I'm a big fan of Nnedi Okorafor, but these short stories were not enough -- such choppy little windows into her worlds, when you can get sucked into one of her books. They work, they are good, but they are not enough. ( )

Read the Author's Notes at the end of the book first. Some of these stories are linked (or at least have the same character) and some are not. The notes will help you navigate that without spoiling anything. In particular, there are several stories about Arro-yo, so when you finish the first one, don't tie a bow on it and tuck it away. You will see her again.

It was so wonderful to revisit the worlds Okorafor has created. The stories were great on the whole, but so many of them felt more like chapters of missing or existing novels and not necessarily succinct stories in themselves, which is what I prefer from short story collections. These made me hungry to revisit her other novels though, and I am now sufficiently eager for a new novel (2 coming out in 2014! whoop!). ( )

'Kabu Kabu', referring to the illegal taxis in Nigeria as well as the title-story, is my first encounter with the works of Nnedi Okorafor. I had seen some of her other works - [b:Lagoon|18753656|Lagoon|Nnedi Okorafor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1383619801l/18753656._SY75_.jpg|26643213], [b:Who Fears Death|16064625|Who Fears Death|Nnedi Okorafor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389921077l/16064625._SX50_.jpg|7036603] (translated to French in 2013, re-released in 2017, still popular: [b:Qui a peur de la mort ?|35545903|Qui a peur de la mort ?|Nnedi Okorafor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1505582765l/35545903._SY75_.jpg|7036603]), and her Binti-series (the first two parts recently published in French, see [b:Binti|50162267|Binti|Nnedi Okorafor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1577719392l/50162267._SX50_.jpg|62621243]) -in some bookshops in the last few years, but was very reluctant to buy any of them.

Having a short-story collection like 'Kabu Kabu' offers an excellent opportunity to dive into Ms Okorafor's world. Compared to the original, English version, the order has changed a bit. Also, the English editions seems to contain author's notes, in which Ms Okorafor comments on each story. The French edition doesn't have this, but the last story, 'La fille qui court' (the girl who runs, or, the running girl) offers some insight on how Ms Okorafor spent her youth and how she too was bullied because of her physical appearance.

This collection contains 21 stories that are either stand-alone or are related to full-blown novels she wrote over the past few years. Maybe that explains what Brit Mandelo wrote on Tor.com (direct link): "...they sometimes have a sense of being "unfinished," of being less short stories than vignettes or snapshots of particular moments in a larger piece." I do agree with this, though this incompleteness only bothered me lightly. Then again, it's a way to direct readers to the proper novels and continue the adventures.

While I've read the French translation, I found the stories very accessible in style and diverse in themes. I also liked how Ms Okorafor incoporated cultural and historical elements:
* Juju (Wikipedia) in 'L'homme au long juju', a story that reminded me a little of the pranks of the Norse god Loki.
* The Nigerian Civil War in 'Biafra' (Wikipedia)
* The harmattan (season) in 'Les vents de l'harmattan' (Wikipedia)
* The Ibibio people (various stories) (Wikipedia)
* Igbo (language) (Wikipedia)
* ...

Speaking of language: It would have been nice to have a glossary or footnotes with short translations of the used vocabulary (places, things, ...). Either you have your smartphone as "trusty" companion (and look up a word every time you come across one) or you try to guess its meaning, based on the context.

Some stories are, as I interpreted them, related in that they have either the same character or the same elements (like floating in the air / levitation, the fight for oil/petrol, patriarchal societies, etc.):
* 'Kabu Kabu' 'Le tapis'
* 'Icône' 'Popular Mechanic' 'L'artiste araignée' (oil/petrol drilling)
* 'La tache noire' 'Tumaki' (a girl rebelling, in her own way, against the muslim way of living; very nice story) 'Comment Inyang obtint ses ailes' 'Les vents de l'harmattan' 'Les coureurs de vent' 'Biafra'
* 'Kabu Kabu' 'La guerre des babouins' (time-travel)
* 'Tumaki' 'Popular Mechanic' (advanced humans because of technology)
* ...

The patriarchal society is very much alive. Women have (close to) nothing to say, serve as wives, mothers, slaves, ... Girls are put in a sort of cage to be fed/fattened (and let's not forget the horrible female genital mutilation - see Wikipedia) like ducks and geese in industrialised countries. It's the locals' way of making these girls more "beautiful" and ready for marriage. If you don't meet the requirements, you are cast aside or tolerated, and it's up to you to find your place or you own voice (which reminds me of two Stratovarius songs: Learning to Fly and Find Your Own Voice).

Culture-clashes are also present, like in 'Kabu Kabu' (a US Nigerian girl needing a taxi got get to the airport for a flight to Nigeria, but she's unprepared for the crazy "time-travel" with the illegal taxi; a great story, by the way). 'Le tapis' is another story in which girls travel to Nigeria for family reasons (their father is sick, so mother decides to stay with him in the USA while the girls go visit the house of their elders), but encounter a population that lives entirely different lives as opposed to the girls' lives in the USA. Mythical creatures haunt the emptied/looted house, but there's a magical carpet (which one of the girls bought at the market) that will ensure the girls are unharmed... even when they fly back home. Other, more politically-driven stories are 'Icône', 'Popular Mechanic', and 'L'artiste araignée' (revolving around the drilling/distribution of oil/petrol, like Africa vs western countries, because of Nigeria is one of the large providers in the world), and 'Bakasi' (in which a coup takes place).

Fantasy, science-fiction, magical realism, ... Ms Okorafor's first anthology offers an attractive and accessible pattern of imaginative stories based in a past, present and futuristic Nigeria, interspersed with cultural and historical factors.

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Table of contents of the French version:

0) Avant-propos par Whoopi Goldberg
1) Le nègre pagique
2) Kabu Kabu (avec Alan Dean Foster)
3) La tache noire
4) Tumaki
5) Comment Inyang obtint ses ailes
6) Les vents de l'harmattan
7) Les coureurs de vent
8) Biafra
9) La maison des difformités
10) Le tapis
11) Sur la route
12) Icône
13) Popular Mechanic
14) L'artiste araignée
15) Bakasi
16) Séparés
17) La guerre des babouins
18) L'affreux oiseau
19) Le bandit des palmiers
20) L'homme au long juju
21) Zula, de la cour de récré de quatrième
22) La fille qui court

Some of these stories are available (in English, of course) on her website (click here).

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I was sent this book by Éditions ActuSF for review. Many thanks to them for the trust. ( )

While there are a few stories here I really liked ("Spider the Artist", "The Palm Tree Bandit"), I didn't find this collection as a whole very gripping. Some editing and stylistic things just rubbed me the wrong way, I guess.

Think Galactic discussion notes: http://positronchicago.blogspot.com/2016/09/think-galactic-kabu-kabu.html ( )