reading someone’s diary which gives me the gibbers.

5. I love how she starts every chapter with a quote. They are so profound and some I hadn’t heard of until now.

This book really made me happy and I hope to read more books from the author.

I, Before We is a self help book written by Oluchi B. Kolanisi (author and business coach) that takes you through her life journey and what she learnt. It teaches you how to look at yourself in a holistic view to allow self growth.

I, Before We was published by KZN based self publishers Reach Publishers. It can be purchased on Takealot and Amazon.

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