Reviews with content warning for Slavery - She Would Be King

Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore

36 reviews

katiepeach's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

“The girl with the biggest gift of us all. Life. If she was not a girl or if she was not a woman; if she was not a woman or if she was not a witch, she would be king.”

I spent all day yesterday reading this book. And, wow, it’s incredible. I started this last year, but in my struggle to focus on anything, couldn’t finish. I’m wishing I had finished it sooner! The writing is so, so good and the story is captivating! If you love literary fiction and/or magical realism and history, definitely pick this one up right now.

She Would Be King is a magical realism novel about Liberia’s beginning. Moore intertwines the story of a boy raised as a slave in the United States, a boy who is the son of a slave and a British man from Jamaica, and a girl from West Africa to tell the story of Liberia. In the 1800s, Blacks from the United States and the Caribbean began to settle in Liberia and create a country of their own. However, there were already people living there, which understandably created tensions between the indigenous population and the settlers. I won’t go into too much detail about the history, because I think this novel explains it beautifully and better than I ever could, and it is a key part of the storyline.

The three main characters—Gbessa, June Day, and Norman—have separate journeys to Monrovia, but eventually meet. All three have special powers that eventually play a role in the formation of Liberia and the protection of the new country from colonial powers.

Content Warnings

emilybolivia's review against another edition

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challenging slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Some passages were really beautiful. As I was finishing and remembering the book as a whole I was impressed by the intricacies, especially the first half compared to the second. It was really easy for me to put down though and I was glad to be done.

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bdubmac's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Although very interesting, this book contained so much violence it was very hard for me to get through. Trafficking and slavery. Content warnings reported.

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katie_greenwinginmymouth's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is an incredible story, beautifully told. It weaves the stories of three strangers with supernatural powers into the history and mythology of Liberia. The feel of it reminded me a lot of Beloved or Augustown, would definitely recommend if you liked either of those. Like both of those books it is deeply in tune with the spiritual and the ways that generational trauma can manifest in a sort of haunting. Also at times it had a kind of superhero vibe which I loved. You get pulled along by the brilliant storytelling and realise at the end you’ve learnt a huge amount of history. I loved it.

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mal_eficent's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was beautiful, and engaging at every moment. I felt so much for these characters and what they were going through that I had to pause the story every now and then just to break away for a moment. It was tense, enraging, and exultant all at once – helped by the style it's written in, which is more like a spoken story being retold than a written one. It gives the book a rhythm that made it, for me at least, really easy to listen to, but I'm not sure how it would have been to read.

I'd definitely recommend picking up the audiobook if you can, both because Moore does an excellent job, and because it gives the story a pace and intonation which I think will improve the reading experience for people who don't normally like this writing style. Plus if, like me, your language doesn't give you an idea what the pronunciations/accents are supposed to sound like, the audiobook will definitely help!

If you're slightly confused by some of the events and context (particularly the American Colonization Society) then I'd recommend reading Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi. Without it, I'm not sure I would have fully understood what was going on in some places, or the historical/political context. You don't necessarily need that context to enjoy this, but it helped me as a white person understand the depth of nuance behind what was going.

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ellekhupe's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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