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A review by simonlorden
Our Daughter, Who Art in America by Mukana Press
4.0
I received a copy from NetGalley, and this is my voluntary and honest review.
A collection of ten stories by African authors, about storytelling and the human condition. These stories are vibrant and many-faced, dealing with emotions, grief, family and expectations. I especially enjoyed all the unfamiliar-to-me foods. The characters feel alive, and there is some beautiful writing inside this anthology.
Several stories are about strict traditions and expectations for women to be baby-makers, which was really difficult to read at times.
That being said, my main problem was that I don't think the foreword accurately represents this anthology at all. According to the foreword, the seven stories in the first part are meant to be "easy to read", "escapism" and make you "laugh and smile". I would say maybe two of the stories made me smile. The others were well-written, but often bittersweet or outright sad. One of them had a homeless person being cut into pieces for organs, which definitely didn't make me laugh. Maybe we have a different sense of humor.
On the other hand, the mention of war and atrocities in the foreword made me expect the topic of war in the second part, but instead the three stories there are about grief, biracial identity and abortion - serious and important topics, but more "mundane" than I would have expected.
So, in short, the stories themselves are wonderful, but I do think the foreword gives you some wrong expectations.
A collection of ten stories by African authors, about storytelling and the human condition. These stories are vibrant and many-faced, dealing with emotions, grief, family and expectations. I especially enjoyed all the unfamiliar-to-me foods. The characters feel alive, and there is some beautiful writing inside this anthology.
Several stories are about strict traditions and expectations for women to be baby-makers, which was really difficult to read at times.
That being said, my main problem was that I don't think the foreword accurately represents this anthology at all. According to the foreword, the seven stories in the first part are meant to be "easy to read", "escapism" and make you "laugh and smile". I would say maybe two of the stories made me smile. The others were well-written, but often bittersweet or outright sad. One of them had a homeless person being cut into pieces for organs, which definitely didn't make me laugh. Maybe we have a different sense of humor.
On the other hand, the mention of war and atrocities in the foreword made me expect the topic of war in the second part, but instead the three stories there are about grief, biracial identity and abortion - serious and important topics, but more "mundane" than I would have expected.
So, in short, the stories themselves are wonderful, but I do think the foreword gives you some wrong expectations.