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flowerowl's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
sad
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
3.5
Loved the beginning, it just crabs you and takes you in. Loved the way it every thing was told/expressed when Washington was a child. But them later on, around the trip in the ice, the writing kind of lost. the disappearing didn't grasp me, it did not flow nicely with all the rest, the dead of the Father who was being sort of a jerk moved me more. And so because of that I felt like I could not grasp the story anymore as in the beginning, which made the ending even more unsatisfactory and confusing. But maybe there is something I'm not getting (then please explain it to me). Maybe the feelings of not grasping it is exactly what your meant to feel, for it is what Washington feels the longer he lives; and if that is the case, then I (still) did not like that feeling, but then Esi Edugyan is also a really good writer!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide, Abandonment, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
amachattie's review
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book had so many beautiful and important things to say. It is such an incredible rewriting of the 18th century's natural history peak to include the silenced voices behind the stories we know. It also, of course, has so many things to say about race, about white saviourism, about the possibility of genuine caring relationships of equals across race and class, about the legacy of slavery. The line about a character having more concern about slavery's stain on whiteness than about slavery's effects on the peoplewho were enslaved will stick with me for a long time. All of this said, I felt frustrated that the ending framed the book as being about Wash's relationship with Titch, instead of about Wash's journey towards healing, though maybe they are the same thing. I feel like this wasn't the book I wanted to read right now, but that I loved it anyways.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Gore, Body horror, and Suicide
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