{"id":16084,"date":"2024-06-15T01:00:30","date_gmt":"2024-06-15T05:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/?p=16084"},"modified":"2025-08-23T17:01:47","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T21:01:47","slug":"book-the-unclean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-the-unclean\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unclean"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"book-2461\" class=\"bdb-book-info\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_theunclean.png?fit=250%2C396&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"The Unclean\" class=\"alignright\"\/><strong>Title:<\/strong> The Unclean<br \/><strong>Author:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/author\/nuzo-onoh\/\">Nuzo Onoh<\/a><br \/><strong>First Published:<\/strong> <span content=\"2020-10-19\">October 19, 2020<\/span><br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/publisher\/canaan-star-publishing\/\">Canaan-Star Publishing<\/a><br \/><strong>Pages:<\/strong> 65<br \/><strong>Genre:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/genre\/horror\/\">Horror<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/genre\/magical-realism\/\">Magical Realism<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/genre\/short-stories\/\">Short Stories<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/genre\/supernatural\/\">Supernatural<\/a><br \/><strong>Format:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/format\/ebook\/\">Ebook<\/a><br \/><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/source\/kindle-unlimited\/\">Kindle Unlimited<\/a><br \/><strong>Rating:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/rating\/5\/\"><span class=\"bdb-font-awesome-star-wrap\"><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><\/span><\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/57806873-the-unclean\" target=\"_blank\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/addtogoodreads.png?ssl=1\" align=\"left\" border=\"0\"\/><\/a><br \/><br \/><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong> <p>A dead child is cast into the evil forest by the clansmen in a burial ritual steeped in dark superstitions. His grieving mother, Desee, resorts to desperate and terrifying measures to bring him back to life. Desee\u2019s quest will force her to make some terrible choices, and with the diabolical help of a powerful witchdoctor, embark on a harrowing journey that will end in deadly consequences, culminating in a trial by ordeal underneath the infamous Tree of Truth.<\/p>\n<strong>Get the Book:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3ZJGWf3\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon<\/a>\r\n<hr \/><\/div>\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n\t\t\t{\n\t\t\t\t\"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\/\",\n\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Review\",\n\t\t\t\t\"datePublished\": \"2024-06-15T05:00:30+00:00\",\n\t\t\t\t\"description\": \"The Unclean\",\n\t\t\t\t\"publisher\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Radical Dreamer\"\t\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\t\"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/book-the-unclean\\\/\",\n\t\t\t\t\"itemReviewed\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Book\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"The Unclean\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"author\": [\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t{\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Nuzo Onoh\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/book-database\\\/author\\\/nuzo-onoh\\\/\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t],\n\t\t\t\t\t\"isbn\": \"\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"numberOfPages\": 65,\n\t\t\t\t\t\"publisher\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Canaan-Star Publishing\"\t\t\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\t\t\"image\": \"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/book_theunclean.png?fit=250%2C396&ssl=1\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"datePublished\": \"2020-10-19T00:00:00+00:00\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.goodreads.com\\\/book\\\/show\\\/57806873-the-unclean\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"genre\": \"Horror\"\t\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\t\"author\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Jamie\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/\"\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t, \"reviewRating\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Rating\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"ratingValue\": 5,\n\t\t\t\t\t\"bestRating\": 5\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t\n<h2>Review<\/h2>\n<p>African folk superstition with a heavy dose of Christian spirituality come together to form an absolutely horrifying novella about womanhood in a traditional patriarchal society. The story follows doomed Desdemona, named after the same Desdemona from Shakespeare&#8217;s <strong>Othello<\/strong>. Desdemona, or Desee for short, is married off to a seemingly wealthy suitor and what follows is a chilling story about arranged marriages, brutal competition between sister wives, social stigma, folklore, and grief.<\/p>\n<p>My heart absolutely bled for Desee and the cruel hand she is dealt, especially as compared to her sister. There were many scenes that I found to be genuinely frightening and monsters both supernatural and human. The ending gave me one of the biggest payoffs I could have ever expected that I did not see coming, and it shocked me so much I laughed out loud. This story was brimming with righteous anger at the systems that hold down women and I was in awe of Nuzo Onoh&#8217;s talent in weaving a tale that could make me feel such intense emotions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Unclean<\/strong> is an underrated gem of a novella that started my reading year off with a bang and it&#8217;s stuck with me. I fell head over heels for Nuzo Onoh&#8217;s prose and I know I will be checking out more of her books. Although this story is technically included in the short story collection <strong>Unhallowed Graves<\/strong>, the endings are different!<\/p>\n<h2>Quote<\/h2>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;How could I walk amongst the <em>living<\/em> when I knew that my son walked amongst the <strong>damned<\/strong>, the restless and angry souls of the <strong>accursed<\/strong>?&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<h2>Content Warnings<\/h2>\n<span class=\"ubb-spoiler\"><a class=\"ubb-view-spoil\">View Spoiler &raquo;<\/a><span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"ubb-thespoil\">Animal Sacrifice, Child Death, Domestic Violence, Forced Marriage, Infidelity, Physical Assault, Rape, Sex, Sexual Assault, Violence <a class=\"ubb-hide-spoil\" style=\"cursor: hand; cursor: pointer;\">&laquo; Hide Spoiler<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n<h2>About the Author<\/h2>\n<div class=\"ubb-about-author\">\n<h3>About Nuzo Onoh<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_nuzoonoh.png?fit=200%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignleft ubb-about-author-photo\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_nuzoonoh.png?w=200&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_nuzoonoh.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_nuzoonoh.png?resize=120%2C120&amp;ssl=1 120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Nuzo Onoh is a Nigerian-British writer. She grew up the third of eight children of the late Chief Mrs Caroline Onoh, a former headteacher. Her father was Chief Dr. C.C Onoh, the wealthy landowner, lawyer, politician, and former governor of Anambra State.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ubb-author-links\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nuzo.substack.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Website<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NuzoOnoh\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Twitter<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/author\/show\/8150070.Nuzo_Onoh\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Goodreads<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3ZJGVrv\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Review African folk superstition with a heavy dose of Christian spirituality come together to form an absolutely horrifying novella about womanhood in a traditional patriarchal society. The story follows doomed&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[386,2962,844,3016,246,340,4642,3273,389,387,3620,3619,4333,4072,2945,3627,3626],"book-author":[3583],"book-illustrator":[],"book-series":[],"book-publisher":[],"book-genre":[],"book-source":[],"book-format":[],"class_list":["post-16084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","tag-african-literature","tag-arranged-marriage","tag-black-literature","tag-folk-horror","tag-ghosts","tag-grief-and-loss","tag-grief-horror","tag-human-monsters","tag-igbo-literature","tag-nigerian-literature","tag-odinala","tag-ogbanje","tag-set-in-africa","tag-sister-wives","tag-sweet-revenge","tag-undead","tag-witchdoctors","book-author-nuzo-onoh"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_theunclean-header.png?fit=1080%2C540&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16084"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21179,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16084\/revisions\/21179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16084"},{"taxonomy":"book-author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-author?post=16084"},{"taxonomy":"book-illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-illustrator?post=16084"},{"taxonomy":"book-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-series?post=16084"},{"taxonomy":"book-publisher","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-publisher?post=16084"},{"taxonomy":"book-genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-genre?post=16084"},{"taxonomy":"book-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-source?post=16084"},{"taxonomy":"book-format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-format?post=16084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}