oabird's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
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
3.0
An educational and thought provoking read, but one that took me some time to get into.
I honestly didn't know what to expect when I picked this up. I knew it was a series of short stories ruminating on what it means to be a migrant (although it plays with what that means and how people can be in transit). I didn't expect it to be largely historical. There are stories in here that are pretty brutal. Slavery, and with it racism, plus sexual assault, feature in several stories. It therefore was often a heavy read and required me to dip in and out of the stories.
I particularly enjoyed Emma's afterword which brought everything together including her own experiences of being an immigrant. This book couldn't be more timely with our current news cycle of war and the climate crisis only displacing more people. The historical stories told in this book are largely set in the late 1700 or 1800s, but the themes are universally human.
I also learnt about historical events I'd not heard of before. And it was great to learn of LGBT people from several hundred years ago, particularly the story featured in Daddy's Girl.
As ever very well written with great world building. An important read, esp to put a human voice to some of our headlines about migration.
I honestly didn't know what to expect when I picked this up. I knew it was a series of short stories ruminating on what it means to be a migrant (although it plays with what that means and how people can be in transit). I didn't expect it to be largely historical. There are stories in here that are pretty brutal. Slavery, and with it racism, plus sexual assault, feature in several stories. It therefore was often a heavy read and required me to dip in and out of the stories.
I particularly enjoyed Emma's afterword which brought everything together including her own experiences of being an immigrant. This book couldn't be more timely with our current news cycle of war and the climate crisis only displacing more people. The historical stories told in this book are largely set in the late 1700 or 1800s, but the themes are universally human.
I also learnt about historical events I'd not heard of before. And it was great to learn of LGBT people from several hundred years ago, particularly the story featured in Daddy's Girl.
As ever very well written with great world building. An important read, esp to put a human voice to some of our headlines about migration.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs
Moderate: Sexual assault, Slavery, and Sexual violence
Minor: Vomit
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