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scottishlindsay's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
stefhyena's review
4.0
I didn't like everything about this book. At many points there was passive internalised misogyny (the henpecked husband trope came up in at least 4 separate characters, this would seem more like complexity if it didn't repeat so many times in so many variations, the mother being bad for the son was also hinted at). Some of the stuff around race appeared to play into stereotypes, but I felt that at least there was a fairer critical lens turned back on white wealthy people dimension to this. This book does make you think about the things you can blithely take for granted and the desire to go travelling in poorer countries.
I found it hard to connect with any of the characters. Vanessa was a strange mix of good intention and puzzling fits of ego that came on seemingly only to provide humour. Mary was just characterised by bossiness. I wanted to like her because she'd had a hard life but she seemed all hard edges and entitlement. All the men were weak, whingy about women's power and independence and just not even broadly likeable. I suppose apart from the lost son. He's characterised only by PTSD.
The book is not "realist" though it has realistic observations and settings, it's like an elaborate dance of fate where the characters move around each other oblivious until circumstances force them into better awareness. I didn't realise as I was reading it that it is a sequel to another book, that makes sense but I don't think I want to read that now that I have glimpsed what comes after. The ending, though in many ways unlikely (all the worlds collide back together) was quite satisfying and not aloud by the author to become a musical theatre "happily ever after" but still tinged with real consequences of what came before it. I could have done without the relentless heterosexuality (even the 4 year olds FFS and it's not a detail that adds anything) and the idea of some sort of "call of nature" that the heterosexual/normal gendered being must respond to.
The criticism on inequities and the way race and place are used to construct economic hierarchies struck me as the most important thing about this novel. Even though it was a white author writing about Africa which sounds like a bad idea, there was a self-awareness in it. At times I thought Vanessa's bouts of ego were supposed to call out white complacency. I felt that Trevor, however was portrayed too sympathetically for that and once again white women come under attack but white men get to keep their quietly privileged status protected by all the layers below them.
I don't think I would want to visit the Africa portrayed in this novel, although the gorillas seemes lovely.
I found it hard to connect with any of the characters. Vanessa was a strange mix of good intention and puzzling fits of ego that came on seemingly only to provide humour. Mary was just characterised by bossiness. I wanted to like her because she'd had a hard life but she seemed all hard edges and entitlement. All the men were weak, whingy about women's power and independence and just not even broadly likeable. I suppose apart from the lost son. He's characterised only by PTSD.
The book is not "realist" though it has realistic observations and settings, it's like an elaborate dance of fate where the characters move around each other oblivious until circumstances force them into better awareness. I didn't realise as I was reading it that it is a sequel to another book, that makes sense but I don't think I want to read that now that I have glimpsed what comes after. The ending, though in many ways unlikely (all the worlds collide back together) was quite satisfying and not aloud by the author to become a musical theatre "happily ever after" but still tinged with real consequences of what came before it. I could have done without the relentless heterosexuality (even the 4 year olds FFS and it's not a detail that adds anything) and the idea of some sort of "call of nature" that the heterosexual/normal gendered being must respond to.
The criticism on inequities and the way race and place are used to construct economic hierarchies struck me as the most important thing about this novel. Even though it was a white author writing about Africa which sounds like a bad idea, there was a self-awareness in it. At times I thought Vanessa's bouts of ego were supposed to call out white complacency. I felt that Trevor, however was portrayed too sympathetically for that and once again white women come under attack but white men get to keep their quietly privileged status protected by all the layers below them.
I don't think I would want to visit the Africa portrayed in this novel, although the gorillas seemes lovely.
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