The book I chose to read is River Mumma by Zalika Reid-Benta. It was published in the summer of 2023 and is Reid-Benta’s second project. The novel is about a 26-year-old named Alicia, who is having a quarter-life crisis, after finishing her master’s in New York and returning home to Toronto. While navigating uncertainty about her future, Alicia has an encounter with the Jamaican water deity, River Mumma. River Mumma tasks Alicia with finding something that was stolen from her and brought to Toronto. Along the way, Alicia learns that the duppies she was told about as a kid weren’t just horror stories told to badly behaved children. She also learns that what it means to know her past is to understand her future.
My favourite part of this novel was the implication that one of the characters was inspired by a Toronto celebrity. He was described as not being “a sellout”, because “he’s a celebrity. There’s a difference.” The dialogue in the entire novel sounded like my friends and I and people I know. Alicia’s story was also very close to my reality.
I would absolutely recommend this book, especially to young Millennials and Gen Zers whose life isn’t going the way they expected. I would also recommend this book to anyone who is tired of only reading about White people going on mystical and fantastic adventures. Representation really does matter, and it really does “hit different” when characters respond in ways that are culturally familiar. It was brilliant from start to finish. It made me genuinely think about my positionality in this little big city we call Toronto.
