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displacedcactus's review against another edition
emotional
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
If you are specifically looking for something to complete the Haiti prompt in the StoryGraph Reads the World challenge, you could do worse than choosing this book. It has a few things going for it in that regard:
1. It's a very brisk and easy read, great if you're trying to complete your prompts as the year winds down around us.
2. The story does deal with some heavy subjects (well-detailed in the content warnings here on SG), but the tone overall is pretty bright and there's no graphic, explicit on-page content.
3. The story weaves together a lightly revised version of Haiti's history, its current state, and the diaspora experience. I feel like this really fits the spirit of the Reads the World challenge, as the idea was to get to know other countries that we might not encounter in our usual reading and media consumption.
If you're not reading for the challenge, I can't give it a very strong recommendation. I didn't particularly click with Alaine as a narrator, and a couple of elements of the story didn't sit right with me (getting into them would involve really spoiling the end of the story). The romance element felt tacked-on and poorly fleshed out (I say this as a romance reader, who enjoys a good romantic subplot in any sort of fiction), and at times it felt like there was simultaneously too much going on, and nothing happening.
Your mileage may vary, which is why I don't give books star ratings. I suspect a lot of readers will immediately love Alaine and enjoy spending a few hundred pages in her company. If you're curious about this book, go ahead and find a sample online and you should know pretty quickly if this is a book you'll enjoy reading, though you may still share my quibbles with the end.
1. It's a very brisk and easy read, great if you're trying to complete your prompts as the year winds down around us.
2. The story does deal with some heavy subjects (well-detailed in the content warnings here on SG), but the tone overall is pretty bright and there's no graphic, explicit on-page content.
3. The story weaves together a lightly revised version of Haiti's history, its current state, and the diaspora experience. I feel like this really fits the spirit of the Reads the World challenge, as the idea was to get to know other countries that we might not encounter in our usual reading and media consumption.
If you're not reading for the challenge, I can't give it a very strong recommendation. I didn't particularly click with Alaine as a narrator, and a couple of elements of the story didn't sit right with me (getting into them would involve really spoiling the end of the story). The romance element felt tacked-on and poorly fleshed out (I say this as a romance reader, who enjoys a good romantic subplot in any sort of fiction), and at times it felt like there was simultaneously too much going on, and nothing happening.
Your mileage may vary, which is why I don't give books star ratings. I suspect a lot of readers will immediately love Alaine and enjoy spending a few hundred pages in her company. If you're curious about this book, go ahead and find a sample online and you should know pretty quickly if this is a book you'll enjoy reading, though you may still share my quibbles with the end.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Dementia
Minor: Animal death, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault