Reviews

Windward Family: An atlas of love, loss and belonging by Alexis Keir

hannahmarierobbins's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective

4.0

Thoughtful patchwork of Black diasporic life. Interweaving displacement, medical racism, enslavement, migration, barrel children, and homelessness with family love and care. Although the structure can feel a bit confusing as we jump around the different interweaving story, the payoff is touching. Weir manages to be empathetic and generous to people experiencing many different sides of being away from/parted from/left from family. 

Thanks to Netgalley for access to advance copies of the e-book and the audiobook.

abooknomad's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.75

This memoir did many things right combining fiction and nonfiction – a narrative choice I had never seen before in a memoir –, mingling personal experience with the non-personal, and the inclusion of many worthwhile and interesting conversations about race and identity from a Caribbean diaspora perspective. It's also well-written.

However, what makes this book unique is also what made it lose some of its essence as a memoir in my opinion. Although Windward Family is very informative in the way it explores the trips the author has taken, especially to his native country of Saint Vincent, it felt too meandering and lost within itself at times... and when I'm reading a memoir I like to be up close and personal.

I'd recommend this book to those looking for a different kind of memoir, larger in scope, and with a variety of perceptions. 

ARC provided by the Bookouture Audio and Netgalley, thank you.