Scan barcode
A review by kitsuneheart
Benny and Omar by Eoin Colfer
3.0
It's....pretty dang obvious that this is one of Colfer's first works. Not BAD, but just barely adequate for publishing. Honestly, I'm surprised this one got an audiobook recording at all. It's just...very mediocre.
While there's something to be said about Colfer's look at a country I've never seen referenced in literature (except...Colfer's own, in the second Artemis Fowl book....), there are a few points where things feel a bit wrong. I was shocked when the mother of the family referred to Tunisa as "some uncivilized pit, with diseased water and mosquitoes and foreigners," going on to claim that "the only culture they have belonged to the Romans." This is very early in the book, but we never really get a refutation of these pretty prejudice words. In fact, adoption of European culture is a pretty big plot point, with Omar only able to communicate with Benny using television quotes. (And how...would he understand what those quotes meant? No clue.)
Still, Benny is shown as a very open-minded character, doing his best to balance demands from his family and the struggles of Omar. And, when the big test comes, Benny opts to ruin his own chances at an easy life at home so that Omar might have a far, far better improvement in his own life.
Colfer's writing returns repeatedly to Tunisia, where he did missionary work in his younger days, and he is likely to write about it again. Hopefully with a bit more interesting plots and a fewer prejudice statements from prominent characters.
While there's something to be said about Colfer's look at a country I've never seen referenced in literature (except...Colfer's own, in the second Artemis Fowl book....), there are a few points where things feel a bit wrong. I was shocked when the mother of the family referred to Tunisa as "some uncivilized pit, with diseased water and mosquitoes and foreigners," going on to claim that "the only culture they have belonged to the Romans." This is very early in the book, but we never really get a refutation of these pretty prejudice words. In fact, adoption of European culture is a pretty big plot point, with Omar only able to communicate with Benny using television quotes. (And how...would he understand what those quotes meant? No clue.)
Still, Benny is shown as a very open-minded character, doing his best to balance demands from his family and the struggles of Omar. And, when the big test comes, Benny opts to ruin his own chances at an easy life at home so that Omar might have a far, far better improvement in his own life.
Colfer's writing returns repeatedly to Tunisia, where he did missionary work in his younger days, and he is likely to write about it again. Hopefully with a bit more interesting plots and a fewer prejudice statements from prominent characters.