Reviews

You Will Be Safe Here by Damian Barr

biblio_bec's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

rachel_xoxo_2006's review

3.0

bit confusing

elga_sii's review against another edition

4.0

I think this is a very important book to read. It sent me on a research spree to find out more about South Africa, occupations and the situation nowadays. It makes you think seriously through feeling deeply for the main characters oppressed by powers much greater than them.

bookbound2019's review

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

annienotanyy's review

challenging dark informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

elienore's review

challenging informative reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

celtic67's review against another edition

4.0

Review to follow

afaber's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.75

suzyq436's review

3.0

As a South African, this novel expertly provided a snippet into the struggles that the Afrikaners faced during the Anglo-Boer War. I expected the entire story to revolve around the concentration camps during the war but nonetheless a great debut novel.

mazza's review

5.0

"“You will be safe here” – a phrase which, while it offers so much, is often heavy with false hope and littered with absent promises. It is entirely understandable why Damian Barr decided to title his emotionally charged first novel this, the words first being told to a diarist who is documenting her tremendous ordeal in Boer War concentration camp. Barr’s novel is about that hope, or lack thereof, and the brutality of just what humans can inflict upon one another. It is about connections, those which bind us and the petty differences that set us apart. It is about living with the consequences of society’s actions, and about understanding history, learning about the role our ancestors had to play in such misery."

Full review on STORGY here