While it's a bit charming, it failed to engage my tastes though the San Francisco location kept me going.

An elderly Nigerian woman living in a friendly neighborhood who's warmth and joy is magnetic, reflects on her childhood in Nigeria, married life and other odd things as she moves forward into her elder years. Driven by themes of love, loss and friendship, there's really not much more to it. ( )

I feel so lucky in my reading today. This little novella. OH. It was so incredibly lovely, I can't even handle it. What a heartfelt snapshot into Morayo's life--I can recall very few books that give a voice to women Of a Certain Age, and what Manyika does here is nothing short of superb. I love that Morayo is unwittingly an unreliable narrator, and I love the hazy and frequent shifts in perspective of the lives she touches, both the familiar and not. This book is a beautiful meditation on old age, memory, sensuality, loyalty, illness...just the fundamentals of life. I finished this feeling honored that Manyika shared this story with the world, and I got to read it. ( )

A beautiful novella with deceptively easy writing. I loved the diversity in this - not just of its main character (a 74-year-old Nigerian woman in America), but also of the other characters who were given a voice in alternating first-person narratives. My main issue with Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun is its shortness. Had the plot been more evolved and had the other characters been explored more, I think this would've been an excellent read. The execution just fell a little flat for me in that aspect, hence the 4 stars. ( )

The word that keeps coming up in my head to describe this novella is "well-intentioned." It feels unfortunate to me that, in terms of literary reviews at least, "well-intentioned" is usually meant as a pejorative. Just now I don't mean it that way. I was thankful to the author for extending such graciousness and respect to both her characters and her readers. This is a very kind story--kind to its characters, and kind to its readers. The author treats her elderly protagonist with deep respect. There is maybe a bit too much whimsy for me--toe rings, a car named Buttercup. And it could be that there is a level of faith in inter-racial and cross-cultural understanding that could be taken as naive and antiquated to me, just today, writing on 8/13/17, the day after race hate on display in Charlottesville VA. But all that said, I enjoyed the respite from conflict. A more typical (less brave?) author would have amped conflict in this story as a way to make a statement, or draw more readers. ( )

Nettes kleines Buch über eine Nigerianerin in den USA, die alt geworden ist und zunehmend ihre Eigenständigkeit zu verlieren droht. ( )