A review by nagirak
The Attic Child by Lola Jaye

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I recently saw a tik tok of a prior AP English teacher talking about classics that should be replaced with more relevant books. I don’t know what this should replace but it needs to be included in school curriculums. 

I was expecting this to be more of a story about escape and clues left from the past; reminiscent of a Lifetime movie. What I got was so much better. A historical fiction shedding light on the atrocities of colonialism. A heartbreaking story that shows why intent means nothing when actions have caused harm. 

It’s not often that a story makes me cry. Sad or tearful, maybe but definitely not actually crying. This book did that and it was both from heartbreaking and heartwarming emotions. 

I really wanted to give this book 5 stars, however one small but significant detail is keeping me from doing so (slight spoiler ahead).

The chapter headers either should have never been labeled “Celestine”, or they should have switched back to “Dikembe” once it was revealed he had changed it back at some point.  

The way it is currently labeled is a slap in the face to everything this man went through and a win for his captors.