Wale Okonkwo

@w_okonkwoJoined September 2025

I write about books for a small newsletter nobody asked for. Nonfiction, mostly. Memoir when it earns it.

Lists: 2
Reviews: 21
Books shelved: 77
Followers: 14
Following: 12

Reviews

Empire of Pain reviewed by @w_okonkwo
8 out of 10
Arthur is the real villain.
Empire of Pain
6 readers agree with this review
Just Kids reviewed by @w_okonkwo
10 out of 10
Still the best book about being broke.
Just Kids
To Kill a Mockingbird reviewed by @w_okonkwo
5 out of 10
Issue 41 cost me sixty-one subscribers.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Between the World and Me reviewed by @w_okonkwo
8 out of 10
The letter form does something the argument around this book in 2015 never let it do. Read it as a letter.
Between the World and Me
2 readers agree with this review
Angela's Ashes reviewed by @w_okonkwo
7 out of 10
Funnier than its reputation, and longer.
Angela's Ashes
1 reader agrees with this review
The Fire Next Time reviewed by @w_okonkwo
10 out of 10
Reread it on a delayed train to Manchester and got off angrier and better company than I got on. Sixty years and nobody has written a better sentence about that country.
The Fire Next Time
Notes of a Native Son reviewed by @w_okonkwo
9 out of 10
The title essay ruined me for other essays and I've been writing worse ones ever since.
Notes of a Native Son
Maus reviewed by @w_okonkwo
9 out of 10
Everyone talks about the mice. It's really about a son who can't stand his father, taping him anyway, in the same room.
Maus
Invisible Man reviewed by @w_okonkwo
9 out of 10
Battle Royal and the paint factory are worth the price on their own. The Brotherhood chapters are a slog; I'll take the trade.
Invisible Man
Caste reviewed by @w_okonkwo
6 out of 10
After Warmth of Other Suns I'd have followed her anywhere, and the India and Germany chapters earn their place. But the framework gets stretched until it snaps, and the pillars structure does not survive contact with an argumentative reader.
Caste
Man's Search for Meaning reviewed by @w_okonkwo
8 out of 10
Two books stapled together: one of the great camp memoirs, and a therapy pamphlet I would not have finished on its own.
Man's Search for Meaning
2 readers agree with this review
Small Things Like These reviewed by @w_okonkwo
8 out of 10
Read it on Christmas Eve. Obviously.
Small Things Like These
Becoming reviewed by @w_okonkwo
8 out of 10
A memoir that knows exactly how much it's permitted to say, then says slightly more than that in the Chicago chapters. Those chapters are extraordinary.
Becoming
Siddhartha reviewed by @w_okonkwo
5 out of 10
Fine as a fable. I keep meeting people for whom it counts as having thought about something.
Siddhartha
Born a Crime reviewed by @w_okonkwo
7 out of 10
The audiobook is the version. He reads it himself and does his mother's voice, and the chapters about her are the only ones that stayed with me. The comedy-club material is padding.
Born a Crime
The Warmth of Other Suns reviewed by @w_okonkwo
10 out of 10
The best nonfiction of this century so far, and it isn't close.
The Warmth of Other Suns
Say Nothing reviewed by @w_okonkwo
9 out of 10
My mother reads four books a year. She finished this one in two days.
Say Nothing
2 readers agree with this review
Beloved reviewed by @w_okonkwo
9 out of 10
Nobody tells you it's funny in places. Paul D at that kitchen table, taking up all the room in it. I've given away four copies and one came back, which is about the correct ratio.
Beloved
Persepolis reviewed by @w_okonkwo
9 out of 10
Femi is wrong about the Vienna section.
Persepolis
Bad Blood reviewed by @w_okonkwo
8 out of 10
Business books are mostly flattery. This one has a deposition in its bones.
Bad Blood

Reviews

Empire of Pain reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Just Kids reviewed by @w_okonkwo

To Kill a Mockingbird reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Between the World and Me reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Angela's Ashes reviewed by @w_okonkwo

The Fire Next Time reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Notes of a Native Son reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Maus reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Invisible Man reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Caste reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Man's Search for Meaning reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Small Things Like These reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Becoming reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Siddhartha reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Born a Crime reviewed by @w_okonkwo

The Warmth of Other Suns reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Say Nothing reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Beloved reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Persepolis reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Bad Blood reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Reviews

Empire of Pain reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Just Kids reviewed by @w_okonkwo

To Kill a Mockingbird reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Between the World and Me reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Angela's Ashes reviewed by @w_okonkwo

The Fire Next Time reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Notes of a Native Son reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Maus reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Invisible Man reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Caste reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Man's Search for Meaning reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Small Things Like These reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Becoming reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Siddhartha reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Born a Crime reviewed by @w_okonkwo

The Warmth of Other Suns reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Say Nothing reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Beloved reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Persepolis reviewed by @w_okonkwo

Bad Blood reviewed by @w_okonkwo