A review by kana
Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I read this book for a class, and it was out of my typical comfort zone. However, I really wanted to love it, and I think that its exploration of the effects of colonialism on both individuals and their communities is an important topic. Unfortunately , the story just didn’t resonate with me. The characters and their motivations felt disconnected, and the ending didn’t leave an impact on me. This book’s plot is driven by the violent experiences of the women in Mustafa Sa’eed’s life, which is used to explore its theme of colonialism and show the narrator’s warring sides between the culture of his hometown and that of his place of education. I personally was not a big fan of this, as I wish the author chose to explore multiple avenues of these differing cultures, rather than solely focusing on women.