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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Audiobook version. Enjoyed this! Wonderful view into an exceptional young man's quest for education to give himself, his family, and his country a better life. Does a beautiful job fleshing out life in Malawi from family interactions, local and national politics, the terrain, mythology, etc.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Grief, Classism
Non-fiction really isn't my thing, but my book club was reading this so I read it. Overall, I liked the story and William's story of perseverance. The book was longer than I would have liked, but I don't really have any complaints other than that.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
Half of it didn’t really seem important to the overall theme of the story, just fun stories from his childhood. Don’t get me wrong, it was all good and easy to read. It was just hard to see a cohesive story throughout. About halfway through you really see the story start to come through and it gets really good and heartwarming.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
This is a great story....the kind that you imagine are still possible in the world, but don't really believe it. William, who loves in an impoverished area in Africa, gets books from a local library (that he struggles to even read, since he didn't have enough money to attend secondary school) and learns enough about electricity and magnetism to build a windmill that gives power to his family's home. He doesn't stop there, though, as he continues to build circuit breakers, rudimentary light switches, water pumps, and transformers. He is discovered and gets to travel and speak about his windmill, and get more schooling.
This is a feel good tale, but the book is not always roses. The first third of the book is setting the backstory for how impoverished Malawi is. This part of the book is slow to get going, but by the time you get to the heavy duty "windmill part," you are sooooo cheering on William.
This is a feel good tale, but the book is not always roses. The first third of the book is setting the backstory for how impoverished Malawi is. This part of the book is slow to get going, but by the time you get to the heavy duty "windmill part," you are sooooo cheering on William.
emotional
informative
inspiring
relaxing
medium-paced