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julie123's review
4.0
An anthology of various African writers that focuses on lgbtq+ themes. Anthologies aren’t really my style, but I found this one interesting as the chapters portrayed very different aspects while still being kind of connected.
The first story about the spread of Ebola, viewed by a Liberian scientist, really hit home as I was reading this during quarantine, but the story kind of ends in the void.
Another chapter explores the Chinese immigrants in Senegal. Nowadays, the involvement of China in the region is well know, but it was still very interesting to see some of the reasons and motivations for Chinese to immigrate into an unknown country.
In my opinion, the story that gave this anthology its name (Safe House) was confusing and without point. It was supposed to be shocking that a student was shot on the street, but the way it was told by recounting the incident didn’t feel thrilling. Other chapters felt a lot stronger to me, for example the one about Nigeria’s trans and gay scene, which was very interesting, especially because Nigeria’s north has very harsh laws against homosexuality.
I also enjoyed the story of one author growing up in Cape Town as an Indian as it felt very cute and intimate and I could identify with her love of books.
I was way into the last chapter until I realised that I had already read this. The topic is the same as in the book of the same author, called Lives of Great Men. It was interesting to get a view into life as a gay man in Lagos, but as I had already read it, it wasn’t new for me.
Overall an interesting anthology, you should give it a try if you are into short stories and are bored of always the same narratives!
The first story about the spread of Ebola, viewed by a Liberian scientist, really hit home as I was reading this during quarantine, but the story kind of ends in the void.
Another chapter explores the Chinese immigrants in Senegal. Nowadays, the involvement of China in the region is well know, but it was still very interesting to see some of the reasons and motivations for Chinese to immigrate into an unknown country.
In my opinion, the story that gave this anthology its name (Safe House) was confusing and without point. It was supposed to be shocking that a student was shot on the street, but the way it was told by recounting the incident didn’t feel thrilling. Other chapters felt a lot stronger to me, for example the one about Nigeria’s trans and gay scene, which was very interesting, especially because Nigeria’s north has very harsh laws against homosexuality.
I also enjoyed the story of one author growing up in Cape Town as an Indian as it felt very cute and intimate and I could identify with her love of books.
I was way into the last chapter until I realised that I had already read this. The topic is the same as in the book of the same author, called Lives of Great Men. It was interesting to get a view into life as a gay man in Lagos, but as I had already read it, it wasn’t new for me.
Overall an interesting anthology, you should give it a try if you are into short stories and are bored of always the same narratives!
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