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therealkathryn's review against another edition
3.0
At 250 pages in, the female narrator has recounted the story of the young man she is replacing, and of the male leaders. Her own story has at best been glossed over. After Homegoing I was hoping for another perspective on colonialism, but it's buried deep in this and not worth the effort.
twilcox197805's review against another edition
3.0
The lack of stars is more about how it was written versus what was written. Not the easiest read. I would not say it was incoherent but it demanded that I stop and trace back details that had not been mentioned in the last 4 to7 chapters
ecari's review against another edition
1.0
DNF. I tried - I really did. The historical aspect of the story was interesting - completely new to me. But I found the writing overblown, the shifts in timeframe from present to past confusing, and - as a result - the characters to be flat. I made it past halfway mark and then decided my reading time could be better spent otherwise. Friends in my book club similarly didn't finish and hated it.
revenant_tomato's review against another edition
informative
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
meghanmarion's review against another edition
3.0
I received this book free via Goodreads giveaways.
This book was challenging, interesting, and one of the most different books I've read in a long time. I feel that because the way the author's culture shares stories made this book harder to grasp, but the writing was lyrical and beautiful.
This book was challenging, interesting, and one of the most different books I've read in a long time. I feel that because the way the author's culture shares stories made this book harder to grasp, but the writing was lyrical and beautiful.
muga's review against another edition
DNFing at 50%, this story is too meandering for my liking. I came here for Sara's story but the narrator takes all kinds of detours and tells us about other people who I don't care about.
sockielady's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the author's writing style, but I think the book was too disjointed. He jumped around between several different characters and timelines and I think the book would have been more enjoyable if he had focused on just one or two main characters. Learned a good amount about the colonial history of Cameroon, though.
lovinlivres's review against another edition
3.0
Beautifully written and incredibly detailed information on Cameroonian colonial history but I’m not entirely sure what the author’s message was.
tien's review against another edition
3.0
Too confusing to be totally enjoyable. Firstly the shift of perspective were rather random; I understand that they were telling past stories and there'd be bits of conversations between current characters but did that really have to be inserted in the middle of the 'stories'? There were at least 3 strands of past stories and because of the identity overlap, sometimes it confuses me at the beginning of the chapter as there is no indication of change in povs etc.