Reviews with content warning for Grief - The Other Half of Augusta Hope

Slow to start but enjoyed it overall. There are some characters who are kept on the periphery who I think could have added more depth to the story.
Explores the impact of turning a blind eye to your own privilege and consequently other people's experiences, particularly in terms of immigration and disability.
Augusta seems to be the only member of her family who is outward looking and actively seeking to learn more about the wider world. Although this means she often comes across as a pretentious child she is ultimately a relatable and likable character.
The contrast between her early life and Parfait's are stark. Punctuated by tragedy Parfait's story weaves themes of civil war and violence through the narrative.
Both dreaming of escape to Spain it's obvious their paths will cross eventually, the tension is in when, how and will they learn the truth of the tragedy that connects them.

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bookforthought's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective slow-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

3.5

It took me a while to get to this book, so that once I did I had basically forgotten the synopsis entirely and went in almost completely blind. I have to say, it was probably for the best, as I probably would have ended up expecting something different!

The Other Half of Augusta Hope is a bittersweet story about love, grief and finding your place in the world. Augusta is an endearing main character, even though she's not always likeable (but then again, who is?). She is brilliant and curious about the world, loves Burundi despite having never been there, and struggles greatly with life in her small town, despite her deep, deep love for her twin sister Julia. In parallel, the story follows Parfait, a young man from Burundi whose life is very different from Augusta's. When tragedy strikes both of them differently, each will have to work out where they belong.

I really liked the characterisation in this novel: every character was beautifully drawn, imperfections and all, and felt like truly individual, even the minor characters. The characters' feelings and emotions were particularly well fleshed out, which is something I always appreciate. The parallels between Augusta's and Parfait's lives flowed smoothly for most of the novel, and the transitions were handled very well. There were a few times when the move felt a bit clunky, but overall these were few and far between enough to ignore. The story development was engaging, though I won't go into too much more detail to avoid potential spoilers. I will say though: that ending was everything!

I had some issues with the pacing in this book though: at times it felt like it was really dragging along and not much was happening either in terms of plot or character development. The parts where things got moving made up for this, but it was still tough to wade through those parts. There was also a heavy reliance on miscommunication/lack of communication as a plot device, which is something I personally dislike, so my enjoyment of this novel was affected by how annoyed I was getting at the characters for not talking to each other. This is purely down to personal preference though!

Overall, this book was fairly engaging to read and definitely had some memorable characters. I'll be looking out for more books by this author!

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nicola4e's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

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atalea's review

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This book was such a slog and it just could not hold my interest. I tried to push through it, hoping something more interesting would happen but nothing did. I also was not interested in Augusta's life whatsoever. I don't usually mind slow-paced books but this was exceptionally slow.

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