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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
3.5
L'intrigue générale était intéressante, Ndali et Chinonso sont deux personnages complexes et bien construits, j'ai adoré le plot twist, mais la fin où on a de plus en plus de tergiversations du chi qui raconte des événements à postériori et la fin m'ont un peu gavée et font que j'ai mis du temps à le finir.
L'intrigue générale était intéressante, Ndali et Chinonso sont deux personnages complexes et bien construits, j'ai adoré le plot twist, mais la fin où on a de plus en plus de tergiversations du chi qui raconte des événements à postériori et la fin m'ont un peu gavée et font que j'ai mis du temps à le finir.
3.5 stars
Pace was slow but the prose was evocative and, at times, ethereal. Maybe an overuse of analogies and metaphors but they all work well. And for those who can't get to grips with the 'treacle-like' narrative and plot style, this is a reasonable reaction but they're missing a key point - the story is told specially in the style of Igbo cosmology narratives, and so it follows a certain pace and format; certain refrains are used by the chi (our narrator) to remind us of the distance between our protagonist and his spirit - we are only observing, unable to intervene in the events of the story.
Pace was slow but the prose was evocative and, at times, ethereal. Maybe an overuse of analogies and metaphors but they all work well. And for those who can't get to grips with the 'treacle-like' narrative and plot style, this is a reasonable reaction but they're missing a key point - the story is told specially in the style of Igbo cosmology narratives, and so it follows a certain pace and format; certain refrains are used by the chi (our narrator) to remind us of the distance between our protagonist and his spirit - we are only observing, unable to intervene in the events of the story.
Only finished this novel as it was a book group read. Also it was too miserable for the current coranavirus crisis.
Oh this book is very strange! But is there anything more interesting than seeing the world through eyes that are very different from your own? This novel is narrated by the chi, or guardian spirit of a Nigerian man, and tracks the triumphs and tragedies of his life. I would say that it is almost poetic, so many passages seem like verse. It does raise questions of fate, and how we put our trust in others. I do have to say that on the whole, this book made me sad.
Yo!! This story blew my mind!! I haven’t been this affected by a book in a looooooooong time. It’s heartrendingly beautiful. I’m really just a lost for words.....
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Racism
Beautiful writing and interesting philosophy totally wasted on a book that doesn't think of women as people. Nothing but a litany of excuses for a man's violence being let loose on a woman he supposedly loves. Every terrible wrong in his life, of which she was not actor or creator, being brought to her door.
This is nature.
This is how a man is.
This is what a man does.
On & on & on not questioning, not pushing, not offering a different vision of the world. Sexual violence against the male protagonist is elided and not looked at, yet we are shown and met to sympathize him pushing past a woman's nos to fuck her without a condom, of him obsessively and angrily fantasizing about men touching a woman he is no longer with (in tit biting detail), "his woman had yielded to another man." Forgives is available to those who have truly wronged him, but not to a woman who dares to be loved by him & not wait for him eternally.
I was drawn in by the philosophy, by the discussion of the nature of the world & of the way Igbo culture might fit into a modern context- unfortunately the narrative underneath was stale garbage retreading on the same goddamn bullshit where a women's pain is meaningless- where a woman is nothing but an object on which love in enacted- where we must start already hearing excuses for why violence against her should be forgiven.
Fuck this.
Fuck every second of reading it.
This is nature.
This is how a man is.
This is what a man does.
On & on & on not questioning, not pushing, not offering a different vision of the world. Sexual violence against the male protagonist is elided and not looked at, yet we are shown and met to sympathize him pushing past a woman's nos to fuck her without a condom, of him obsessively and angrily fantasizing about men touching a woman he is no longer with (in tit biting detail), "his woman had yielded to another man." Forgives is available to those who have truly wronged him, but not to a woman who dares to be loved by him & not wait for him eternally.
I was drawn in by the philosophy, by the discussion of the nature of the world & of the way Igbo culture might fit into a modern context- unfortunately the narrative underneath was stale garbage retreading on the same goddamn bullshit where a women's pain is meaningless- where a woman is nothing but an object on which love in enacted- where we must start already hearing excuses for why violence against her should be forgiven.
Fuck this.
Fuck every second of reading it.
Try as I might, could not get into this one. I do want to give it another shot at some point, and I wonder if it might work better for me as an audiobook.