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mayaroels's review against another edition
3.0
Wegdromen bij Keniaans magisch realisme, verscheurd door generationeel trauma
bustyphillips's review against another edition
4.0
"Rosette looked at Nabumbo Promise, and even though Nabumbo Promise said nothing at all, Rosette immediately knew. They had spent years next to each other, sitting in Stubborn Silence. They knew the different textures of each other's quiet. They knew which one was bare and which one was bursting at the seams." (204) oh an exquisite debut i fear
renataq's review against another edition
1.0
The only book I’ve ever DNF. Although it was beautifully written and the plot had potential it was very boring to me and I could not bear to finish it.
soso_booknook's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-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? It's complicated
2.5
tamarant4's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
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? No
5.0
December staggered in like a weary mud-encrusted vagabond who had been on her way to someplace else but whose legs had buckled and now she was here. On the second, which in Mapeli Town was known as Epitaph Day, the townspeople awoke while the sky was still silver, still tinged with ruffles of pink and blue. They gargled salt water. They greased their elbows. They tucked a flower in their hair or pinned it on their lapel. They marched to the schoolhouse, where the flag flapped at half-mast for all those who had drowned in the river or choked on a fishbone or stepped on a puff adder while walking to the marketplace. With eyes bleary and heads bowed, the townspeople thought of all the ones they had ever lost. [p. 1]
It's twelve years since Ayosa Ataraxis Brown was born to Nabumbo Promise Brown, but Ayosa's memories go back to 'the Yonder Days, before she'd turned into a girl'. She is often lonely, despite the Fatumas who live in the attic, 'half girl and half reverie', caught by a fisherman four centuries ago. Though her mama is often absent (she's an award-winning photographer), the sense of her is always present for Ayosa, who experiences her mother's memories -- and those of her grandmother, flying doctor Lola Freedom -- in the house that was built by her great-grandmother, irascible English colonist Mabel Brown, after whom the town (Mapeli) was named.
Oduor's prose is intoxicating (I've marked almost every page with highlights). The people of Mapeli are vividly strange. There's Sindano, the café owner who never has any customers and has had ten fiancés die before she could marry them; there's a milkman who never speaks; there's the apothecary Jentrix and her snot-nosed granddaughter Temerity. And there is the river, which never drowns people on Christmas Day, but which swallows and spits out Ayosa several times, and deposits lost things for her to find.
Ayosa is the heart of the novel. Even when she's lonely and miserable her essential joyfulness shines through. She's amiable, curious, clever and lonely: part of the story is about her making friends with Mbui Dash, a 'throwaway girl' who feels even more magical than Ayosa herself, and who is accompanied by an excellent cat named Bwana Matambara.
Things They Lost is not always a happy novel -- Ayosa's glimpses of the Yonder Days, oppression and slavery and murder, are horrific, and there's an ancient murder twisted up in her family history -- but it is always beautiful. It's full of women and girls who find their own paths, make their own rules: it's alive with the smells, sounds and tastes of Ayosa's life (and insects, soooo many insects). Family secrets, surreal death notices on the radio, wraiths who stalk the living: and 'Ayosa Ataraxis Brown, who can't go too many days without listening to a poem.'
This review helped me understand Things They Lost's 1980s Kenyan context and how it's reflected in the novel. It includes a link to a connected short story.
Fulfils the ‘Author from East Africa’ rubric of the Something Bookish Reading Challenge.
aliveinstory_ke's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
emmakjv's review against another edition
5.0
Things They Lost takes place somewhere between the magic of girlhood and the harsh realities of relational trauma.
Our protagonist, Ayosa, is just a girl when her mother takes off, leaving her to fend for herself among a host of magical characters, such as the Fatumas who live and wail for the dying in Ayosa’s attack, and the wraiths, who masquerade as the things she desires most, while trying to steal her away to the world of the dead. Simultaneously, Ayosa is trying to process her strange ability to see the memories of others, including the last few generations of women in her family.
The first half of Things They Lost is a story of innocence and seemingly random events in a young girls life, but these happenings are secretly building to an intense plot that reveals itself in the second half. This book is full of beautiful prose and tender moments, as well as allusions to Kenya’s colonial past, and the Moi era, in which the government was responsible for many human rights violations of which the public largely kept secret.
One part Pippi Longstockings, one part Alice in Wonderland, one part something wholly original, this one is a can’t miss. There is so much complexity here that I’m shocked it’s a debut novel. I can’t believe it doesn’t have more 5 star ratings. If you’ve read it, I need to know what you thought.
Our protagonist, Ayosa, is just a girl when her mother takes off, leaving her to fend for herself among a host of magical characters, such as the Fatumas who live and wail for the dying in Ayosa’s attack, and the wraiths, who masquerade as the things she desires most, while trying to steal her away to the world of the dead. Simultaneously, Ayosa is trying to process her strange ability to see the memories of others, including the last few generations of women in her family.
The first half of Things They Lost is a story of innocence and seemingly random events in a young girls life, but these happenings are secretly building to an intense plot that reveals itself in the second half. This book is full of beautiful prose and tender moments, as well as allusions to Kenya’s colonial past, and the Moi era, in which the government was responsible for many human rights violations of which the public largely kept secret.
One part Pippi Longstockings, one part Alice in Wonderland, one part something wholly original, this one is a can’t miss. There is so much complexity here that I’m shocked it’s a debut novel. I can’t believe it doesn’t have more 5 star ratings. If you’ve read it, I need to know what you thought.
reading_with_lungi's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
kfons's review against another edition
dark
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
lucillemm's review against another edition
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
While I enjoyed the Kenyan folklore woven throughout the book, I ultimately found the plot too slow. The first half of the book was quite frustrating as I felt like not all that much happened.