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A review by lepasseportlitteraire
She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I can’t even find the words to tell you how much I loved this book !
She would be King is a retelling of Liberian history, and more in particular about its birth. Through the life of three characters bond together by their special gifts, you’ll be brought in their lives of outcast, while they fight for their freedom and to salvage the the relationship between the African American settlers and indigenous tribes
There is so much to love and say about this book, starting with the marvellous writing style of Wayétu Moore, the amazing and endearing characters and their stories, the power dynamic between African Americans settlers and local populations. However, what I admired the most about this book it’s the way the author gives back agency to the Black people of the story
Indeed, as a white person who grew up and studied in Europe, I’ve always been fed the history of slavery in the USA and Europe as if the only active people where the colonisers, the “whites”: there was slavery, and then one day white people realised it was bad and decided to free the slaves. Never once I was taught about how black people fought for this freedom, and how even once slavery was abolished the struggle continued. This book gives back this active agency to black people, or rather it sheds light on it, has it’s always existed but purposely left out of western history books.
She would be King is a retelling of Liberian history, and more in particular about its birth. Through the life of three characters bond together by their special gifts, you’ll be brought in their lives of outcast, while they fight for their freedom and to salvage the the relationship between the African American settlers and indigenous tribes
There is so much to love and say about this book, starting with the marvellous writing style of Wayétu Moore, the amazing and endearing characters and their stories, the power dynamic between African Americans settlers and local populations. However, what I admired the most about this book it’s the way the author gives back agency to the Black people of the story
Indeed, as a white person who grew up and studied in Europe, I’ve always been fed the history of slavery in the USA and Europe as if the only active people where the colonisers, the “whites”: there was slavery, and then one day white people realised it was bad and decided to free the slaves. Never once I was taught about how black people fought for this freedom, and how even once slavery was abolished the struggle continued. This book gives back this active agency to black people, or rather it sheds light on it, has it’s always existed but purposely left out of western history books.