Reviews

Xala by Ousmane Sembène

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o0eileen0o's review against another edition

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dark funny informative sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

emeraldgarnet's review against another edition

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3.0

Fairly easy prose. The novel works as an allegory of government corruption. Some of the scenes definitely went for the disgust factor.

ralowe's review against another edition

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5.0

omg best ending ever. i can't spoil the ending. i can't believe i found this book. it was just on this table in front of this store out on the street. oh yeah, i forgot that sembene was a novelist. this book is so smart about patriarchy and colonization and society. it screams from the margins. and my god the cover is so fucking gorgeous. i need to read more african fiction.

jackievr's review against another edition

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fast-paced

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

3.0

sam's review against another edition

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fast-paced

3.0

don't love the writing style; I do think that that is probably on it being translated, though. And the end was weird/sucky and ableist

I prob would've liked it more if I knew enough about Senegal to understand the satire, but that it wholly on me obv

lofrando's review against another edition

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Very disappointed. The translation felt like it was lacking severely and was purposefully pretentious. I would need to read this in the original french in order to judge it fairly, and i'm sure the original text is much better than whatever i just read (it felt like it was censored as well), but based on this translation alone..... 1/5 stars, i feel really let down.