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A review by xangemtheelibrarian
The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Preface: I highly recommend the audio version of this. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is a wonderful narrator, and made me believe there were two or three people narrating until I looked to see who narrated Nana Mosi's lines. Holdbrook-Smith also did a fantastic job of breathing life into every single character and every moment of Kofi's story.
While this story isn't horror, I think plenty of horror lies in the fact that while the story itself is fictional, everything the characters experienced is not. These are very real things that happened to people whose names we have tragically lost to history.
Kofi Offin loves swimming and loves Ama. The poetic love confessions he creates in his head and never tells her are so cute, but sometimes feel like they were created by someone older than he is. He hates his cousin, also named Kofi. I thought the way he described his cousin was hilarious and painted a very vivid picture. Kofi also loves his brother, Kwasi. He looks up to him, loves to laugh with him. Kofi's grandfather, Nana Mosi, gives him the ageless advice of their village and ancestors, while Mr. Goodluck, whom Kofi also enjoys making fun of, tries to push new Western ideology onto him. This story is absolutely rich in characters and gives a very strong feeling of community.
When Kwasi, Kofi's beloved brother, causes a tragic accident during a festival, the offended village retaliates, and Kofi is kidnapped and sold into slavery. The piece of slavery that this story presents, from being sold by your own people to a strange people known only as "the wonderfuls," is one rarely seen. And Kwame Alexander describes the journey viscerally and palpably. If I have read a similar story before, this is the first one I remember that shows us what happened more frequently than not on the ships that transported enslaved Africans to the Americas.
The story has an open ending, but as I always tend to do with open endings, I imagine that Kofi successfully returned home, confessed his love to Ama, made amends with his cousin, and took up the mantle of storyteller like his Nana Mosi.
While this story isn't horror, I think plenty of horror lies in the fact that while the story itself is fictional, everything the characters experienced is not. These are very real things that happened to people whose names we have tragically lost to history.
Kofi Offin loves swimming and loves Ama. The poetic love confessions he creates in his head and never tells her are so cute, but sometimes feel like they were created by someone older than he is. He hates his cousin, also named Kofi. I thought the way he described his cousin was hilarious and painted a very vivid picture. Kofi also loves his brother, Kwasi. He looks up to him, loves to laugh with him. Kofi's grandfather, Nana Mosi, gives him the ageless advice of their village and ancestors, while Mr. Goodluck, whom Kofi also enjoys making fun of, tries to push new Western ideology onto him. This story is absolutely rich in characters and gives a very strong feeling of community.
When Kwasi, Kofi's beloved brother, causes a tragic accident during a festival, the offended village retaliates, and
The story has an open ending, but as I always tend to do with open endings, I imagine that Kofi successfully returned home, confessed his love to Ama, made amends with his cousin, and took up the mantle of storyteller like his Nana Mosi.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Trafficking, and Grief
Moderate: Gun violence and Sexual assault
Minor: Rape