I really liked so many things about this book; the storyline, the pacing, and the sweet, albeit naive, main character. I always find it intriguing when I read about how different societies navigated the shift during the Industrial Revolution, post-industrial times, modernity, and postmodernity. And this book did so well in showing the emotions and thoughts of the communities.

One thing I usually have a hard time with in books like these is the challenging family dynamics that come with such deeply culturally compliant, family-oriented eras. So it’s not surprising that her family dynamic was sometimes hard to accept. I’m West African, so I understand how a lot of these things work, yet I was still annoyed when it came to the part about her betrothal. I just kept thinking how they had an entire meeting to decide her future, without her being there, like she’s not even a real person? Not even a “Hey, maybe we should ask her if she wants to be shipped off to America to marry a stranger”???! I mean I’m used to seeing this kind of societal norm, but even so, I just kept thinking, I’m tired already. That level of casual patriarchy can be so exhausting to deal with sometimes.

Still, her family wasn’t that bad. I think that sometimes, in our bid to be progressive, we crucify our families so much that we forget they are also victims of the same patriarchal society. I mean that doesn’t excuse people when they go overboard, but it does help to understand their actions a little better. So yeah, I didn’t think her family was too bad. In fact, I liked her older brother. I really liked him because he was surprisingly emotionally aware, especially for a man in that era. I mean, sure, he still operated within the same system, but he actually saw her. He listened. He wasn’t just parroting tradition; he was actually thinking about what it meant and its impact on his sister. So yes, in a sea of these excessively rigid, honor bound patriarchs, he was kind of a soft king. And I appreciated that a lot.