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cosmiccloudbird's review
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- 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
3.5
soussou17's review against another edition
3.0
An odd structure: it's almost as it lacks transition or flow. One can tell the book was written very quickly but it also seems it was never proofread.
However, the author makes up for it: his talent shines in his ability to embody a young woman's point of view. Her inner dialogue is the best part of this book and the storyline almost becomes superfluous. The depiction of misogyny shows why editors thought the writer was a woman.
However, the author makes up for it: his talent shines in his ability to embody a young woman's point of view. Her inner dialogue is the best part of this book and the storyline almost becomes superfluous. The depiction of misogyny shows why editors thought the writer was a woman.
hanntastic's review against another edition
3.0
Global Read Challenge 19: Somalia
I'm really happy to be doing this challenge because otherwise I might never have discovered Nuruddin Farah, a preeminent Somali novelist. This was his first novel, and I didn't love it, but I will definitely read more by him. I'm of course a little wary of a book on Somali womanhood written by a man, but looking at his other novels, I don't think I'll feel that way.
I'm really happy to be doing this challenge because otherwise I might never have discovered Nuruddin Farah, a preeminent Somali novelist. This was his first novel, and I didn't love it, but I will definitely read more by him. I'm of course a little wary of a book on Somali womanhood written by a man, but looking at his other novels, I don't think I'll feel that way.
rjeilani's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- 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
4.25
johannashorn's review against another edition
challenging
informative
fast-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence
Moderate: Racism
andrew61's review against another edition
4.0
I came across this slim penguin classic in the library and had never heard of it but it was a fascinating read. The heroine Kabla is an 18 yaer old girl who is part of a nomadic tribe in the Somalian countryside whose life revolves around tending the cattle. When her grandfather gives her hand to a 48 year old man she runs away to a village where she goes to live with a distant cousin, his heavily pregnant wife and sevitude. The cousin then incurs a heavy financial penalty for smuggling and promises her to another man so she runs off again with a neighbours nephew to Mogadishu. The book pictures a girl who has never seen a car or a plane , cannot cook doesn't know what the police are or have any concept of a government at a time when in the late 1960's independence is coming. Perhaps most sad without parents she has no concept of sex and is the victim of sexual exploitation. A lot of the book is her internal monologue and at 180 pages it is short but an interesting picture of women in this society, the hypocrisy of men using religion and marriage as sexual power, and the innocence of the tribal members in modern society.
liralen's review against another edition
3.0
Ebla, a young Somali woman, takes matters into her own hands when told that she is to be married to a man many years her senior. She is illiterate, without schooling; hers is a nomadic life, a world of cattle and isolation.
In a way, Ebla reminds me of Janie in [b:Their Eyes Were Watching God|178805|Their Eyes Were Watching God|Zora Neale Hurston|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1437074874s/178805.jpg|1643555]: Ebla has very little by way of status, power, or agency, but she is determined to take her life—or at least her marriage—in her own hands.
And yet...Ebla succeeds, and she doesn't. She finds refuge with a cousin, only for that cousin to use her and then make plans to marry her off as repayment of a debt. She elopes but soon finds that marriage is not all she might have wished for. When her husband goes to Italy and she learns that he has not been faithful, she takes steps that are, arguably, unusual for a woman in her position: 'Tell Tiffo that I am willing to marry him secretly. Maybe he will also want that. And if Awill comes back and doesn't want to return to me, then I will stay with him. I love life, and I love to be a wife. I don't care whose' (125).
It's a bold claim, not least when you consider that married life has not, on the whole, been particularly good to Ebla. Perhaps it is the idea of marriage she loves, or the idea of making her own choices? In any case, despite her lack of education, Ebla proves herself to be something of a budding philosopher, always questioning meaning.
Farah ends the novel in a way that seems more fitting for a short story than for a longer work, and we are left to wonder, what next? For Ebla's situation remains precarious, uncertain. Perhaps she has improved her future, but perhaps not.
In a way, Ebla reminds me of Janie in [b:Their Eyes Were Watching God|178805|Their Eyes Were Watching God|Zora Neale Hurston|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1437074874s/178805.jpg|1643555]: Ebla has very little by way of status, power, or agency, but she is determined to take her life—or at least her marriage—in her own hands.
And yet...Ebla succeeds, and she doesn't. She finds refuge with a cousin, only for that cousin to use her and then make plans to marry her off as repayment of a debt. She elopes but soon finds that marriage is not all she might have wished for. When her husband goes to Italy and she learns that he has not been faithful, she takes steps that are, arguably, unusual for a woman in her position: 'Tell Tiffo that I am willing to marry him secretly. Maybe he will also want that. And if Awill comes back and doesn't want to return to me, then I will stay with him. I love life, and I love to be a wife. I don't care whose' (125).
It's a bold claim, not least when you consider that married life has not, on the whole, been particularly good to Ebla. Perhaps it is the idea of marriage she loves, or the idea of making her own choices? In any case, despite her lack of education, Ebla proves herself to be something of a budding philosopher, always questioning meaning.
Farah ends the novel in a way that seems more fitting for a short story than for a longer work, and we are left to wonder, what next? For Ebla's situation remains precarious, uncertain. Perhaps she has improved her future, but perhaps not.
sgenheden's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
val_halla's review against another edition
3.0
The most interesting part of this pro-feminism novella is that it was written by a man. The story of a young woman who runs away from her nomadic tribe to the city in order to escape an arranged marriage, it is an excellent window into colonial Somalia. However, the writing style was just too obvious for me; it seemed clumsy, the way the author just flat-out stated the characters' political views, and had them announce the historical context of their lives.