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krtlszlv's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
jenmat1197's review against another edition
4.0
I read the English Version
This book takes place during the Portugese rule of Guinea-Bissau. It starts with a young girl named Ndani who is looking for work as a maid. She is going house to house until a couple finally decides to take her in. The head of the house- Dona Deolinda - thinks Ndani's sole needs saving through religious intervention. She treats Ndani more like a slave than a house maid.
Ndani leaves the service of this house when she becomes the wife of a village chief. He is wealthy and he built a mansion and a school to impressed the Portugese administrators. The village chief leaves Ndani when he finds out she isn't a virgin, and she falls in love with one of the teachers at the school. What happens next is a series of problems that happen only because of the teacher's skin color.
This is a good book. It is short, but I felt that it had enough time for character developement. There is definitely a lot of political and racial undertones in the book that ALMOST overshadow the story. But I do think they were necessary to reflect the feelings of the people in this area during the time the Portugese were there.
I definitely recommend giving it a read. I am glad I found this one.
This book takes place during the Portugese rule of Guinea-Bissau. It starts with a young girl named Ndani who is looking for work as a maid. She is going house to house until a couple finally decides to take her in. The head of the house- Dona Deolinda - thinks Ndani's sole needs saving through religious intervention. She treats Ndani more like a slave than a house maid.
Ndani leaves the service of this house when she becomes the wife of a village chief. He is wealthy and he built a mansion and a school to impressed the Portugese administrators. The village chief leaves Ndani when he finds out she isn't a virgin, and she falls in love with one of the teachers at the school. What happens next is a series of problems that happen only because of the teacher's skin color.
This is a good book. It is short, but I felt that it had enough time for character developement. There is definitely a lot of political and racial undertones in the book that ALMOST overshadow the story. But I do think they were necessary to reflect the feelings of the people in this area during the time the Portugese were there.
I definitely recommend giving it a read. I am glad I found this one.
scienceworks's review against another edition
challenging
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
yuukat's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
amyjo25's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
anetq's review against another edition
3.0
I am probably only finishing this to fill in for Guinea-Bissau in my reading Africa endeavour. It's only 150 pages, but it's taken me a while as it's a bit disjointed and feels like something I've heard before. Maybe it would have worked as a series of short stories?
There are a lot of interesting problems and angles in this book, but I don't really get a feeling for the main character, so it all becomes a bit of an exercise in 'how shit life is if you are poor and a woman in a poor african country, you're fucked whether you are in the tribal country or in the big cities'. Everyone wants something from you or nothing to do with you. In this case it's more of the latter: Ndile escapes her village, where everyone thinks she's a curse to everyone, in the city she is lucky not to starve to death by becoming a housegirl. But while the lady of the house gives her a new name and demands that she embraces religion, the man of the house forcibly makes her embrace something else - and there is no happy end to those conflicts, at least not for the poor girl.
Then we're back to the tribal lands where the much thinking chief are having problems getting the respect he thinks he deserves - and there is much thinking (he thinks) about respect and taxes (which I find rather uninteresting. [This is not the first book I've read about wounded male pride and rivalry, it won't be the last...] - he decides he need a white-wise woman, but he expects a virgin, so that doesn't end well either. And then there's the first black teacher. and finally love - but that too ends in tragedy.
There are a lot of interesting problems and angles in this book, but I don't really get a feeling for the main character, so it all becomes a bit of an exercise in 'how shit life is if you are poor and a woman in a poor african country, you're fucked whether you are in the tribal country or in the big cities'. Everyone wants something from you or nothing to do with you. In this case it's more of the latter: Ndile escapes her village, where everyone thinks she's a curse to everyone, in the city she is lucky not to starve to death by becoming a housegirl. But while the lady of the house gives her a new name and demands that she embraces religion, the man of the house forcibly makes her embrace something else - and there is no happy end to those conflicts, at least not for the poor girl.
Then we're back to the tribal lands where the much thinking chief are having problems getting the respect he thinks he deserves - and there is much thinking (he thinks) about respect and taxes (which I find rather uninteresting. [This is not the first book I've read about wounded male pride and rivalry, it won't be the last...] - he decides he need a white-wise woman, but he expects a virgin, so that doesn't end well either. And then there's the first black teacher. and finally love - but that too ends in tragedy.
la_karina1818's review against another edition
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
An emotional novel describing the life of the black natives in Guinea Bissau during the control of the Portuguese in the area. It briefly explores ideas that worried the white population at the time such as the presence of Communism and the fall of power of their control. The story revolves around the life of Ndani, beginning as a 13 year old girl going to look for work in a white household, which causes a chain of events that later on lead to other unfortunate events in her life. It develops the essence of the time and the struggles that the black population has had in gaining their freedom and struggling to live on equal terms with the white settlers in their country. I don't have a lot of thoughts on it as I didn't feel very strongly about it. The middle two chapters about the Regulo wasn't something I was interested in, as the politics and laws of the country and the time period wasn't explained so I felt disattached and confused. Ndani's side of the story was interesting and emotional towards the very end. Overall, it was an informative and emotive insight into the lives of the people during the Portuguese occupied Guinea Bissau.Â