Reviews

The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir by Wayétu Moore

lisettemarie's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

2.0

kristinisreading's review

4.0

Very powerful book about a young girl who experienced the displacement and trauma of war at five years old in Liberia. The first section of the book, in that perspective was amazing. So vivid in detail. Even though it is written from the five year olds perspective, the mature telling of the story reveals the horror the father and grandmother must have dealt with escaping with three young children. The later parts of the book were less strong. There’s this whole side bit about a breakup later in life that seems irrelevant. Those chapters focus on the move to the United States and life there. One strange element in the book, a self identified memoir, is a chapter written by the author from her mother’s point of view. It certainly challenges the idea of memoir. But, despite that, the story is very compelling and worth reading.

elizabethsreads's review against another edition

4.0

An incredibly powerful memoir.

katrinadm's review

challenging emotional inspiring sad fast-paced

4.5

sarahbryson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

tx2its's review against another edition

4.0

Reading 2021
Book 124: The Dragons, the Giant, the Women by Wayétu Moore

This was an audio book selection. Book 29 of #30booksin30days

This is a memoir of Moore's early childhood escaping from Liberia after war breaks out. Her mother was in the United States going to school, so the family was separated when the war broke out.

The last third of the book was very good and I was riveted to the story. I was sad that the author did not narrate her own story, I find I enjoy it more when the author puts their voice to the memoir. My rating I think is about a 3.5-3.75, but going to round to 4⭐.

caittilynn's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

4.5

peripatetic_library's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.5

kamna's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

hgranger's review against another edition

4.0

The horrors of war seen through the eyes of a child, shielded by a giant of a parent. I was a little hesitant to read it because I read “Left to Tell” about the Rwandan genocide and it was so horrifying that I wasn’t sure I was up for another round of the atrocities humans commit towards one another. But because the story is told partially through a five year old’s point of view and partially in retrospect with a distance to the experience, it felt like a different experience. The horrors are still there, still sobering, and dreadful, and unbelievable. But the story is just so powerful and leaves a feeling of hope and goodness among all the evil of the world.
There were a couple of perspective shifts that made me have to reread a paragraph or two to find out who and when, but all in all what an incredibly beautiful book, showing trauma, agony, strength, and survival.