A review by pennyriley
That Hair by Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida

1.0

This is a semi-autobiographical memoir of Mila, dual national, born in Angola who moved to Portugal as a young child, written as a third person narrative. I suppose it's supposed to be a socio/political/cultural commentary on growing up coloured in white Europe in the 1980s, and each chapter has some anecdotal reference to her hair as an anchor point. Had it been longer I would not have finished it, but 140 skipping some of it can be managed in an afternoon. The writing is utterly pretentious - it reminds me of the kind of writing that too often accompanies art exhibitions that look as though even I could have produced the exhibits. To be truthful some of the writing IS beautiful and I also don't know how much the translator should be blamed. You might love it; I didn't.