Reviews

The Radiance of the King by Camara Laye, James Kirkup

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barbarabarbara's review against another edition

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adventurous funny reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

rhodaj's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 stars

This was my read the world selection for Guinea.

Clarence is a white man who has been shipwrecked off the coast of an unnamed African country. Full of self-importance, Clarence sets off to seek an audience with the king in order to gain employment. Despite not having any skills, Clarence is certain he will be employed by the king simply by virtue of the fact that he is white. (

kingkong's review against another edition

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4.0

Getting to hang out with your friends by day and being bred with the Harem girls by night sounds pretty good to me

mst3kakalina's review against another edition

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2.0

This is shelved in my "TIME Top 100" novels shelf, but it's not actually in the TIME Top 100 list. I've edited the list to include a greater variety of writers (i.e. not all old white dudes).

I started out really liking this book---I am a little bit of an H. Rider Haggard/old timey African adventure novel fan, and I appreciated what seemed to be a postcolonial, subversive take on the genre.

But then as the story progressed, shit just got really, really weird. Even with the help of Toni Morrison's introduction I still felt adrift.

Is this a problem of translation? Is this a problem of my own personal taste? Is this a problem of being compelled to read under a deadline, even a generous one (this was a library read)? Is this a problem of fundamental weaknesses in American literary education, particularly as it relates to colonialism/writers of color/etc.? I don't know.

So then, the trouble of reviewing: I wanted to like it, and even now I love the idea and concept of it, but if I am honest the experience of reading was not entirely an enjoyable one. Two stars seems the best balance between my affection for the idea and the execution's failures (or, better put, my failures to really comprehend the execution). Perhaps I should put this aside for Laye's more autobiographical works instead?

friedbooks's review

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challenging reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

emma_reads_a_lot's review against another edition

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This book is really odd. Like I get the larger meaning, but it's just bizarre to me. The first like, 2/3 of the book is SOOO slow, but when it picks up, DANG it picks up.