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jeneenthepharm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage
melbsreads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
2.5
Trigger warnings: miscarriage, infertility, violence, graphic animal death, graphic animal cruelty, death
I was really excited to read this because the idea of using homing pigeons to smuggle diamonds out of mines? INCREDIBLE. Especially when you also have to smuggle the pigeons *INTO* the mine in the first place. And then I read the first sentence and was like "..............................this is not going to be what I thought it was going to be."
Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of sympathy for the author and the grief he and his partner must have experienced over their numerous miscarriages. But to open a true crime book about diamond smuggling using pigeons with a prologue that starts with "After our sixth miscarriage, my partner, Louisa, and I decided we could no longer endure another attempt at conceiving a child."? Eesh.
The stuff that discussed the conditions the workers experience and the greed of the diamond corporations was fascinating. But at the end of the day, the author centred himself in the story far too much for my liking. There were also times when the book ended up being more of a history of pigeons and centred the pigeons themselves more than the desperation of the workers. And basically, it felt a little disjointed and a little confusing and like the book didn't quite know whether it was natural history or true crime or a deeply personal memoir about grief after miscarriage.
I was really excited to read this because the idea of using homing pigeons to smuggle diamonds out of mines? INCREDIBLE. Especially when you also have to smuggle the pigeons *INTO* the mine in the first place. And then I read the first sentence and was like "..............................this is not going to be what I thought it was going to be."
Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of sympathy for the author and the grief he and his partner must have experienced over their numerous miscarriages. But to open a true crime book about diamond smuggling using pigeons with a prologue that starts with "After our sixth miscarriage, my partner, Louisa, and I decided we could no longer endure another attempt at conceiving a child."? Eesh.
The stuff that discussed the conditions the workers experience and the greed of the diamond corporations was fascinating. But at the end of the day, the author centred himself in the story far too much for my liking. There were also times when the book ended up being more of a history of pigeons and centred the pigeons themselves more than the desperation of the workers. And basically, it felt a little disjointed and a little confusing and like the book didn't quite know whether it was natural history or true crime or a deeply personal memoir about grief after miscarriage.
swineberg's review against another edition
2.0
This book just didn’t do it for me at all. The tone lurched from diaristic to poetic to journalistic with little warning, and the author’s digressions and discursions didn’t hold my interest. There’s some interesting contemporary history in here, but I found the package wanting.
amandasupak's review against another edition
Did not finish 36%
I feel bad giving this 3 stars because this was obviously a passion project for the Author. At the very beginning of the book, you find out that the whole reason for this book is because he needs an outlet after he and his wife suffered 6 miscarriages. It seems obvious to me that this book is well researched, but it really drags in places. I think that because of his passion he included everything he thought was interesting but did not consider the reader's perspective and what we wanted to read. I think writing this book was more about therapy for the author than for us. I think this book could probably have been half as long and still covered a lot of interesting topics. I hope writing this book helped him find healing.
I feel bad giving this 3 stars because this was obviously a passion project for the Author. At the very beginning of the book, you find out that the whole reason for this book is because he needs an outlet after he and his wife suffered 6 miscarriages. It seems obvious to me that this book is well researched, but it really drags in places. I think that because of his passion he included everything he thought was interesting but did not consider the reader's perspective and what we wanted to read. I think writing this book was more about therapy for the author than for us. I think this book could probably have been half as long and still covered a lot of interesting topics. I hope writing this book helped him find healing.
amath's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
2.75
anjreading's review against another edition
3.0
This book does not know what it wants to be. Nonfiction about the diamond business and the use of pigeons in smuggling? Deeply personal memoir about the grief of repeated miscarriages? Legend and folklore about pigeons and diamonds? Perhaps this book would have been a very different experience if I had read it instead of listened to it. I found it hard to follow and it was just a strange mix of stories that never gelled for me. The biggest takeaway is that the diamond trade is absolutely awful and corrupt, which I already knew, but it is still horrifying to read about in more depth.
abookolive's review against another edition
2.0
