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3.34 AVERAGE
3.34 AVERAGE
challenging
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
25th book of 2023.
Prose-poetry is a difficult one for me. I love prose and I love poetry but combining them doesn't always land. Like some other books of similar nature (the most modern example I can think of that I've read is Maddie Mortimer's Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies), this book has some poetic lines but never quite amounts to anything. As other reviewers have said, I got more out of the book's epilogue than the novel itself. The chapters are all short and together attempt to draw the story of Owusu's mother and her immigrant experience from Ghana to the UK. There are footnotes throughout which take on Owusu's voice, which is distinctly different.
Chapter example:
An example of the footnote voice:
An interesting experiment in storytelling, but it failed to spark much in me.
Prose-poetry is a difficult one for me. I love prose and I love poetry but combining them doesn't always land. Like some other books of similar nature (the most modern example I can think of that I've read is Maddie Mortimer's Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies), this book has some poetic lines but never quite amounts to anything. As other reviewers have said, I got more out of the book's epilogue than the novel itself. The chapters are all short and together attempt to draw the story of Owusu's mother and her immigrant experience from Ghana to the UK. There are footnotes throughout which take on Owusu's voice, which is distinctly different.
Chapter example:
'XXXV
Her hand rubs her spine
A son steps foot on her back
Relief through labour
You okay, Mum?
My back.
You want me to walk on it?
Mmm
Okay.'
An example of the footnote voice:
My mum had one of them laughs that the harder it goes, the more it starts to sound like that cartoon character. That duck one who never wore trousers. Actually, that's jokes because mum was the opposite. Ghanaian mums don't see breasts like the rest of the world, it's mad. Bruv, obviously I'm not talking about my mum's breasts. Low it.
An interesting experiment in storytelling, but it failed to spark much in me.
challenging
inspiring
“and her son wonders — why, why nothing syphoned from his mother’s body is for herself”
lovely and poignant snippets of a life between mother and son and the immigrant experience, felt a little disjointed in places but v real
the style of the prose poetry made me need to read some passages twice or three times to try and understand the rhythm or the meaning but overall enjoyed this, rly rly liked the distinctiveness of the voice in the lyrical chapters and the casual chat in the footnotes
lovely and poignant snippets of a life between mother and son and the immigrant experience, felt a little disjointed in places but v real
the style of the prose poetry made me need to read some passages twice or three times to try and understand the rhythm or the meaning but overall enjoyed this, rly rly liked the distinctiveness of the voice in the lyrical chapters and the casual chat in the footnotes
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
The content was stellar but I struggled with the format in which it was delivered. Let me discuss these as two entities.
Content: what I loved about this stunning reimagining of our authors' mother's early years was how enriched it was and how it felt like he could have been a fly on the wall.
It was so creative in how the author created this tale inspired by his mother's journey from Ghana to England and what that may have looked like for her, from the eyes of a child that wasn't born yet.
Format: the prose was a bit too floral for me to fully digest what was being said in simple terms a lot of the time, so much so that I had to reread passages often to get details to sink in. This in contrast to the footnotes felt disjointed in companion and as if it was something different happening along side that led to some confusion on my end.
"To watch a mother become a woman, deteriorate to become a girl an infant that can't be held, waiting, unaware, to submerge with the family's final and stifled breath".
Content: what I loved about this stunning reimagining of our authors' mother's early years was how enriched it was and how it felt like he could have been a fly on the wall.
It was so creative in how the author created this tale inspired by his mother's journey from Ghana to England and what that may have looked like for her, from the eyes of a child that wasn't born yet.
Format: the prose was a bit too floral for me to fully digest what was being said in simple terms a lot of the time, so much so that I had to reread passages often to get details to sink in. This in contrast to the footnotes felt disjointed in companion and as if it was something different happening along side that led to some confusion on my end.
"To watch a mother become a woman, deteriorate to become a girl an infant that can't be held, waiting, unaware, to submerge with the family's final and stifled breath".
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was a beautiful reimagining of his mothers life through the perspective of a son. I love the unique writing style and prose he used while writing this book, and its definitely worth the extra effort to understand. I loved this book, although it is not a book for everyone or that everyone would enjoy. If you like unique literature with meaning behind the story you would love this book.