Tomorrow Died Yesterday. It is a book written by Chimeka Garricks, and the one I am currently reading. Now, this book has already managed to impress and draw me in more than I thought it would. I’m not done with it yet but even halfway through, I can already tell it’s not just one of those books you read and forget. It’s not the kind of story you skim through for entertainment.
One of the main reasons I picked it up was because I wanted to read something Nigerian, it’s been so long since I read a Nigerian book and something that was not far removed from the realities I see around me. I find myself reaching for foreign novels too often and while they’re good and enjoyable, I, sometimes feel like that they don’t always carry the same rawness of stories that understand the society I live in. This book does.
Tomorrow Died Yesterday tells the story of four friends (Doughboy, Amaibi, Kaniye and Tubo) whose childhood choices keep shaping their adult lives, because of the decisions they made in the past. For me, that’s what makes the book even more interesting - that the past doesn’t really just become the past, because it has already happened, it sometimes comes back demanding that we face it and that the decisions we make, no matter how small or harmless it may seem, when we are young can become something that shapes our lives. This book shows people as they are: flawed, conflicted, and trying to survive their own mistakes.
What I really like is how relatable the book feels. The challenges the characters in this book go through resonates with me as it points at issues that are not just fictional, but one we see around us every day. I am not even done reading the book, but I’m already stopping after certain chapters, just to sit with what I’ve read. It is a book that makes you to contemplate on the choices you’ve made, friendships you’ve kept, regrets you carry and just how fragile tomorrow is.
I’m still reading the book so I do not know how it ends, but it’s already changing the way I look at life. About how our today’s choice follows us into tomorrow. That’s why I’m reading it, not just to enjoy a story but to experience real shit, and so far, it’s doing exactly that
Image is my screenshot of the book cover from my e-library