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100reads's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The biggest disappointment. I had to force myself to read all the stories. There are only 4 stories that I liked.
lindseyzank's review against another edition
4.0
An overall nice collection of stories. I of course enjoyed some more than others. I appreciate Habila's introduction and his efforts to include authors from many countries.
melodyseestrees's review
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
misspalah's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting read especially when you get to see the distinction of writing style among each author. From Senegal to Egypt, the authors usually use their origin country as the backdrop for the main character that they wrote in the short story. Most story got associated with strong emotion such as Sadness, Grief, Struggle, Longing and Frustration. This probably is the best compilation of short story ive read this year. I seldom read them due to the ambiguous plot, the open ending style and the disconnection feeling of not being able to comprehend the message behind the story. This kind of reasons is why i stay away from short story. However, this one is full of wonder.
miliemoon's review against another edition
4.0
The stories I read were good. I love short stories it just transports you shortly into someone's life. It's life observing people from a bench. You only get a slice of their lives and your imagination can draw images of what could have happened before or what will be next. I find it also really good to break my biases. Because my brain automatically makes associations and then as I get to know the characters, the shortcuts gets shredded one by one. Quiet fascinating to witness this happening in the mind.
paulap's review against another edition
2.0
There were a couple of interesting stories, but most of them fell flat for me. I enjoyed most the ones talking about colonialism and it’s consequences. The introduction about the style of modern African writers was probably the most interesting part though.
ghita3's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
cleoausten's review
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
kaarna's review against another edition
4.0
I'm really hesitant on whether to give this anthology 3 or 4 stars. It's always hard when there are so many authors in one book - I like some of them more than others, and I can't figure out a fair average.
The book introduces over 20 modern African writers. The editor calls them the 'post-nationalist' generation, with respect and warmth. The introduction is a good place to start this book, it gives you a lot of good background information on how and why the writers and stories were selected and arranged. Because let's be honest - it's quite an impossible task to collect all the best short stories of an entire continent.
One story that stays with me even though it was at the very beginning of the book, is Olufemi Terry's "Stickfighting Days". It is brutal, violent, and told in a very every day kind of language and style. It came to life even more when I realized how young the characters are.
On the whole, there were many stories with women as the main character, and with "women's stories" as the focus. Stories of unhappy marriages, stories of pregnancy, stories of sex work. (I'm not saying these are women-only subjects, just culturally more connected to women or literature by women. Please tell me if my text or preconceptions here are sexist, transphobic, or something else like that.) There were also stories with children as the main character, which somehow surprised me. Of course, there were may stories with young men as the main character, and also some with older men.
However, all the characters seemed to be straight and cisgender. Is there a hidden queer African writing that has not made itself to this anthology? I refuse to believe there are not writing queer Africans, and why would they only write straight cis people. The result would probably be the same if "The Granta Book of the European Short Story" were made (or is there one?), I guess. Still, I wanted to see my own people there, in this (to me) foreign continent.
Recommended to people who want a (relatively) quick look at the most important (?) African writers of today. The book doesn't say which country they are from, so if your interest is to read from a specific country, you have to do some googling. Some really amazing stories, some that felt a bit like exercises from a writing class, but all in all a good read and very well worth the time.
The book introduces over 20 modern African writers. The editor calls them the 'post-nationalist' generation, with respect and warmth. The introduction is a good place to start this book, it gives you a lot of good background information on how and why the writers and stories were selected and arranged. Because let's be honest - it's quite an impossible task to collect all the best short stories of an entire continent.
One story that stays with me even though it was at the very beginning of the book, is Olufemi Terry's "Stickfighting Days". It is brutal, violent, and told in a very every day kind of language and style. It came to life even more when I realized how young the characters are.
On the whole, there were many stories with women as the main character, and with "women's stories" as the focus. Stories of unhappy marriages, stories of pregnancy, stories of sex work. (I'm not saying these are women-only subjects, just culturally more connected to women or literature by women. Please tell me if my text or preconceptions here are sexist, transphobic, or something else like that.) There were also stories with children as the main character, which somehow surprised me. Of course, there were may stories with young men as the main character, and also some with older men.
However, all the characters seemed to be straight and cisgender. Is there a hidden queer African writing that has not made itself to this anthology? I refuse to believe there are not writing queer Africans, and why would they only write straight cis people. The result would probably be the same if "The Granta Book of the European Short Story" were made (or is there one?), I guess. Still, I wanted to see my own people there, in this (to me) foreign continent.
Recommended to people who want a (relatively) quick look at the most important (?) African writers of today. The book doesn't say which country they are from, so if your interest is to read from a specific country, you have to do some googling. Some really amazing stories, some that felt a bit like exercises from a writing class, but all in all a good read and very well worth the time.
rosannevk's review against another edition
4.0
I really wanted to read this book because I knew very little African writers. As the book compiles so many writers I think it’s hard to give it a rating because I loved some stories more than others. As a book overall I really liked that it took stories from different generations of African writers and ordered them in chronological order, because it gives more of an impression of the development of African writing. I usually quite like reading short stories because it gives you an impression of an author’s writing style and it’s a freshly new make up from the usual novel.