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alipp's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Colonisation, Slavery, Murder, and War
Moderate: Physical abuse
Minor: Rape
puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Sexism, War, Violence, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Gun violence, Murder, Colonisation, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Death of parent, Racism, Trafficking, Sexual violence, and Confinement
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, and Pregnancy
beancity's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Slavery, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Grief, Sexual violence, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, War, Colonisation, Hate crime, Death, Blood, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Violence, Torture, Pregnancy, and Murder
scouthannah's review
- 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
I took my time with it as I am not as familiar with Muslim or Sudanese cultures, and wasn’t familiar with the Madhist war/revolution. I learned so much and am grateful to Leila Aboulela for this thoughtful history.
Graphic: War, Colonisation, Genocide, and Slavery
just_one_more_paige's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Racism, Death, Colonisation, War, and Grief
Moderate: Abandonment, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Violence
Minor: Religious bigotry and Gun violence
lianne_rooney's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Racism, Child death, Violence, Colonisation, and War
tigger89's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Her choice to tell the story through many perspectives — Akuany, Yaseen, Yaseen's mother, a Mahdist revolutionary, a Scottish painter living in Khartoum during its siege, the British General Charles Gordon, and a few others as an epilogue — was a risky gamble that paid off. I found each voice to be unique, and the author's varied choice of person — first, third, or the one-off second — only enhanced the effect. I don't think the author could have adequately handled the portrayal of a family, both born and found, split across ideological lines without including so many different viewpoints. I also enjoyed the places, particularly the emotions they evoked in each character. Thinking back to my reading experience, I recall less the visuals of each location and more the way the characters reacted to them, particularly in the instances where characters perceived the same location differently.
Something that might be difficult for some readers is that the story isn't told entirely linearly. Sometimes one character will narrate a period of several months, and then we'll skip back and see the same period from different perspectives. Fortunately the dates covered are listed at the front of each chapter, but if you have a poor head for that or if you're listening to audio and can't easily flip back to check, you might find yourself temporally confused at a few points.
This book would be a solid 4 star rating if it wasn't for one plot element. Yes, I'm going to complain about the romance. I personally find "all grown up"-type romances, where an adult meets a child and then 10~ years later they get together, to be extremely squick. Even in the best of circumstances there's so much psychologically that's potentially messed up there, and this novel was not the best of circumstances! So, needless to say this romance did not do it for me(and for a very specific reason, this time), but YKINMK and maybe it'll do it for you.
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Violence, War, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Rape, Colonisation, Death of parent, Death, and Injury/Injury detail