A review by sadiereadsagain
The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir by Wayétu Moore
4.0
This is Wayetu's memoir of living in and escaping from Liberia during its first civil war, in the late 80's/early 90's. After fleeing, she and her family emigrated to America to join Wayetu's mother, who was studying over there, so the memoir also examines Waytu's experience of coming of age in the US as well.
What I thought was really interesting about this one is that the narrative pivots on one particular point, that point being a rebel militia individual. We see the experience from Wayetu's memory of fleeing as quite a young child - I think she's eight - and then it pivots and we see it from her mother's experience of being over in America, across the globe, watching the situation from the outside without knowing what was going on with her family. I thought that was really fabulous, and made this in to quite a page turner. We also see Wayetu as a young woman, with discussions on facing racism in her adopted country as she grew up and battling with feelings of being untethered, neither of one place or another, and and trying to find her home.
The book is a thorough portrayal of living through conflict, and how the displacement of people due to such a conflict can inflict further trauma to a person's identity, even long after that conflict is over. I think that's really pertinent as we're watching the Syrian refugees and other displaced people.
This memoir is pretty lyrical. It captures the child's view of the experience incredibly well, and that lyricism lends itself well to Wayetu's feelings of turmoil as a young woman. But Moore seems to know when to let that style flow and when to reign it in, which means that there is a clear path through her memoir which allows you as the reader to take in the facts of the conflict and what her family were doing to stay safe . It's a pretty seamless blend, and one which I really enjoyed reading.
What I thought was really interesting about this one is that the narrative pivots on one particular point, that point being a rebel militia individual. We see the experience from Wayetu's memory of fleeing as quite a young child - I think she's eight - and then it pivots and we see it from her mother's experience of being over in America, across the globe, watching the situation from the outside without knowing what was going on with her family. I thought that was really fabulous, and made this in to quite a page turner. We also see Wayetu as a young woman, with discussions on facing racism in her adopted country as she grew up and battling with feelings of being untethered, neither of one place or another, and and trying to find her home.
The book is a thorough portrayal of living through conflict, and how the displacement of people due to such a conflict can inflict further trauma to a person's identity, even long after that conflict is over. I think that's really pertinent as we're watching the Syrian refugees and other displaced people.
This memoir is pretty lyrical. It captures the child's view of the experience incredibly well, and that lyricism lends itself well to Wayetu's feelings of turmoil as a young woman. But Moore seems to know when to let that style flow and when to reign it in, which means that there is a clear path through her memoir which allows you as the reader to take in the facts of the conflict and what her family were doing to stay safe . It's a pretty seamless blend, and one which I really enjoyed reading.