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A review by writtenontheflyleaves
The Book Of Echoes by Rosanna Amaka
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
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
4.0
The Book of Echoes by Rosanna Amaka 🌞 ad/ gifted products featured
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Today is my stop on the blog tour for @rosannaamaka’s debut novel #TheBookofEchoes, out 1st July! Thank you @izz.reading @doubledayukbooks for my gifted copy!
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🌓 The plot: Narrated by the spirit of an enslaved woman who died in London’s docks, The Book of Echoes is the story of Michael and Ngozi, a boy from Brixton and a girl from Obowi, Nigeria. They each grapple with generational trauma and the violence they experience in their own lives, juggling obligations to their families with their own desires to make something of themselves, to break out from under the long shadow of the past.
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I love a good ghostly narrator! It provides a perspective that’s only possible in fiction - the ability to find the improbable links between characters, to illuminate the roads not taken or the forgotten corners of history. It was used to great effect here, as it not only allowed exploration of sweeping themes like gentrification and generational trauma, but also helped to link the two halves of the novel through the faith you have in the narrator’s perspective, your trust that she will bring these stories together. I don’t think I’ve read a novel that hammers home so clearly how Britain’s colonial past echoes into the present day, and I loved that about this book!
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In terms of the characters, I loved both Michael and Ngozi equally, though I think I was so invested in them each individually that I found the eventual meeting of their narratives slightly underwhelming. Grief and loss are strong themes in this novel and Amaka deals with them well, and this book also had maybe my favourite character description I’ve read in ages: “she looked thrown together like a midnight sandwich” 🥪
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🌜Read it if you loved Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, as this is very similar but set in Britain/Nigeria rather than the US/Ghana, or if you read Black and British by David Olusoga and want to read novels that deal with the topics addressed there - I felt like B&B provided so much of the context for this book!
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🚫 Avoid it if you are avoiding stories about parental death, murder, rape, racism, violence, or police brutality.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
-
Today is my stop on the blog tour for @rosannaamaka’s debut novel #TheBookofEchoes, out 1st July! Thank you @izz.reading @doubledayukbooks for my gifted copy!
-
🌓 The plot: Narrated by the spirit of an enslaved woman who died in London’s docks, The Book of Echoes is the story of Michael and Ngozi, a boy from Brixton and a girl from Obowi, Nigeria. They each grapple with generational trauma and the violence they experience in their own lives, juggling obligations to their families with their own desires to make something of themselves, to break out from under the long shadow of the past.
-
I love a good ghostly narrator! It provides a perspective that’s only possible in fiction - the ability to find the improbable links between characters, to illuminate the roads not taken or the forgotten corners of history. It was used to great effect here, as it not only allowed exploration of sweeping themes like gentrification and generational trauma, but also helped to link the two halves of the novel through the faith you have in the narrator’s perspective, your trust that she will bring these stories together. I don’t think I’ve read a novel that hammers home so clearly how Britain’s colonial past echoes into the present day, and I loved that about this book!
-
In terms of the characters, I loved both Michael and Ngozi equally, though I think I was so invested in them each individually that I found the eventual meeting of their narratives slightly underwhelming. Grief and loss are strong themes in this novel and Amaka deals with them well, and this book also had maybe my favourite character description I’ve read in ages: “she looked thrown together like a midnight sandwich” 🥪
-
🌜Read it if you loved Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, as this is very similar but set in Britain/Nigeria rather than the US/Ghana, or if you read Black and British by David Olusoga and want to read novels that deal with the topics addressed there - I felt like B&B provided so much of the context for this book!
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🚫 Avoid it if you are avoiding stories about parental death, murder, rape, racism, violence, or police brutality.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, Death, Death of parent, Miscarriage, and Slavery