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balladofreadingqueer's review
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved this book.
I had read about the man who this book is based on a few weeks before I found out this book existed. I know that he had been wrongly executed and only recently posthumously exonerated. This book looks at the life of a Somali immigrant to Wales as he is wrongly accused of the murder of a local Jewish woman shopkeeper.
It explores his nomadic, seafaring life, tumultuous relationship with his white Welsh wife and her family and his friendships and rivals with other Somali immigrants and African immigrants in England/ Wales. It clearly highlights the flaws in the Welsh justice system as he is convicted for a crime he clearly did not commit. The author clearly demonstrates how racism and xenophobia from judges, lawyers and the jury led to his wrongful conviction despite no evidence.
The trial and Mamood’s time in prison are the centre of this book. As he explores his inner life and memories and prepares for execution. His life before arrest is peppered throughout his memories and what happens his family after his wrongful murder by the state are only briefly addressed <\>
It explores his nomadic, seafaring life, tumultuous relationship with his white Welsh wife and her family and his friendships and rivals with other Somali immigrants and African immigrants in England/ Wales. It clearly highlights the flaws in the Welsh justice system as he is convicted for a crime he clearly did not commit. The author clearly demonstrates how racism and xenophobia from judges, lawyers and the jury led to his wrongful conviction despite no evidence.
The trial and Mamood’s time in prison are the centre of this book. As he explores his inner life and memories and prepares for execution. His life before arrest is peppered throughout his memories and what happens his family after his wrongful murder by the state are only briefly addressed <\>
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Antisemitism, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Murder
bethvance's review
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Body horror, and Racism
Minor: Colonisation
musubi_mumma's review
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
A colleague recommended this book to me and oh my, do I owe them BIG now! The Fortune Men is devastating in every way. The story, without question, is a profound lesson in the paradoxes and insidiousness of racism, the tragedy of putting faith in a prejudiced judicial system, how thin the line is between life and death, past and future, the awfulness of history.
The novel revolves around a young Somali man who has found his way to Britain and built a life for himself there, complete with a wife and children. He is an ordinary man, a flawed man, but not a bad man; his morals are imperfect but not malicious. In his Welsh town, there is a sundry shop, owned and run by a Jewish woman. She is murdered. He is arrested. The novel spins from that point around his trial and his incarceration.
The details of the crime and his arrest are revealed, it becomes clear that things are not so black and white, literally and figuratively, according to the shade of his skin. In this Welsh neighborhood, there has been the recent in flux of many immigrants: those from the Caribbean — coming off the HMS Windrush — as well others like him, from Somalia, parts of West Africa, Nigeria, South Asians from India, Pakistan. There are Jews, Muslims, Christians. And then there are the White Welsh and English. The only thing they seem to have in common is their denizenship in a working class milieu: they are each trying to survive in their own ways, struggling with the constraints put upon them by their race, the color of their skin, their gender.
Mohamed’s prose weaves together the multiple layers of this crime, both the murder and the crime of injustice via complex characters who each come to this place armed with their own ambitions and hampered by their past experiences; they are as flawed as the main protagonist — and like him, we can see that they are not truly “bad” people, but merely making decisions based on the ethnic, racial, and class based expectations put on them. Reader, you will weep for all the characters in The Fortune Men, for they are as trapped as the prisoner in his cell.
It is hard to write a review of this book without giving away its ending, because its ending is really the beginning of the question that led to its creation. It is based on a true story, which is what makes this even more tragic and heart-rending.
All I can say is: You must read this. You must weep for the man, the woman, his wife, his children, the families torn apart by the events that took place in 1952-1953 in this small Welsh town. And you must be angry.
The novel revolves around a young Somali man who has found his way to Britain and built a life for himself there, complete with a wife and children. He is an ordinary man, a flawed man, but not a bad man; his morals are imperfect but not malicious. In his Welsh town, there is a sundry shop, owned and run by a Jewish woman. She is murdered. He is arrested. The novel spins from that point around his trial and his incarceration.
The details of the crime and his arrest are revealed, it becomes clear that things are not so black and white, literally and figuratively, according to the shade of his skin. In this Welsh neighborhood, there has been the recent in flux of many immigrants: those from the Caribbean — coming off the HMS Windrush — as well others like him, from Somalia, parts of West Africa, Nigeria, South Asians from India, Pakistan. There are Jews, Muslims, Christians. And then there are the White Welsh and English. The only thing they seem to have in common is their denizenship in a working class milieu: they are each trying to survive in their own ways, struggling with the constraints put upon them by their race, the color of their skin, their gender.
Mohamed’s prose weaves together the multiple layers of this crime, both the murder and the crime of injustice via complex characters who each come to this place armed with their own ambitions and hampered by their past experiences; they are as flawed as the main protagonist — and like him, we can see that they are not truly “bad” people, but merely making decisions based on the ethnic, racial, and class based expectations put on them. Reader, you will weep for all the characters in The Fortune Men, for they are as trapped as the prisoner in his cell.
It is hard to write a review of this book without giving away its ending, because its ending is really the beginning of the question that led to its creation. It is based on a true story, which is what makes this even more tragic and heart-rending.
All I can say is: You must read this. You must weep for the man, the woman, his wife, his children, the families torn apart by the events that took place in 1952-1953 in this small Welsh town. And you must be angry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Classism, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Murder, and Police brutality
nialiversuch's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Classism, Racism, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Blood, Grief, Murder, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Cursing
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Antisemitism
ladymirtazapine's review
adventurous
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, and War
Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Islamophobia, Police brutality, and Violence
Minor: Colonisation and Transphobia
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