A Young Adult novel by Louisa Onomé, Twice As Perfect follows a
Nigerian Canadian girl dealing with an estranged older brother,
helping her cousin plan a big Nigerian wedding, and **pressure
from her parents about her future.
**
She thinks the only things worth doing are those that will lead to
success.
For seventeen-year-old Adanna Nkwachi, life is all about duty: to school
and the debate team, to her Nigerian parents, and even to her cousin
Genny as Adanna helps prepare Genny's wedding to Afrobeats superstar
Skeleboy. Because ever since her older brother, Sam, had a fight with
their parents a few years ago and disappeared, somebody had to fill
the void he left behind. Adanna may never understand what caused Sam to
leave home, but the one thing she knows is that it's on her to make sure
her parents' sacrifices aren't in vain.
One day, chance brings the siblings together again and they start
working to repair their bond. Although she fears how their parents will
react if they find out, Adanna's determined to get answers about the
night Sam left--Sam, who was supposed to be an engineer but is now,
what, a poet? The more she learns about Sam's poetry, the more Adanna
begins to wonder if maybe her own happiness is just as important as
doing what's expected of her. Amid parental pressure, anxiety over the
debate competition, a complicated love life, and the Nigerian
wedding-to-end-all-weddings, can Adanna learn, just this once, to put
herself first?
