Review: In The End, It Was All About Love.

I first discovered Musa Okwonga’s work through his football podcasts with Ryan Hunn, as well as the poetry he wrote for Ryu Voelkel’s photography book for the 2018 World Cup. I purchased his book because I care about supporting creatives whose work I value, and he seems to be a genuinely empathetic human being, not to mention he has the best laugh in podcasting — maybe the world?

This is the first book of his that I have read, so I had no idea what to expect from his writing, but I was completely caught by surprise when many of his words seemed to echo my own feelings about the society we live in, even though I have no personal understanding of the black immigrant experience in Berlin — or anywhere else for that matter.

In The End, It Was All About Love. is a story that centers around the narrator’s life in Berlin and his experience with many of the struggles that plague our contemporary existence in addition to racist abuse which he can’t seem to avoid no matter where he calls home, as well as his personal fear of surpassing the age at which his father was killed. Musa uses this stage to discuss many issues that I was not expecting from this book, even though I went into it not fully knowing what was coming.

For a book of its size — around 120 pages, it touches on many issues that are so close to my own experience that it’s almost like Musa used my own personal anxieties as the ink for his pen. He addresses things like the morality of where and how you earn your money, the struggle over choosing a career path line with your passions instead of a steady paycheque, feeling lonely and isolated in a new city, as well as how the climate crisis puts any ideas of having children into question.

I will cease from elaborating any further on this book because I refuse to take away from anyone else’s enjoyment by spoiling too much. I purchased this book as an act of solidarity with an artist I wanted to support and ended up reading a book that has become an all-time favourite. Thank you Musa for your beautiful words, for pursuing your passions, and I hope that this book inspires others to do the same. In The End, It Was All About Love.