Reviews

David's Story by Dorothy Driver, Zoë Wicomb

cal_devries's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

tiffanywang29's review against another edition

4.0

3.5, 3.75?

I can't say I was engrossed in this novel, but I will be thinking for a long time to come about all the questions about memory and accuracy, tensions between narrators and authors, fictionalizing/imagining stories of those whose stories can never be told in the first person... It's really fun to watch Wicomb play with this narrative and experiment to its limits. I think that's super necessary for the stories we don't know how to tell.

stephenl's review against another edition

dark informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

infinitelibrary's review against another edition

1.0

Well, that was a waste of a few hours of my life X<

ramonaleanna's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

i picked this up because i absolutely loved Wicomb's You Can't Get Lost In Cape Town. this one was a lot tougher to follow (for me at least)!

it is a postmodern text that seems to be aware of the strain it puts on the reader--its nonlinear structure mirrors the narrator's own confusion with David's retelling of his story, and the voices and characters all seem to flow into each other with very little distinction, making it hard to tell who is speaking and when. i know this was done intentionally to reflect the subject matter, but nonetheless it was difficult to get through and i consistently had to reread passages to reacclimate myself to what was going on upon picking the book back up. this all being said, there were some moments and musings i did enjoy.

signehansen's review against another edition

1.0

I am not really into postmodern writing at all, so this book never really got a hold of me... At all. But I guess it can be good if you like books like that?
What a generally helpful review this has been, don't you think? (Sorry)

flappermyrtle's review against another edition

2.0

It was very, very hard to make sense of this book. It's a postmodern text in that it is very conscious of its own construction, issues of telling the truth and of personal perspectives, etc. This does make for a difficult narrative, floating in the air, jumping from one time period to another, jumping from one consciousness to another and altogether not bothering too much with interpunction or a logical division of different paragraphs. There is artistry in that, I guess, but in the end, one should try to tell a story and not merely indicate how complex telling that story actually is, no matter how relevant this may be from a postcolonial point of view.

cobydillon14's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

paperbookmarks's review

4.0

Read for Contemporary Postcolonial Lit.
I don't know what I expected of this book, but it was so much complex and wonderfully written than I thought it was going to be. There were moments that the narrators voice just shouts about everything and it's incredibly haunting and grounding. I can't wait to delve into it and read more for my essay.