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A review by stephibabes
The Parade by Dave Eggers
3.0
I found the pacing of this story really enjoyable. There wasn't a dull moment. The two main characters were very believable, even if they were almost impossible to like. Four with his stubborn determination to keep focused on the task at hand, and Nine with his foolishly reckless behaviour and womanising.
I guess, by the end, partly because of the ending, I felt that it was all a bit white, and maaaaybe partly that is the point. White saviours sweeping in to fix the road and lauding the positive effects it would inevitably have on 'civilising' this conflict ridden country. The only briefly acknowledged use of arms and fighter planes from USA to continue that conflict. But most of all the constant inability of the protagonist to trust and not believe the worst of the people putting themselves at great risk to help him. The fact that our main character get to leave at the end is telling. But maybe this aims to leave White liberal readers with questions over their own complicity in exactly this sort of work that they paint as inherently virtuous, all the while big faceless companies cream the profits, in doing what some would try and claim to be 'aid work', from countries already bled dry by the very systemic global inequalities inherent in capitalism that make these conflicts endemic.
I borrowed this audiobook from my local library. Support your library!
I guess, by the end, partly because of the ending, I felt that it was all a bit white, and maaaaybe partly that is the point. White saviours sweeping in to fix the road and lauding the positive effects it would inevitably have on 'civilising' this conflict ridden country. The only briefly acknowledged use of arms and fighter planes from USA to continue that conflict. But most of all the constant inability of the protagonist to trust and not believe the worst of the people putting themselves at great risk to help him. The fact that our main character get to leave at the end is telling. But maybe this aims to leave White liberal readers with questions over their own complicity in exactly this sort of work that they paint as inherently virtuous, all the while big faceless companies cream the profits, in doing what some would try and claim to be 'aid work', from countries already bled dry by the very systemic global inequalities inherent in capitalism that make these conflicts endemic.
I borrowed this audiobook from my local library. Support your library!