Reviews

Foreign Soil: And Other Stories by Maxine Beneba Clarke

lwhite52's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

atani31's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

bianca_howard's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

transcendent's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Foreign Soil my beloved.

Grateful to have found a hardcover copy of a phenomenal collection of short stories at my local op shop for only $3 after giving my original copy to one of my friends' siblings for our consecutive year 12 lit classes.

I truly believe that this is one that shouldn't be described so I'll just tell you my most favourites and not so favourites (because theyre all number 1 in my heart):

faves faves

1. Harlem Jones
2. Railton Road
3. Gaps in the Hickory

rahhhhh i love these so much

not so faves

1. Foreign Soil
2. Shu Yi
3. Hope (though just)

could it be because these are confronting? maybe! but ive read this book like 3 times now and these just make it so hard to read the rest.

sarahassaad_851's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Read it for Year 10 Literature.
Got a signed copy. I regret not being able to go myself to have it signed but still.
I remember liking Aviation, Shu Yi, and The Sukiyaki Bookclub.

esshgee's review against another edition

3.0

Some challenging and interesting themes in these stories. I wasn't a fan of her writing in the accent, I just found it a bit frustrating to read. The stories I liked best were Aviation, David, and Foreign Soil

mellabella's review against another edition

3.0

As with any book of short stories, there were stories I wish were full length books.
The others? Meh.
David, Big Islan, and Harlem Jones, were my favorites.
Shu Yi was heartbreaking.
I'm looking forward to reading other works by this author.

efg1217's review against another edition

3.0

**3.5**

cheyneflynn's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I loved the juxtapositions within the stories and how the stories differed from each other 

rachhenderson's review against another edition

3.0

Foreign Soil is a collection of short stories, mostly about people of colour, by Melbourne author, Maxine Beneba Clarke.

I'm sure these are very good short stories, I'm just not a fan of the genre. I don't enjoy having to meet new characters and figure out what what's going on every 20-odd pages. I also don't like the little snippets of a real story that you sometimes get in a short story. There were quite a few in this collection that I thought "You can't leave it there! I need to know how this works out!".

Then there were the stories that were written in the accent of the main character...

I gave the author's autobiography, [b:The Hate Race|28428354|The Hate Race|Maxine Beneba Clarke|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1470058686l/28428354._SY75_.jpg|48538495], five stars and would love to read more of her long format works. Short stories just aren't for me.