A review by jayisreading
Riambel by Priya Hein

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

A powerful novel from Priya Hein, Riambel is a contemplation on the legacies of slavery and colonization on Mauritius from the perspective of Noemi, a teenage girl who is also a native to the island. The story is told in a rather simplistic and straightforward fashion with very occasional touches of lyricism. I didn’t see this as a bad thing by any means, and, in fact, I thought it worked rather well, considering that the story is narrated primarily by a teenager. Furthermore, the chapters read like interconnected vignettes that I found effective in getting Hein’s ideas across.

I was impressed by how well Hein captured the complexities of Mauritius in such a short book. She reveled in the beauty of the land and its natives, with simple yet expressive imagery. At the same time, though, she reflected on the dark history of the island nation primarily through Noemi’s experiences, with written snippets of an enslaved woman from the past interspersed between chapters. This approach was really effective in how Hein wanted to demonstrate how the past haunts the present, while leaving the future open-ended.

Riambel was a quick read, but definitely an impactful one. Like many other short fictional works, there’s a desire for more. Overall, though, I think the sparseness of this book worked in Hein’s favor to get her points across.
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