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nssutton's review against another edition
4.0
required materials for ya meeting. i loved the ear, the eye and the arm but never really thought to seek out anything else nancy farmer had written. i absolutely loved this, even when it dragged out a little bit.
librariandest's review against another edition
4.0
Wow. It took me a long time to listen to this whole book, so my impression of it is a little fragmented. First off, it's about a girl (12 or 13 years old) named Nhamo (which means "disaster") who lives in a remote village in Mozambique. She's kind of a Cinderella character because her mother is dead and she lives with her aunt who makes her do all the hard work (but she's not as miserable as Cinderella). The story is told in the third person, but Nhamo's POV is definitely primary.
Nhamo's tribe is Shona, so we learn quite a lot about the Shona religion (and Farmer gives us an appendix with more info as well). As Nhamo embarks on a dangerous journey, she relies more and more on her beliefs to give her strength.
The story takes place in the 1980s, so towards the end of the book there is a conflict between modern, Western religion and Nhamo's native religion. We also learn a little about the conflicts between the native Africans of Zimbabwe and the white settlers/invaders.
A lot of Nhamo's story is about surviving alone in the wilderness, a little like [b:Island of the Blue Dolphins|233818|Island of the Blue Dolphins|Scott O'Dell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172966185s/233818.jpg|3215136]. Nhamo tells a lot of great stories passed down from her grandmother. She deals with the absence of her parents. She celebrates her victories by making up songs that are like, "I am Nhamo! I am the best!" It's hard not to love her for being so clever and so brave.
And the audio book was amazing. The reader did wonderful accents, and really gave each character a life, especially Crocodile Guts, Dr. van Heerden, and Ambuya.
Nhamo's tribe is Shona, so we learn quite a lot about the Shona religion (and Farmer gives us an appendix with more info as well). As Nhamo embarks on a dangerous journey, she relies more and more on her beliefs to give her strength.
The story takes place in the 1980s, so towards the end of the book there is a conflict between modern, Western religion and Nhamo's native religion. We also learn a little about the conflicts between the native Africans of Zimbabwe and the white settlers/invaders.
A lot of Nhamo's story is about surviving alone in the wilderness, a little like [b:Island of the Blue Dolphins|233818|Island of the Blue Dolphins|Scott O'Dell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172966185s/233818.jpg|3215136]. Nhamo tells a lot of great stories passed down from her grandmother. She deals with the absence of her parents. She celebrates her victories by making up songs that are like, "I am Nhamo! I am the best!" It's hard not to love her for being so clever and so brave.
And the audio book was amazing. The reader did wonderful accents, and really gave each character a life, especially Crocodile Guts, Dr. van Heerden, and Ambuya.
swissmunicipal's review against another edition
3.0
This was good, but I frequently felt like I had to push myself along to get through it.
jordb1213's review against another edition
DNF at pg 150 (approx).
I tried. I really tried. But
Things this book does well:
-world building - Farmer is clearly trying to use the book to tell about life in Mozambique, which she does very very well. This is tbh the crux of the book, not the actual "adventuring."
- writing- Farmer is a good writer. She uses language well. I'm giving stars just for how lovely her language itself is.
Things this book does not so well:
- pacing: This is why I got bored. It gets so caught up in teaching us about Mozambique that it sometimes forgets to have a plot. The core incident of the book, per the back, is mc needing to leave her village. This doesn't happen until. And there wasn't enough relevant content before this to justify that. Once she goes on her adventure, it's painfully repetitive. It has the same energy as [b:Island of the Blue Dolphins|233818|Island of the Blue Dolphins|Scott O'Dell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1475166260l/233818._SY75_.jpg|3215136], except where island of the blue dolphins is relatively short and aims to tell the story of daily life, this is phrased as an adventure and is far longer. Each time she gets sidetracked the plot is exactly the same.
I tried. I really tried. But
Spoiler
by the middle of the book she had already gone through the same exact thing 3 times and I'm bored. I also continually got frustrated with the main character- the fact that she doesn't reach Zimbabwe because she tied her boat up improperly is just so incredibly stupid.Things this book does well:
-world building - Farmer is clearly trying to use the book to tell about life in Mozambique, which she does very very well. This is tbh the crux of the book, not the actual "adventuring."
- writing- Farmer is a good writer. She uses language well. I'm giving stars just for how lovely her language itself is.
Things this book does not so well:
- pacing: This is why I got bored. It gets so caught up in teaching us about Mozambique that it sometimes forgets to have a plot. The core incident of the book, per the back, is mc needing to leave her village. This doesn't happen until
Spoiler
75 pages into this 300 page bookhekate24's review against another edition
5.0
Ahhh, I just straight-up loved this one! Nhamo is such an endearing protagonist that her presence transformed some of the portions of this book that might have seemed repetitive or cliched in another book. Great descriptions of landscape and animals. Respectful treatment of the main character's religion. This was just a very fulfilling read.
megpsmit's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to reread this book before passing it on. It was interesting to reread this after having spent time in Africa, there were a lot of things I would have not been able to picture before. I found the story itself to be long and a bit winding. It is a typical hero’s journey story but I wish it had been a little shorter and to the point.
I also had I hard time reading a book about Africa written by someone who is not African. I think it would have been a much different story told in a much different way if it was written by someone who is Black.
I also had I hard time reading a book about Africa written by someone who is not African. I think it would have been a much different story told in a much different way if it was written by someone who is Black.
lisajha's review against another edition
2.0
Themes: journeys, survival, self-discovery, perseverance, respect for elders
I was surprised at how much of a hard time I had trying to get into this book. I typically really enjoy Nancy Farmer’s work, but for some reason, I just couldn’t fall in love with this one. It wasn’t terrible—just didn’t have the kind of enthusiasm I’m used to experiencing with Farmer. The story follows Nhamo, a 14-year-old African girl whose name literally means “disaster,” whose mother has died, whose father is out of the picture, and whose grandmother, aunt, and uncle are now responsible for raising her. When sickness strikes the small village where they live, custom insists that one of the people in the village is responsible for their deaths. After an extensive debating process, Nhamo is decided on as the projected murderer, for which she’ll be killed, unless she runs away. The rest of the story follows her journey alone through the wilds of southern Africa, as Nhamo makes her way to where she thinks she has other family members. The bulk of the novel focuses on her journey, and while I typically don’t mind survival novels, I just could never quite get into Nhamo’s character, and got a little bored partway through the solo journey. But then things picked up and I enjoyed the book overall. It was just a little slow at times. I’d recommend this for 5-9th grade girls. Generally.
I was surprised at how much of a hard time I had trying to get into this book. I typically really enjoy Nancy Farmer’s work, but for some reason, I just couldn’t fall in love with this one. It wasn’t terrible—just didn’t have the kind of enthusiasm I’m used to experiencing with Farmer. The story follows Nhamo, a 14-year-old African girl whose name literally means “disaster,” whose mother has died, whose father is out of the picture, and whose grandmother, aunt, and uncle are now responsible for raising her. When sickness strikes the small village where they live, custom insists that one of the people in the village is responsible for their deaths. After an extensive debating process, Nhamo is decided on as the projected murderer, for which she’ll be killed, unless she runs away. The rest of the story follows her journey alone through the wilds of southern Africa, as Nhamo makes her way to where she thinks she has other family members. The bulk of the novel focuses on her journey, and while I typically don’t mind survival novels, I just could never quite get into Nhamo’s character, and got a little bored partway through the solo journey. But then things picked up and I enjoyed the book overall. It was just a little slow at times. I’d recommend this for 5-9th grade girls. Generally.
orestesfasting's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
medium-paced
3.25
I don't know much about Shona culture, so I can't speak for the accuracy of the book, but I appreciated that it gave real weight to Nhamo's faith and culture whilst also approaching it with nuance and conflict as any teenager in that situation would. I also appreciate the easy eschewing of a happy ending - there is a touch of the white saviour, but avoiding a straight racial dichotomy and illuminating the cultural cruelties involved on all sides really helps to increase the shared humanity. The sort of book that would have opened my mind a lot as a child, and one that does important work as well as being a great story.