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africanbookaddict's review
3.0
!! http://africanbookaddict.com/2015/06/05/the-housemaid-by-amma-darko/
This is such a messy, messy story (in a good way!). To be brief, this is a story of how a poor family in a Ghanaian village decide to jilt a rich business woman in the city, by using their daughter - who becomes a housemaid, to attempt to steal this rich woman's wealth. Amma Darko treats lots of social issues in her book, and this is why I respect her as a writer. In this book, issues of socio-economic differences between the rich and the poor, city life versus village life, feminism, spinsterhood, gender roles, religious beliefs, superstition etc are tackled. I liked how the story was consummated at the end, even though it was a crazy web of events occurring in the story. At some parts of the book, I felt that the writing style was choppy and too colloquial. I have problems with seeing basic grammatical errors or misspellings of 'your & you're' in novels. Sometimes I felt like I was reading a child's book because of the carelessness of the writing. But nonetheless, the social issues addressed in this book made me appreciate the story. This is a 2.5 stars book for me though.
This is such a messy, messy story (in a good way!). To be brief, this is a story of how a poor family in a Ghanaian village decide to jilt a rich business woman in the city, by using their daughter - who becomes a housemaid, to attempt to steal this rich woman's wealth. Amma Darko treats lots of social issues in her book, and this is why I respect her as a writer. In this book, issues of socio-economic differences between the rich and the poor, city life versus village life, feminism, spinsterhood, gender roles, religious beliefs, superstition etc are tackled. I liked how the story was consummated at the end, even though it was a crazy web of events occurring in the story. At some parts of the book, I felt that the writing style was choppy and too colloquial. I have problems with seeing basic grammatical errors or misspellings of 'your & you're' in novels. Sometimes I felt like I was reading a child's book because of the carelessness of the writing. But nonetheless, the social issues addressed in this book made me appreciate the story. This is a 2.5 stars book for me though.
engpunk77's review
4.0
I read this for a "Black Studies" class at UC Santa Barbara. I loved most of the books in these African Writers and Carribbean Writers Series. I can't remember much about this one, I just remember that I liked it. Notes in the margins are my own--only a few of us discussed the novels while the rest of the class slept or remained quiet since they hadn't read the book, so I had to make notes to remind myself what to talk about.
brekel19's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
turiwat's review
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Sexual content
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