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poppermariana's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
jerrica's review against another edition
4.0
I've read Condé's La Vie sans fards so this was basically a prequel. Compared to that, this was pretty tame, a lot of remembrances about specific events in her life. She's the youngest of 8 children in a well-to-do family in Guadeloupe, so she gets up to mischief AND gets to go to Paris sometimes. All kinds of good things in here. My favorite one is the one I'd heard about before, when she writes about her mother for her mom's birthday and she's like "Do you actually think of me like that?!?!" Dang.
clairewords's review
5.0
A brilliant set of short vignettes that introduces us to a unique child, the 8th child of older parents, whose siblings span 20 years.
As at home in Paris as she was in Guadaloupe, these glimpses into the more significant and memorable aspects of childhood that shaped her are insightful, engaging and honest.
Well educated and somewhat privileged, thanks to the steely determination of her mother, whose own education, thanks to the colonial authorities pulled her out of an endless cycle of poverty and oppression, she rebels a little at first, determined in her own way to break free from the protective bonds of family, which only once she has left, will she really realise how valuable they were.
Finishing on the cusp of her finding her authorial voice, I want to read more!
Absolutely loved this and couldn't stop reading it, happy at least to have her novels to read next, because her nonfiction is excellent.
My complete and much longer review here at Word by Word.
As at home in Paris as she was in Guadaloupe, these glimpses into the more significant and memorable aspects of childhood that shaped her are insightful, engaging and honest.
Well educated and somewhat privileged, thanks to the steely determination of her mother, whose own education, thanks to the colonial authorities pulled her out of an endless cycle of poverty and oppression, she rebels a little at first, determined in her own way to break free from the protective bonds of family, which only once she has left, will she really realise how valuable they were.
Finishing on the cusp of her finding her authorial voice, I want to read more!
Absolutely loved this and couldn't stop reading it, happy at least to have her novels to read next, because her nonfiction is excellent.
My complete and much longer review here at Word by Word.
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