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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
So, I didn't realize this but a lot of this book deals with her having a mental breakdown, and her abandonment by her mother. There ends up being some unanswered questions here, but I guess that's life? Anyways, this is a very very sad memoir that does end on a hopeful note, I'd recommend it if you're in the right headspace for that.
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
[Official review to come]
Solid audiobook experience (read by the author). It takes a lot for me to get into a memoir by someone I’m not familiar with, and this didn’t quite do it for me.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
medium-paced
Aftershocks tells stories of a girl and woman unsure of her place in the world. She confesses behavior that is inexcusable. Sometimes it feels like the author is trying to excuse it. Other times it feels like reflecting on her own foolishness. I am unsure how I feel about the book as a whole but respect the vulnerability it took to write it.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
She does a lot in this book. It’s about her experiences, loss of parents, transition to adulthood, but also about the national and global histories that inform her identity. It would be good for young people to read and discuss.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Abandonment, War
reflective
medium-paced
Owusu was born on a fault line. She lived in many places, but had no place. She had two mothers and no mother. It's not surprising that in young adulthood she fractured a little.
I had a hard time rating this book. It is history. It is poetry. It is memoir. It is life inside a blue chair. It is about culture and sex, love and loss, Africa and America, fathers and futures. It tries to be too much, and, in the end, is not enough. There are countless books in this one book. I had a hard time making the shifts between each. Part of me wishes Owusu hadn't been so ambitious.
I had a hard time rating this book. It is history. It is poetry. It is memoir. It is life inside a blue chair. It is about culture and sex, love and loss, Africa and America, fathers and futures. It tries to be too much, and, in the end, is not enough. There are countless books in this one book. I had a hard time making the shifts between each. Part of me wishes Owusu hadn't been so ambitious.
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced