caitlinallmaier92's review against another edition
3.0
Brilliantly, enchantingly written. Disappointed in the storyline.
cmesmile's review against another edition
4.0
It is awesome to read a piece by a true writer whose love for words is evident by my transportation to the setting of the book.
meganyntan's review against another edition
no hopes or expectations, yet still disappointment - 2022 in a nutshell?
ofpetsandpeeves's review
3.0
Beautifully written, but overall I couldn't connect with any of the characters.
exurbanis's review
5.0
(Fiction, Contemporary, Literary)
This is subtitled a “love story” but this is no romance novel. An American (or was she a Brit? It doesn’t matter really) falls in love with a native Swahili man while in Kenya. When an epidemic breaks out, they attempt to flee to the first world.
Adé is a love story in the tradition of Romeo and Juliet. Haunting and heart-breaking, it deserves to be a classic of 21st century literature. I have not been as touched by a book in a long time as I was by Adé.
I’m not saying more—you’ll just have to read the book. It’s short, it’s lovely, and it will stay with you a long time.
4½ stars
This is subtitled a “love story” but this is no romance novel. An American (or was she a Brit? It doesn’t matter really) falls in love with a native Swahili man while in Kenya. When an epidemic breaks out, they attempt to flee to the first world.
Adé is a love story in the tradition of Romeo and Juliet. Haunting and heart-breaking, it deserves to be a classic of 21st century literature. I have not been as touched by a book in a long time as I was by Adé.
I’m not saying more—you’ll just have to read the book. It’s short, it’s lovely, and it will stay with you a long time.
4½ stars
mochagirlalysia's review against another edition
5.0
I just finished reading this book and had to sit down and right this review right now.
Again I have to say..."Where do you start when you read a beautiful book?"
One. You should read this book. There is not enough hype going on about Rebecca Walkers book Adé. It is the pure meaning of short and sweet. Ok let me start and the beginning.
I received a box full of copies of this book from TLC book tours as a gift to Mocha Girls Read book club members for our 2nd Anniversary last year. Yes, it has been sitting on my shelf since then. Every single book club meeting there would be at least one lady to mention she just finished reading Adé and how much she loved it. How could I not pick it up and read it?
The story centers around Farida (her Arabic name) when she leaves college and travels throughout Africa with her college friend Miriam. Once in Africa the two have their friendship tested as Miriam feels like an outsider while Farida feels like she has just come home and is at peace with her new surroundings. From Egypt to Kenya, the girls travel to a small Kenyan island called Lamu. This is where the love story starts. Once they meet Adé and Farida start building a life together and make plans to be married in the most traditional Kenyan way. But with her family in the states plans have to be made so Adé can ask her family face to face for her hand in marriage.
I LOVE THIS BOOK! Sorry! I just lost a bit of control there for a minute. Rebecca Walker is a beautiful writer whose style is graceful and vivid.
But the one thing about this book I can not get over is the....about the spill the beans...the similarity to my life experience decades ago in Egypt. I felt at home there the day I landed and had no concept of the language and/or the real Egypt. But I fell in love anyways with the country, the people, the beach I lived on and a man of course. But the reasons for leaving where not the same and I didn't think I could stay like Farida does. It was not an option for me and I have to say that I am a bit jealous of Farida for just going head-over-heels into a marriage. I love that! I wanted to stay but I couldn't see it like she did.
Ok! That is enough about me. LOL! Oh...What was my Arabic name? Zahara (flower) LOL! Me a flower. LOL! I loved it and it fit me at the time.
The author did an excellent job of describing Adé and his tenderness. I can see all the female readers falling in love with him too.
Thank you Rebecca Walker for your style and grace in telling this story. You had me tearing up and smiling at the same time. Love that! What more can I say about this book?
It WILL be on my 2014 Best of List!
and...
Read it!
Again I have to say..."Where do you start when you read a beautiful book?"
One. You should read this book. There is not enough hype going on about Rebecca Walkers book Adé. It is the pure meaning of short and sweet. Ok let me start and the beginning.
I received a box full of copies of this book from TLC book tours as a gift to Mocha Girls Read book club members for our 2nd Anniversary last year. Yes, it has been sitting on my shelf since then. Every single book club meeting there would be at least one lady to mention she just finished reading Adé and how much she loved it. How could I not pick it up and read it?
The story centers around Farida (her Arabic name) when she leaves college and travels throughout Africa with her college friend Miriam. Once in Africa the two have their friendship tested as Miriam feels like an outsider while Farida feels like she has just come home and is at peace with her new surroundings. From Egypt to Kenya, the girls travel to a small Kenyan island called Lamu. This is where the love story starts. Once they meet Adé and Farida start building a life together and make plans to be married in the most traditional Kenyan way. But with her family in the states plans have to be made so Adé can ask her family face to face for her hand in marriage.
I LOVE THIS BOOK! Sorry! I just lost a bit of control there for a minute. Rebecca Walker is a beautiful writer whose style is graceful and vivid.
But the one thing about this book I can not get over is the....about the spill the beans...the similarity to my life experience decades ago in Egypt. I felt at home there the day I landed and had no concept of the language and/or the real Egypt. But I fell in love anyways with the country, the people, the beach I lived on and a man of course. But the reasons for leaving where not the same and I didn't think I could stay like Farida does. It was not an option for me and I have to say that I am a bit jealous of Farida for just going head-over-heels into a marriage. I love that! I wanted to stay but I couldn't see it like she did.
Ok! That is enough about me. LOL! Oh...What was my Arabic name? Zahara (flower) LOL! Me a flower. LOL! I loved it and it fit me at the time.
The author did an excellent job of describing Adé and his tenderness. I can see all the female readers falling in love with him too.
Thank you Rebecca Walker for your style and grace in telling this story. You had me tearing up and smiling at the same time. Love that! What more can I say about this book?
It WILL be on my 2014 Best of List!
and...
Read it!
goromajima's review
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
onecrab's review against another edition
4.0
Stunningly beautiful prose. The depth of Ms. Walkers writing is stunning.
johannalm's review against another edition
3.0
Adé, Rebecca Walker
A love story in novella form about a biracial half African American half Jewish collage graduate who falls in love with a Swahili man.
The unnamed woman is traveling around Africa with her best friend when she encounters the man of her dreams on a small island off the coast of Kenya and decides to leave the first world behind. The couple’s connection is quick, intense and their love deep, but their affair is cut short when she contracts a terrible case of malaria and must fly back to the US for treatment.
I was not enthralled by this book although the writing is moody and descriptive. The main female character does and doesn’t realize she’s living out her mother’s dream of finding herself in Africa. She’s a collage grad at loose ends, a child of divorces with a parent on each coast, and not sure of who she is or where she fits in. When she meets this Swahili Muslim Adé, who has never been beyond his small island of Lamu, and the one town across the water, she’s besotted by his softness, his kindness, his beauty and his solidness. She ditches her friend who she has promised to travel with all over africa and stays on the small island learning how Adé and his family live. She even allows him to give her a good Muslim name - Farida - so she is more acceptable to his family. The two eventually decide to marry and live a simple life together on his island, forsaking all the amenities of the first world. Her mother seems happy for her, her father quite confused by her choice, and Kenya itself is not a good place for most people during the time she’s there because it’s led by a crazy dictator. Yet, she feels deeply connected to Adé. For him, she is his first and always true love. It is only when she is taken deathly ill and finds herself at a small, ill equipped hospital where nurses share needles among patients, that the young woman finally starts to contemplate what her choice entails. Eventually she must be secretly airlifted out of the country, and that’s when the two are finally separated.
This seems very autobiographical and reads like a memoir. A biracial young woman, post college, trying to find herself and her roots by visiting Africa falls in love and thinks she’s found her home. The author is well thought of and the book was well received when published. I found it sweet and affecting but not a brilliant rendition of a love story. I didn’t like her writing as much as other reviewers.
#NewYearsResolution reading the backlog on my kindle.
A love story in novella form about a biracial half African American half Jewish collage graduate who falls in love with a Swahili man.
The unnamed woman is traveling around Africa with her best friend when she encounters the man of her dreams on a small island off the coast of Kenya and decides to leave the first world behind. The couple’s connection is quick, intense and their love deep, but their affair is cut short when she contracts a terrible case of malaria and must fly back to the US for treatment.
I was not enthralled by this book although the writing is moody and descriptive. The main female character does and doesn’t realize she’s living out her mother’s dream of finding herself in Africa. She’s a collage grad at loose ends, a child of divorces with a parent on each coast, and not sure of who she is or where she fits in. When she meets this Swahili Muslim Adé, who has never been beyond his small island of Lamu, and the one town across the water, she’s besotted by his softness, his kindness, his beauty and his solidness. She ditches her friend who she has promised to travel with all over africa and stays on the small island learning how Adé and his family live. She even allows him to give her a good Muslim name - Farida - so she is more acceptable to his family. The two eventually decide to marry and live a simple life together on his island, forsaking all the amenities of the first world. Her mother seems happy for her, her father quite confused by her choice, and Kenya itself is not a good place for most people during the time she’s there because it’s led by a crazy dictator. Yet, she feels deeply connected to Adé. For him, she is his first and always true love. It is only when she is taken deathly ill and finds herself at a small, ill equipped hospital where nurses share needles among patients, that the young woman finally starts to contemplate what her choice entails. Eventually she must be secretly airlifted out of the country, and that’s when the two are finally separated.
This seems very autobiographical and reads like a memoir. A biracial young woman, post college, trying to find herself and her roots by visiting Africa falls in love and thinks she’s found her home. The author is well thought of and the book was well received when published. I found it sweet and affecting but not a brilliant rendition of a love story. I didn’t like her writing as much as other reviewers.
#NewYearsResolution reading the backlog on my kindle.