THE ONLY WAY OUT IS THROUGH (VAGABONDS!)

If they say we don’t exist, that they can’t see us anywhere except in the corners, in perverse bodies, how come I can see you and hold you and you’re holy; how come I can love you and home you and you’re there in flesh, in my mind, in my blood; how come I keep waking up in this love and feel rested? What else to do now then, when a love like this finds you? What else but praise? What else but dance?

Vagabonds! Eloghosa Osunde.

VAGABONDS!

This is one of the most beautiful sentences in Eloghosa Osunde’s Vagabonds! It’s actually the title of one my favorite stories.

Vagabonds! is unarguably my favorite book of the year, because it is a masterpiece. I remember seeing it everywhere on Twitter, and every bookstagrammer was singing its praises, but then, I didn’t think it was worth the hype. Was I wrong? Hell yes! Vagabonds! doesn’t conform to any conventional literary rules or regulations. It literally says to these rules, ‘I see you exist, I know you want to confine me into a box. But I refuse to be tamed. I refuse to abide by you.’ Yet it holds you spellbound and makes you gasp and scream, and wonder.

Each story opens up your mind to a new reality. Sometimes we don’t see what’s in front of us, even if we’re clearly glaring at it, even if it’s screaming on top of its voice, begging to be seen. But when we read, our eyes are opened. And then we see the things we fail to see, or the things we don’t know we need to see.

The stories are fascinating and beautiful and unique. They are made up of characters who have refused to accept the status quo, who are daring to be, to exist in their own skins, to live. Who want to defy the society’s laws against them. People who simply want to live out their lifespans.

Vagabonds are the misfits, the footloose, those, whose voices must be heard. People who have come to stay, and who we must accept for whatever identity they possess.

I enjoyed reading Vagabonds! especially Adura’s letters to Wura in The only way out is through. There is a type of naked honesty filled with love and longing they possess. A kind of honesty that speaks to your soul, that makes you connect with her pain.

Vagabonds is a book I’ve read and reread and will still reread. It’s a book that flows flawlessly and effortlessly, filled with mastery and wisdom. And I hear Eloghosa is set to release the book two, and of course, I can’t wait.
THE ONLY WAY OUT IS THROUGH.