What do you think?
Rate this book
windows
'windows', the debut collection from Jesutomisin Ipinmoye, serves a chance to peer into the collective experiences that make us human, from our pain and loss to our hope and drive, all while underlining the human capacity for tremendous good and evil. the collection vibrates between different slices of life across Nigeria, all while telling the stories from the point of view of otherworldy observers, fascinated by what they see while unable to interfere. from exploring the complex relationships with an abusive father and his family to the tale of a man who in a drunken haze recounts to the police the story of how he was found in a park, with the dead body of the man who slept with his wife. so follow along and peer into the windows!
172 pages, Paperback
Published July 29, 2020
2 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Jesutomisin Ipinmoye
2 books6 followersJesutomisin is, currently, best described as an alleged author working in a university where he does fiction and other things. He can also be described as: "enigmatic", "curious", "communitarian", "postmodern", "an unserious engineer", "hilarious", "living on an island", "survivor of ages nineteen and twenty-three", "from Nigeria", "a relentless idealist", "a writer of nigerian weird and afro-depression", and "over-employed".
Depending on who you ask, he can also be described as: "anxious", "possibly insane", "pretentious*", "a train wreck", "unreasonably passionate", "chaotic", and "lost in his thoughts".
He is published in Hobert After Dark, Kenga, and Brittle Paper. He came second in the 2023 Happy Noisemaker Prize for Storytelling, and he was published in 2024's Afritondo Anthology after being long-listed.
"How to Get Rid of Ants", (Parresia Publishers, 2025) is his second short story collection.
*It will never be pretentious to care a lot about what you do.
Depending on who you ask, he can also be described as: "anxious", "possibly insane", "pretentious*", "a train wreck", "unreasonably passionate", "chaotic", and "lost in his thoughts".
He is published in Hobert After Dark, Kenga, and Brittle Paper. He came second in the 2023 Happy Noisemaker Prize for Storytelling, and he was published in 2024's Afritondo Anthology after being long-listed.
"How to Get Rid of Ants", (Parresia Publishers, 2025) is his second short story collection.
*It will never be pretentious to care a lot about what you do.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 4, 2020
Windows by Jesutomisin Ipinmoye is a collection of short stories, poetry & prose-poetry pieces that feel like home. Once I started reading this book, it was hard to think about something else and I was hooked until I finished it. There is something about Jesutomisin's writing that draws you in.
Th stories centered around colorism, the evils of religion, poverty, violence & abuse, depression & anxiety, losing loved ones, the questions of our humanness, of life and death & things that actually matter, the vileness of the human mind & the purging of souls.
It's difficult to choose a favourite story out of all the stories in this book because each story meant a different thing to me but I really enjoyed Yellow Pawpaw, the story that talked about colorism. After Africans and Black People deal with racism, we still have to dea with colorism amongst ourselves and that's just really irritating. No one reading this can feign obliviousness to the fact that most light-skinned people have light-skin privilege. I've watched Skin by Beverly Naya & Black is King by Beyonce and this subject was talked about in both of them. I'm glad people are coming to love their skins. These skins are our homes until they aren't.
The poetry pieces in the book also talked about watching beings looking over humans doing all sorts of vile things on earth. They wonder if they should meddle with things or just keep watching and we see the stories from their eyes; like peering through windows. In the end, they decided to go back to the beginning, to the root; to see what went wrong and I believe that's what we need to do too. To get better perspective of things, we need to go back and ask ourselves "where did things go wrong?"
Highly recommended. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
July 30, 2020
This beautiful work is a collection of 13 short and very creative stories, each of them thought provoking in a unique way. Every story is written with such vivid descriptions that easily place you right in the middle of the scene of whatever you’re reading, feeling what the characters feel too.
What made reading this collection more interesting is that it is written from the perspective of some “otherworldly beings” that were never actually created but live in the underbelly of the earth. These beings watch the human creatures through “windows made of soil and roots”. The beings describe humans as messy creatures torn apart by things such as love, loss and war. However, all these things that humans seem so consumed by are seen as fickle and unimportant to these beings. They also wonder why humans exhibit such a severe brand of wickedness toward each other. Unfortunately, because these beings were never created, they are unable to meddle in the lives of humans even though they so desperately want to.
While reading, although the stories were engrossing, I kept on trying to see the humans from the point of view of these beings under the earth. And truly, the (wicked) activities of the humans portrayed in the stories seemed so trivial and unnecessary.
The first few stories have somewhat dark themes, mostly of physical abuse (trigger warning by the way) and death, but these do not take away from the effect the stories had. I never really realized how much some of the stories held on to my attention until I got to the end. Then I would have a “woah” moment and just stare into space for a while. The stories towards the end are a lot lighter, funnier and just altogether calm. There are stories of romance, mental illness, fantasy and even a ‘whodunnit’ kind of story.
I enjoyed reading this debut collection so so much and look forward to more work from the author, short story collections and full length books alike.
What made reading this collection more interesting is that it is written from the perspective of some “otherworldly beings” that were never actually created but live in the underbelly of the earth. These beings watch the human creatures through “windows made of soil and roots”. The beings describe humans as messy creatures torn apart by things such as love, loss and war. However, all these things that humans seem so consumed by are seen as fickle and unimportant to these beings. They also wonder why humans exhibit such a severe brand of wickedness toward each other. Unfortunately, because these beings were never created, they are unable to meddle in the lives of humans even though they so desperately want to.
While reading, although the stories were engrossing, I kept on trying to see the humans from the point of view of these beings under the earth. And truly, the (wicked) activities of the humans portrayed in the stories seemed so trivial and unnecessary.
The first few stories have somewhat dark themes, mostly of physical abuse (trigger warning by the way) and death, but these do not take away from the effect the stories had. I never really realized how much some of the stories held on to my attention until I got to the end. Then I would have a “woah” moment and just stare into space for a while. The stories towards the end are a lot lighter, funnier and just altogether calm. There are stories of romance, mental illness, fantasy and even a ‘whodunnit’ kind of story.
I enjoyed reading this debut collection so so much and look forward to more work from the author, short story collections and full length books alike.
August 6, 2020
I loved reading this book. Particularly because I could recognise so many of the characters. It's always refreshing to read characters that could be people in your own life. 100% recommend!
July 30, 2020
A Series of heartwarming short stories that have the same wakening effect a page from your journal years ago would have. Every story has its own feel but all of them felt like welcome home mats after a long day. The endless insights one can derive from others experiences and the choices that life forces on them, through this book has ensured I remain self aware and become even more empathetic. An extremely good choice for anyone whose looking to read for leisure but not just for leisure. The best embodiment of the 80-20 rule I’ve seen in a book.
September 4, 2020
“But all the same, some of us became attached to these impermanent creatures. we watched through windows, made of soil and roots.
we watched as the weak needle of life stitched together and death’s rusty razor did undone.
we resigned ourselves as invested spectators
peering. seeing. laughing.
we watched.
we pulsed.
we breathed.
through the windows.”
This book really is it. A collection of short stories divided into parts that just sink and give you joy. Very touching stories with powerful messages and there’s still room to breathe before moving on to the next story. Be sure of suspense and definitely twists. It is able to meet up with expectations and some stories faded at a point. All the same it’s beautiful.
we watched as the weak needle of life stitched together and death’s rusty razor did undone.
we resigned ourselves as invested spectators
peering. seeing. laughing.
we watched.
we pulsed.
we breathed.
through the windows.”
This book really is it. A collection of short stories divided into parts that just sink and give you joy. Very touching stories with powerful messages and there’s still room to breathe before moving on to the next story. Be sure of suspense and definitely twists. It is able to meet up with expectations and some stories faded at a point. All the same it’s beautiful.
July 29, 2020
Such an amazing book i love it ❤️🥺
December 24, 2020
4.5 stars
Windows is a collection of 13 short beautiful stories, with the themes ranging from life, to death, colourism religion, human psychology, abuse, mental health and disorder, human existence and philosophy.
First of all I'm marveled at how creative, real and captivating the author is with his way of writing and for this I most say Jesutomisin is writer you have to look out for because, his good.
The prose and poetry in this collection were soul intriguing. The stories made me felt like I met with new individuals for the first time and I kept thinking about them anytime I get to drop this book, until I was done knowing them all and even longing for more.
I couldn't pick a favourite story because most of the stories had its effect on me.
I kept thinking of the piercing words even after dropping this book down.
I highly do recommend his book to you and to the author, you've officially gotten a loyal fan.
Windows is a collection of 13 short beautiful stories, with the themes ranging from life, to death, colourism religion, human psychology, abuse, mental health and disorder, human existence and philosophy.
First of all I'm marveled at how creative, real and captivating the author is with his way of writing and for this I most say Jesutomisin is writer you have to look out for because, his good.
The prose and poetry in this collection were soul intriguing. The stories made me felt like I met with new individuals for the first time and I kept thinking about them anytime I get to drop this book, until I was done knowing them all and even longing for more.
I couldn't pick a favourite story because most of the stories had its effect on me.
I kept thinking of the piercing words even after dropping this book down.
I highly do recommend his book to you and to the author, you've officially gotten a loyal fan.
October 7, 2020
Why did she have to bleach her skin? - that's the question most would ask (Me too) after seeing a lady who gives in to danger in the name of being light skinned. It's easy to ask and judge but I was taken aback after reading this character's experiences because she's dark skinned.
'Where are you? You've blended in with the darkness.'
Colourism is the main ingredient in 'Yellow Paw Paw', one of the short stories in 'WINDOWS' by Jesutomisin Ipinmoye @jesutomisin__ . It's serious as the light skinned ones get favoured over dark skinned ones. We complain about racism yet do something similar in a very silly way? Not cool.
The stories in Windows are told in different catchy narrative styles that would keep you intrigued. From the story of a young man who suffers from anxiety disorder but is in love with Mary, his wife and writes notes to express himself and feelings, the story of a girl with an unusual birth who wields the power of death, of Ilo, a man tested one too many times with the death of his loved ones, an abusive father who has extracted feelings from his children, a man battling cancer but refusing to undergo therapy until one night changes it all, a mother who carelessly sleeps with random men disregarding her son's feelings, to a Mystery story where the death of a Chief on his birthday is indeed weaved amongst many things. Several stories you wouldn't want to end. Very Nigerian. Very Original.
Windows is an enjoyable book. A fantastic debut. I attached an excerpt from 'For Mary' because I really liked the way it was written. I've too many favourite stories in this book so I won't start listing. Go get it. It's available at rovingheights bookstore for Nigerian readers. /So glad I got an ARC.
'Where are you? You've blended in with the darkness.'
Colourism is the main ingredient in 'Yellow Paw Paw', one of the short stories in 'WINDOWS' by Jesutomisin Ipinmoye @jesutomisin__ . It's serious as the light skinned ones get favoured over dark skinned ones. We complain about racism yet do something similar in a very silly way? Not cool.
The stories in Windows are told in different catchy narrative styles that would keep you intrigued. From the story of a young man who suffers from anxiety disorder but is in love with Mary, his wife and writes notes to express himself and feelings, the story of a girl with an unusual birth who wields the power of death, of Ilo, a man tested one too many times with the death of his loved ones, an abusive father who has extracted feelings from his children, a man battling cancer but refusing to undergo therapy until one night changes it all, a mother who carelessly sleeps with random men disregarding her son's feelings, to a Mystery story where the death of a Chief on his birthday is indeed weaved amongst many things. Several stories you wouldn't want to end. Very Nigerian. Very Original.
Windows is an enjoyable book. A fantastic debut. I attached an excerpt from 'For Mary' because I really liked the way it was written. I've too many favourite stories in this book so I won't start listing. Go get it. It's available at rovingheights bookstore for Nigerian readers. /So glad I got an ARC.
December 31, 2020
This was an absolutely refreshing read. I read this on Christmas Day and it was just the perfect read for that day. Windows is a collection of short stories that’ll leave you wanting more!! With all the stories set in Nigeria, it felt so relatable and authentic. However, I liked some more than others. The stories that made my unputdownable list are
📚 Yellow pawpaw
📚Outside
📚Stars shine you just don’t see it
📚Anyone can bless you
___
Jesutomisin writes beautifully. His style of writing draws you in and fully transports you to another world. I absolutely enjoyed reading this. At the end of each story, I found myself wanting more. Hopefully, Jesutomisin will be kind enough to give us a novel soon. 🤞🏾
📚 Yellow pawpaw
📚Outside
📚Stars shine you just don’t see it
📚Anyone can bless you
___
Jesutomisin writes beautifully. His style of writing draws you in and fully transports you to another world. I absolutely enjoyed reading this. At the end of each story, I found myself wanting more. Hopefully, Jesutomisin will be kind enough to give us a novel soon. 🤞🏾
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews