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A review by wordsofclover
Hold by Michael Donkor
2.0
I received this book from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
DNF - 25%
Hold follows the story of Belinda who is a housegirl in Ghana before she is employed to travel to London and become the companion of the wayward Amma, and the friendship between the two girls.
I was hoping to enjoy this book as the cover is absolutely stunning, and I generally love books that original start off, or have strong ties to African countries as I normally find the setting and culture so beautiful and interesting to explore via literature. However the writing style with Hold just didn't capture me or suit my reading tastes at all.
There is a strange use of English used conversationally between the people in this book from Ghana, and I couldn't understand if this was, culturally, the way Ghanaian people would speak English or if the author was trying to do something. It was hard to read though, as it felt like it had originally been written in another language and then put through Google translate to transform into English. It wasn't nice to read and I felt it interrupted the flow of the story sometimes and made it stilted and awkward.
I know from other reviews that the second half of this book is better than the first but I just couldn't quite get there.
DNF - 25%
Hold follows the story of Belinda who is a housegirl in Ghana before she is employed to travel to London and become the companion of the wayward Amma, and the friendship between the two girls.
I was hoping to enjoy this book as the cover is absolutely stunning, and I generally love books that original start off, or have strong ties to African countries as I normally find the setting and culture so beautiful and interesting to explore via literature. However the writing style with Hold just didn't capture me or suit my reading tastes at all.
There is a strange use of English used conversationally between the people in this book from Ghana, and I couldn't understand if this was, culturally, the way Ghanaian people would speak English or if the author was trying to do something. It was hard to read though, as it felt like it had originally been written in another language and then put through Google translate to transform into English. It wasn't nice to read and I felt it interrupted the flow of the story sometimes and made it stilted and awkward.
I know from other reviews that the second half of this book is better than the first but I just couldn't quite get there.