A review by michaeljohnhalseartistry
Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson

2.0

My sister had to read this book in her apocalyptic literature class at uni, and she told me about it and said I should read it when she was done with it, because I'd enjoy it. Well she was wrong. The book is filled with one-dimensional characters who fail to truly sparkle in the weird, post-apocalyptic Toronto. But I think the setting was what bothered me the most. There was no need for it to be set in the world it was set in... at all. Before the opening of the novel, Toronto had become a blockaded city where the poor thrive in a collapsed civilization, while the rest of the world goes on seemingly without pause. But there's no need for it. There's nothing in the novel that warranted the collapse of society, it could have been set in modern times, or even back when Toronto was just a small city. That paired with poor writing and characters that I never cared about, led to a boring and tedious read.

The one redeeming factor, for me, was all the folklore and magic in the book. There were parts that left me with goosebumps, and despite how terrible I found the writing, those scenes were very well done, to the point where I almost forgot the problems I had with the novel. Who doesn't love a good obeah story anyway!

So in the end, I was conflicted about this novel, I think I disliked it more than I liked it, and I probably won't ever read it again. But there sure were some amazing parts.


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