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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
Meh? Meh.
This book did very little for me. For context, I enjoy books with: realistic speech/dialogue, strong (and dramatic) family ties, strife, betrayal, beautiful turns of phrase, and characters who get under my skin in the best and worst ways. This book had almost none of any of this.
I really preferred the character-driven first half set in Africa. As soon as Darling steps foot on U.S. soil, it gets flat out boring. Even the first half, though, didn't keep me on the edge of my seat or reveal anything significant about the characters.
Also, maybe I'm a little bitter, but that whole scene where Darling laughs in an anorexic teenager's face and fights the urge to kick a small dog? I said to myself: there's an unlikable protagonist, and then there's just a 'bad press is good press' mentality.
This book did very little for me. For context, I enjoy books with: realistic speech/dialogue, strong (and dramatic) family ties, strife, betrayal, beautiful turns of phrase, and characters who get under my skin in the best and worst ways. This book had almost none of any of this.
I really preferred the character-driven first half set in Africa. As soon as Darling steps foot on U.S. soil, it gets flat out boring. Even the first half, though, didn't keep me on the edge of my seat or reveal anything significant about the characters.
Also, maybe I'm a little bitter, but that whole scene where Darling laughs in an anorexic teenager's face and fights the urge to kick a small dog? I said to myself: there's an unlikable protagonist, and then there's just a 'bad press is good press' mentality.
Didn't like the lag of quotation marks idk
"Look at them leaving in droves, arm in arm with loss and lost, look at them leaving in droves."
Darling and her friends grow up in Zimbabwe. After her village is bulldozer, they all move to a place they call Paradise. The children play games and turn villages into their own foreign places they can travel too. They see things children shouldn't see but know no better than to look closely and learn things beyond their years. They all secretly dream of leaving Paradise for something more, like the riches the white people that visit seem to have. Darling gets an opportunity to change her life but only finds herself more lost than she was in Paradise.
A very powerful story of kids trying to come into their own in harsh conditions. What struck me most was how clear and understandable Darling's confusion with her own identity was portrayed. Things do not just come back together when you leave the place you grew up in, especialy when you feel like you can never go back to it once you have left. She is left in a sort of inbetween, a horrid place to be for a young girl.
The first half of the book was more powerful than the second half, hence the three stars. There was a little too much mundane background in the scenes for me. I also enjoyed getting to know the friendgroup back in Paradise and was hoping to get updates on how they were doing.
Darling and her friends grow up in Zimbabwe. After her village is bulldozer, they all move to a place they call Paradise. The children play games and turn villages into their own foreign places they can travel too. They see things children shouldn't see but know no better than to look closely and learn things beyond their years. They all secretly dream of leaving Paradise for something more, like the riches the white people that visit seem to have. Darling gets an opportunity to change her life but only finds herself more lost than she was in Paradise.
A very powerful story of kids trying to come into their own in harsh conditions. What struck me most was how clear and understandable Darling's confusion with her own identity was portrayed. Things do not just come back together when you leave the place you grew up in, especialy when you feel like you can never go back to it once you have left. She is left in a sort of inbetween, a horrid place to be for a young girl.
The first half of the book was more powerful than the second half, hence the three stars. There was a little too much mundane background in the scenes for me. I also enjoyed getting to know the friendgroup back in Paradise and was hoping to get updates on how they were doing.
I didn't make notes on this one. :(
But I think I loved it. The audiobook is amazing.
But I think I loved it. The audiobook is amazing.
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
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:
Yes
emotional
informative
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:
No
I enjoyed the childlike prose, some of the places it felt like I was home.
This novel is at times charming, at times disturbing. The author does an excellent job making the reader uncomfortable and is obviously a talented writer. I thought this was a well-crafted story and the narrator drew me in right away.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Personally I preferred the second part set in the U.S.A. to the first one set in Zimbabwe as I'm genuinely interested in reading stories about (im)migration - as such I found chapter 16 (the one about the life of undocumented immigrants) beautifully written & truly touching. Yet, for the rest of the book I was generally little engaged into the whole story...it tries to raise many important matters which are individually significant to be talked about, but they keep all be mentioned on the surface somehow...no subject is truly carried out with real depth which personally I found to be a pity...perhaps less would have meant more! 🤷🏼♀️
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No