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A review by oxtailandcabbage
Harry Sylvester Bird by Chinelo Okparanta
4.0
I was lucky to receive an ARC of this book through netgalley in exchange for an honest review, so i'd like to thank the publisher for sending me this book.
What can I say about this book? I am speechless, amazed by the storytelling crafted by the author here, the sheer AUDACITY!!! Chinelo Okparanta is one of my favorite authors of this century and I have yet to be disappointed by her work. I am at awe by the amount of nuance, scandalous behavior, toxicity and innocence brought to Harry's character all at once. I found myself being pulled from every direction. The character work in this novel consists of various uphill battles of empathizing with Harry while also despising him deeply. I found the pacing to be straight to the point, very clean. I was gripped by this story from page one and managed to finish the book very quickly because it was such a page turner. This book will encourage people to take a closer look at child abuse, generational trauma, the dangers of white innocence, white liberalism and memory. Memory is a theme that is constantly revisited throughout this novel. And I really like the various ways it was explored from beginning to end. I thought this book was brilliant, funny, and I wanted to scream at times while reading this book publicly because so much kept happening, each chapter more appalling than the next. I really liked Maryam as a character. I admired her confidence but also recognized her own suffering through it all,while trying to build some sort of normalcy for herself,with the sorrows of displacement, migration and the daily cruelties of the world constantly at her neck. Many times I found myself wanting to protect her from her own decisions, gosh she needed it. I keep wondering what it is that she saw in that man that we the readers couldn't see, I'm always curious about questionable choices characters make. I loved that she had locs, I loved how tender she was, how she was able to follow her gut in the end and chose what was best for her.
Overall this was a satisfying read. I rated this 4 / 5 stars.
What can I say about this book? I am speechless, amazed by the storytelling crafted by the author here, the sheer AUDACITY!!! Chinelo Okparanta is one of my favorite authors of this century and I have yet to be disappointed by her work. I am at awe by the amount of nuance, scandalous behavior, toxicity and innocence brought to Harry's character all at once. I found myself being pulled from every direction. The character work in this novel consists of various uphill battles of empathizing with Harry while also despising him deeply. I found the pacing to be straight to the point, very clean. I was gripped by this story from page one and managed to finish the book very quickly because it was such a page turner. This book will encourage people to take a closer look at child abuse, generational trauma, the dangers of white innocence, white liberalism and memory. Memory is a theme that is constantly revisited throughout this novel. And I really like the various ways it was explored from beginning to end. I thought this book was brilliant, funny, and I wanted to scream at times while reading this book publicly because so much kept happening, each chapter more appalling than the next. I really liked Maryam as a character. I admired her confidence but also recognized her own suffering through it all,while trying to build some sort of normalcy for herself,with the sorrows of displacement, migration and the daily cruelties of the world constantly at her neck. Many times I found myself wanting to protect her from her own decisions, gosh she needed it. I keep wondering what it is that she saw in that man that we the readers couldn't see, I'm always curious about questionable choices characters make. I loved that she had locs, I loved how tender she was, how she was able to follow her gut in the end and chose what was best for her.
Overall this was a satisfying read. I rated this 4 / 5 stars.