alatarmaia's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I picked up this book by impulse when it was on sale, and then ended up never reading it for about a year and a half. HUGE mistake. I could have experienced the magic so much sooner.
Mama Day is a fascinating look into a tiny Black island community, with a vivid history and a culture whose depth and meaning the author skillfully relates without overloading the exposition. The bonds between the residents of the islands, their entangled pasts, and the trauma in some of those pasts were amazingly clear even when so few details were granted.
I can't find the right words to explain my feelings on the magic in this book, the way it's written, the way it's performed, its effects and its subtlety and the moments where it loses that subtlety. All I can say is this is an amazing narrative on family and tragedy and surviving tragedy.
Mama Day is a fascinating look into a tiny Black island community, with a vivid history and a culture whose depth and meaning the author skillfully relates without overloading the exposition. The bonds between the residents of the islands, their entangled pasts, and the trauma in some of those pasts were amazingly clear even when so few details were granted.
I can't find the right words to explain my feelings on the magic in this book, the way it's written, the way it's performed, its effects and its subtlety and the moments where it loses that subtlety. All I can say is this is an amazing narrative on family and tragedy and surviving tragedy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Child death and Death
Minor: Slavery
In the beginning, the character Cocoa refers to other races/ethnicities with food-based terms. It comes from a Black woman, but it might be uncomfortable for people to see Asians and other groups referred to like that (I found it mildly demeaning). One major character also grew up in an orphanage where children were routinely denied food at meals as punishment.
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