After several months of reading six books halfway, like someone looking for a particular kind of sweetness in apples. I finally found the one that got me out of the “reading halfway syndrome”. 

I was beyond happy reading When We Were Fireflies. There is a sweet type of darkness to this read that gets you glued and going. In my opinion, the reviews about this book didn’t do enough justice to it. My numerous worries ranged from getting through the book’s over four hundred pages, as the commotion of life can leave you devoting less attention to something and seeing it through completely. It’s almost like everyone has a “short attention span” these days. 

Where We Were Fireflies is a meticulously written tale of love, loss and darkness. I keep using the word darkness because the more light you shine into the dark, the more you see and that’s the case with this story. This amazing story centers around the past, present and future of an artist who goes by Yarima Lalo. It takes you along how Yarima Lalo turned Dora the Explorer’s quest into asking questions and finding answers about his deaths and also running from his own darkness. The tale started with Lalo and the train station unraveling his past, how he had died in a train in his previous life. And the story continued with him dying in another time aside from the train station. 

However, Lalo the Explorer didn’t journey alone on his quest to find answers about his previous lives, he had the help of his own Diego, Aziza the curious cat, who he met at the train station and  would later be the catalyst to Lalo’s quest of “what, why, when” , of course he’s got flashbacks on how his deaths happened.  With a third death imminent in his current life, Lalo and Aziza both go on a journey, unraveling the mystery surrounding Lalo’s past lives, and deaths, with other commotions going on in their lives. 

The brilliance with which the author intertwined the lives and stories of the characters in this book is ingenious. From Lalo’s background story and the visitations he gets from a mysterious child who’s a soul collector which I admire the beauty at which the author, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, painted them, to Aziza's background and marriage, there’s a meticulous weaving of these stories that ensures that you don’t miss any detail. 

This is the first book by Abubakar I’ve read, and I can’t wait to savor more from him. He has a way with poetry in this book that will illuminate your mind whenever you encounter some words. One of my favorite memorable lines from the book was when Lalo was talking to Mina, Aziza’s daughter and said: 

 “maybe someday she will show me how to fold and unfold life, and make a kite that will float for as long as forever lasts”

Also, another intriguing part of the story for me was when Lalo bade goodbyes to his mother’s soul. Abubakar wrote this part with so much kindness. I see it as one of the most beautiful ways of capturing saying goodbye to a dead loved one. 

And when the mysterious child who visits him said

“Be grateful for the unintended kindness of enemies” 

This literally summed up the thrilling end of the story, which I think ended in a satisfying way.

Also, I like how the time 2:14 is significant and happens to be the moment in which most of the supernatural events in Lalo’s life occur.

I love the unique way in which the author named each chapter the colors of the rainbow and how the titles under these chapters lead you into the story.  My favorite was “ Fate of the Cockroach” . This chapter narrated how a character died through ingesting a pesticide and how the author connected this experience of killing and a roach is just intriguing to me. 

This spellbinding tale of romance and grief with everything in between from the dark past to sensitive subjects like sexual and domestic abuse couldn’t be written better. There is an unscary way the author portrayed death in this story that is fascinating, it's almost like he’s saying death isn't the final stop and there is so much more with death and after it. 

For me, I’d rate this book a solid 9.5/10.

You should definitely get this book if you haven’t bought yours. And if you have the book sitting pretty on your bookshelf without reading it, please pick it up and start. You’ll get glued with or without snacks to munch on while reading.