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A review by teaandlibri
The Illegal by Lawrence Hill
2.0
Another book that didn't deserve the hype. It seemed like a highly topical read: Keita is a young man on the run, literally. After the murder of his father he flees and ends up part of an underground of a group of undocumented and fleeting group of refugees and immigrants. He runs to win prizes so he can ransom his sister while eluding the authorities. Seems like a page-turning thriller that's perfect for the recent news, isn't it?
Unfortunately, it's not. I haven't read Hill's other book ('Someone Knows My Name' which is also known as 'The Book of Negros') so I had nothing to compare it to. But seemed really quite terrible. After a really interesting introduction to Keita we then shift gears and shift perspectives. I hate this tactic. The book summaries area also very misleading because they focus on Keita. After we are introduced to Viola I was bored. I didn't care about her or her story, I wanted to follow Keita. If done well then shifting perspectives don't bother me (I just read a book with this) but here I was frustrated by the misleading marketing yet again.
As other reviewers note there is a bit of artifice to the book. I also why or how a country could be called Freedom State (the name's just cheesy), why the plot seemed so contrived, etc. It is clearly set in the near future and could be a true story (for example, Barack Obama is mentioned as a throwaway line), but it just felt so...boring. I'm not sure if Hill was trying to capture the artifice that refugees face: being neither here nor there, being unable to go home but being unable to really *live* where they are now. A state of perpetual transit in a way, even though they can't really go anywhere. It didn't really work here.
I had been looking forward to it. The first chapters totally captured me and I was curious to know how Keita was going to extract himself at the beginning (not to mention how we got there). But I'd say this seemed poorly edited and needed more time (apparently it took him 5 years to write this?) to simmer. It's a pity because it seemed like a really interesting premise. I still may check out 'The Book of Negros' though.
Borrow from the library.
Unfortunately, it's not. I haven't read Hill's other book ('Someone Knows My Name' which is also known as 'The Book of Negros') so I had nothing to compare it to. But seemed really quite terrible. After a really interesting introduction to Keita we then shift gears and shift perspectives. I hate this tactic. The book summaries area also very misleading because they focus on Keita. After we are introduced to Viola I was bored. I didn't care about her or her story, I wanted to follow Keita. If done well then shifting perspectives don't bother me (I just read a book with this) but here I was frustrated by the misleading marketing yet again.
As other reviewers note there is a bit of artifice to the book. I also why or how a country could be called Freedom State (the name's just cheesy), why the plot seemed so contrived, etc. It is clearly set in the near future and could be a true story (for example, Barack Obama is mentioned as a throwaway line), but it just felt so...boring. I'm not sure if Hill was trying to capture the artifice that refugees face: being neither here nor there, being unable to go home but being unable to really *live* where they are now. A state of perpetual transit in a way, even though they can't really go anywhere. It didn't really work here.
I had been looking forward to it. The first chapters totally captured me and I was curious to know how Keita was going to extract himself at the beginning (not to mention how we got there). But I'd say this seemed poorly edited and needed more time (apparently it took him 5 years to write this?) to simmer. It's a pity because it seemed like a really interesting premise. I still may check out 'The Book of Negros' though.
Borrow from the library.