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winterpirate's review
emotional
informative
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
3.0
A decent book about apartheid in South Africa in the 70's, told from the perspective of Beauty, a black woman, and Robin, a 9-year old white girl. Robin has been recently orphaned, and Beauty is hired by Robin's aunt to be her new caretaker. Beauty's daughter has also gone missing, and she is trying to bring her home.
I don't know that you necessarily needed the white perspective in this one, and I think the messaging and story in general would have been stronger without it. I feel like this could have been more impactful if it had been told from only Beauty's point of view, or even Beauty and Nomsa's (Beauty's daughter). You would still get the juxtaposition of how black people and white people were living differently at the time from Beauty being ingrained in Robin's life, and we still would have known what Robin was up to. Plus, it would have forced the writer towards a more realistic ending. Without spoiling anything, that ten year old manages to pull off some crazy things.
The author also chooses to add in other kinds of prejudice, peeking quickly into homophobia and antisemitism at the time. I understand the idea behind it, but I feel like it should have been either explored more deeply or left out. The issues of racism and the apartheid were heinous enough on their own to understand the concept of how these things hurt people.
Okay execution of a good concept.
I don't know that you necessarily needed the white perspective in this one, and I think the messaging and story in general would have been stronger without it. I feel like this could have been more impactful if it had been told from only Beauty's point of view, or even Beauty and Nomsa's (Beauty's daughter). You would still get the juxtaposition of how black people and white people were living differently at the time from Beauty being ingrained in Robin's life, and we still would have known what Robin was up to. Plus, it would have forced the writer towards a more realistic ending. Without spoiling anything, that ten year old manages to pull off some crazy things.
The author also chooses to add in other kinds of prejudice, peeking quickly into homophobia and antisemitism at the time. I understand the idea behind it, but I feel like it should have been either explored more deeply or left out. The issues of racism and the apartheid were heinous enough on their own to understand the concept of how these things hurt people.
Okay execution of a good concept.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Antisemitism
greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Death of parent, War, Classism, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Murder, Racism, Violence, Homophobia, and Racial slurs
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