Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzo

6 reviews

joanna_banana's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This took me back to West Africa! Bamana felt most like Ghana and the cultural references aligned linguistically and ethnically with Ghana. However, the place names were from Mali! Threw me off a little. It’s a sweet story of self-discovery and identity. Some good commentary on Western bias. I overall enjoyed it. The audio book was quite a good listen, the narrator did an excellent job differentiating the accents.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Racism, Police brutality, Racial slurs, and Slavery

Minor: Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Misogyny

basil_touche's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was such a well paced story, with a subtly that really brought the fictional country of Bamana to life. I found it was a breeze to read through while allowing the reader into the headspace of Anna, whose longing for connection was palpable and her decisions, while some I may disagree with, only made her feel more like a real person. Anna's feelings of isolation, of her experiences of racism in the uk, to being seen as a white tourist in Bamana, was heartbreaking and I really wanted to see her have some closure by the end.

Her relationship with her father was interesting and by the end it is left up to the reader to decide if he was the dictator many said he was

tricking Anna into imprisonment does leave some credence but he also freed the country from British rule and does show care to Anna, as examples

. Francis Aggrey or Kofi Adjei?

It is a book about identity, race,  being mixed-race, fatherhood and the impact colonialism has on the countries it has effected. I did find the ending a bit rushed (

although beautiful where Anna meets her ancestors

) and some things weren't as fully explored I as wished but this is still a book I enjoyed very much 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Death of parent

Moderate: Eating disorder, Violence, Confinement, and Infidelity

Minor: Slavery, Dementia, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Slavery, Racism, Body shaming, Grief, Police brutality, Bullying, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Alcohol, Dementia, Eating disorder, and Infidelity

Minor: Misogyny

abominablesnowaro's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Dementia, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, and Racism

Minor: Slavery, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Violence

santreads's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I thought this was going to be like 'What A Girl Wants' but a book with a British person going to seek out their African father and oh boy was I wrong. 

Anyway, the protagonist is definitely not Amanda Bynes-esque. In fact, she's in her 40s, has a daughter, recently separated from her husband and recently lost her mum. She finds a diary of her father that she never knew and find outs that he's an ex dictator of a (fictional) African country - Bamana. 

I loved the descriptions of the book and thought it was very well written. However, my main issue was with how passive almost the main character was. She wasn't at times, but also she didn't feel fully fleshed out. I also almost just found myself wishing there was more to the story and we could know what happened post the end of the book - which is a good thing but also a bit unsatisfactory. I do hope the author does a Part 2 of this book. 

Overall though, I enjoyed my experience. I enjoyed getting to know this country and the man behind it through the eyes of his daughter and question if he was a good guy ultimately or not so great. Everyone has their grays I guess. 

But anyway, I liked it and would definitely recommend the audiobook as well if you get hold of it. 4.5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and Violence

Minor: Slavery

catladyreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Slavery, Colonisation, Eating disorder, and Confinement

Minor: Death, Death of parent, and Animal cruelty