Scan barcode
A review by nannahnannah
Home by Nnedi Okorafor
4.0
My wish that this was longer will be a running theme, I think. There was so much to cover, and not a lot of words to do it with! But I could not stop reading it, and it improves on the first in the best ways.
Representation:
- the MC and her family are Himba, indigenous people from parts of Namibia & Angola
- a few secondary characters are nomadic people described as “old old Africans”
Binti has been at Oomza Uni for a year now, after having been the lone survivor of a mass murder committed by the Meduse on her way to the university. She’s decided it’s time to visit home and go on the pilgrimage that would traditionally make her a woman, even if her people might not accept her anyway. As a symbol of the truce Binti created on her flight to Oomza Uni, the Meduse Okwu will be coming with her to visit home. He will be the first Meduse ever to see Earth. Will it create further harmony, or will the Meduse and the Khoush of Earth never be able to coexist?
You don’t even know how happy I am that this second installment deals with trauma. There was no way Binti would be able to live through all she did in the first book and not be greatly affected by it. I have PTSD, too, and the panic attacks, the flashbacks … it all feels very real and genuine.
Binti: Home is written in the same style as the first, with somewhat simple language and a few typos here and there, but it feels much more mature. Not only does Binti have to face what happened on the ship with the Meduse, she has to confront her own decision to run away from home and the pain it caused her family. As well as the judgement from her very own people -- and some prejudices within herself.
I couldn’t put it down.
Representation:
- the MC and her family are Himba, indigenous people from parts of Namibia & Angola
- a few secondary characters are nomadic people described as “old old Africans”
Binti has been at Oomza Uni for a year now, after having been the lone survivor of a mass murder committed by the Meduse on her way to the university. She’s decided it’s time to visit home and go on the pilgrimage that would traditionally make her a woman, even if her people might not accept her anyway. As a symbol of the truce Binti created on her flight to Oomza Uni, the Meduse Okwu will be coming with her to visit home. He will be the first Meduse ever to see Earth. Will it create further harmony, or will the Meduse and the Khoush of Earth never be able to coexist?
You don’t even know how happy I am that this second installment deals with trauma. There was no way Binti would be able to live through all she did in the first book and not be greatly affected by it. I have PTSD, too, and the panic attacks, the flashbacks … it all feels very real and genuine.
Binti: Home is written in the same style as the first, with somewhat simple language and a few typos here and there, but it feels much more mature. Not only does Binti have to face what happened on the ship with the Meduse, she has to confront her own decision to run away from home and the pain it caused her family. As well as the judgement from her very own people -- and some prejudices within herself.
I couldn’t put it down.
Content Warnings
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
also: PTSD flashbacks