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seventhswan's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I don't know if it was the translation or the author's intent, but the tone of this book was extremely detached and fragmented, so it was hard for me to get invested in the storyline and occasionally for me to follow what was going on. There were individual chapters that were really gripping, but then the story would go somewhere else and never really refer to those events again. I thought the book came together in the final third and wondered if it was just taking a while to get going - but then it ended, with a total lack of resolution. I just felt like the story was too serious to be told in such a remote, almost flippant way; either the plot needed to be more lighthearted and less realistic, or the tone needed to be darker and more serious.
That said, I knew next to nothing about Cameroon when I started reading and now know a little more, and I thought the ability to make the setting clear and real when I expect few readers will be intimately familiar with it was a strength of this book. I also thought the characters, while not often lovable, were real-feeling and interesting - if only they had developed more over the course of the story.
That said, I knew next to nothing about Cameroon when I started reading and now know a little more, and I thought the ability to make the setting clear and real when I expect few readers will be intimately familiar with it was a strength of this book. I also thought the characters, while not often lovable, were real-feeling and interesting - if only they had developed more over the course of the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Death of parent
Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, and Transphobia
Minor: Gun violence, Racism, Antisemitism, Abortion, and Colonisation
morebedsidebooks's review
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death, Racism, Blood, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Car accident, and Abortion
Terrorism is an overreaching concern.porshea's review
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
2.5
While this book has some merits involving showing us a contemporary Cameroon setting and sharing regional texts and cultural media that has gone without much regard in Western commentary, it suffers from the having a point of view character whose misogyny and internalized homophobia leads to awful treatment of a trans character and most women throughout the story. Because these harmful thoughts and behaviors go unchecked, the reader cannot tell if this is supposed to be commentary that the author hopes their audience will interrogate or a reflection of his own perspective.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Trafficking, Grief, and Death of parent
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