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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
Really enjoyed this personal story and this way of learning more about Liberia.
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
I knew nothing about the history of Liberia before I read this book and I happened upon it just as I was going to Liberia for a work trip. It really helped me understand the Liberian people and the current situation in Liberia. Apart from that, I loved this book on its own as a coming of age story of a woman who is almost exactly my age but had such a starkly different story. I found her personal story incredibly poignant.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I have family in Liberia so this memoir felt more personal than others. The House at Sugar Beach explores childhood and early adolescence in Monrovia Liberia before the war. The chapters also give an adequate amount of history lessons (without overwhelming the reader) that explain the country's past, and political makeup in the government at the time, giving readers, enough knowledge to understand how some of the roots of the conflict began growing. The book has some sad parts as it does detail some common war crimes committed against members of the author's family. Yet, resilience and finding the strength to carry on are dominant themes in the story. It's a heartfelt read that I feel will resonate with many people who enjoy nonfiction and learning about the nature of conflict through the eyes of a local person.
Very well written autobiography, very fascinating, it does touch on some of the darkness in Liberia which is difficult to swallow but that is more near the end of the book and I still felt it to be an uplifting book.
informative
reflective
about halfway through and not inspired to keep going..........
This is how I want to consume history from here on out
challenging
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
Brilliant book if you want to understand Liberias history and why in the civil war. Helenes language is very precise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War