A rich, sweeping novel of community, belonging, love, and regret set in Senegal
Alice has experienced much heartache since she last set foot in Africa: With a heavy secret, she left the first man she ever loved behind in Senegal; she lost her sister in a tragic accident; and she grew distant from the niece she was supposed to raise but didn’t.
After seventeen years, Alice Fontaine is finally returning to the small Seereer community in Senegal, Africa that she called home during her time in the Peace Corps. She returns with her niece, Sylvie LaBrite, whom she has hired as the photographer for her research project but also hopes to finally connect with, just as her sister expected she would in her passing.
“How can she tell him the reason for coming back? That she, too, feels in between. In between the worlds of Senegal and America. And that it’s been haunting her every day since she left the country seventeen years ago.”
Alice’s history with Senegal has led her to pursue a PhD research project that explores the connections between current culture in the US (specifically New Orleans) and thirteen enslaved individuals from the 1700s who self-identified as Seereer..
As the women arrive in Mbin Jagaan, they are welcomed by cheering children and a crowd of all ages celebrating in their honor. For Alice, it’s moving and emotional to be back, but for Sylvie, she just hopes it’ll be better than working for the paternal aunt who raised her. Ouma Peta wanted her to take over the family business, LaBrite Diamonds, but Sylvie wants nothing to do with Ouma Peta anymore, after her unpleasant adoptive upbringing.
When the Universe Pivots is a story of belonging, community, and love. We follow Alice and Sylvie’s rocky relationship, their secrets uncovered, as they are deeply and beautifully integrated into the Seereer community. We follow as they each fall in, or back in, love while navigating the pasts that haunt them, backdropped by Alice’s research connecting Senegal and America.
“I observe, too, the thirty or so members of Baaba Minyaan’s compound, representing four generations, coming together around large bowls for dinner. There’s a certain rhythm to these gatherings, a certain integration of self to whole, listening to them scraping the bowls amidst the low murmurs of conversation.”
When the Universe Pivots is a dedicated and thoughtful illustration of Senegalese culture. There is immense and obvious love for the culture pouring through the pages. To read this novel is take a step into Mbin Jagaan and witness tradition, language, religion, food, music, and daily life of a remote village in Senegal as if you are truly there.
The novel opens with a prologue in the past, following enslaved twins and the white man who they were gifted to in 1811. This brief glimpse into the past sets up a meaningful story of distant connections and secrets. I was drawn not only to the modern day characters but to the curiosity set forth in this prologue of how these characters will play a part in this world. It’s a novel that lets you play witness to the unraveling of interconnected heritage.
“They’ve taken a break from farming this morning, at the height of the rainy season, to pay homage to thirteen lost souls who had once been slaves in Louisiana in the 1700s. Souls who somehow held onto their Seereer identity through one or more generations. Who possessed the courage and will to stave off disease, starvation, repression, and violence in the fledgling Louisiana colony during its volatile beginning.”
Gorgeously weaving the past into the present, When the Universe Pivots would be an excellent book club pick for those drawn to realistic characters navigating the beautiful and difficult emotions of being human.
The post When the Universe Pivots by Naomi L. Shank appeared first on Independent Book Review.