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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
The blurb was probably the best part about this book.
I wanted to like it so much but I really didn’t enjoy the prose and thought the storytelling was just messy. The story is a little confusing to follow (or maybe that was just because I was bored and my mind kept wondering to other things).
I wanted to like it so much but I really didn’t enjoy the prose and thought the storytelling was just messy. The story is a little confusing to follow (or maybe that was just because I was bored and my mind kept wondering to other things).
Not quite what I imagined. The author employed an almost dreamlike description of events, which underscored the trauma and anxiety of the situation but also made details hard to imagine and follow.
medium-paced
sad
medium-paced
The book was ~fine~
I enjoyed it well enough, but I really didn't find myself rushing to read it.
I enjoyed it well enough, but I really didn't find myself rushing to read it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping
I got probably 25% of the way in. It's clear that O'Brien feels passionate about this topic and did a lot of research. But coming from a white author, it just felt like tragedy porn.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Slavery, Kidnapping
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My first experience of Edna O'Brien's writing and just wow. The story itself is a truly harrowing experience of one girl's survival from the moment she is abducted by Boko Haram, or as O'Brien acknowledges an amalgam of real people she met when researching for the book.
While you may wonder what right O'Brien has to tell this story in a first-person narrative, being a white older Irish woman, the right is that she can bloody write! Her shifting of reality and dream, as well as splicing of time creates such a lyrical and ultimately thoughtful depiction of the effects of the horrors these girls endured.
Where there is intense violence and destruction of the physical, there remained a burning hope and desire for peace that was truly heartbreaking to read, especially when salvation doesn't deliver as predicted.
While you may wonder what right O'Brien has to tell this story in a first-person narrative, being a white older Irish woman, the right is that she can bloody write! Her shifting of reality and dream, as well as splicing of time creates such a lyrical and ultimately thoughtful depiction of the effects of the horrors these girls endured.
Where there is intense violence and destruction of the physical, there remained a burning hope and desire for peace that was truly heartbreaking to read, especially when salvation doesn't deliver as predicted.
Difficult to read at times but so worthwhile. Amazing and powerful book. This story will stay with me for a very long time.