bahareads's Reviews (1.09k)

Normally I do not vibe with generational sagas but HOMEGOING OH BOY!! Yaa Gyasi did the damn thing. I enjoyed Homegoing so much. Her writing makes each point of view so distinct and memorable, not all are loveable but all of them are memorable.

The history work was *Chef's Kiss.* The research done to create such a novel was fantastic. It showcases the lines of origin so well, which is something that we talk about in class with books regarding slavery. Enslaved people can have their African persons wiped like a clean slate off the slave ship but with Homegoing readers can see the connection back to the ancestors perfectly, even if the characters themselves do not know.

I enjoy how we got both men's and women's POVs throughout the book. Each point of view gives us just enough about the character before moving on to the next one. I also enjoyed the abruptness of each switch. Homegoing could almost be classified as a group of short stories but I think if it was a group of short stories it would not hit the readers quite the same.

The stories are heavy. There were times I could only make it through one POV before I had to take a break. I cried off and on throughout the book, depending on the storyline.

The fact that Homegoing is a debut novel, makes me want to pick up Gyasi's other work. There's a lot more to say but I cannot find the words. Go read the book!

Saheed Aderinto is concerned with the sexual and national politics in Nigeria. Delving into the idea of 'dangerous sexuality’ and how it intersects with the broader issues of colonial progress and civilisation, the time frame for the study is from the beginning of the 20th century to 1958, when the age of consent in Nigeria was raised from 13 years old to 16 years old (20). Aderinto says “Prostitution is not just about the secret ‘sinful’ affairs between consenting adults of sexual exploitation of underage girls. It was about nation-building."

Aderinto emphasises that historians should place sex in Nigerian colonial encounters and more imperatively he encourages those specializing in other colonial sites to rethink existing approaches to the story of prostitution. In the histography, there is a gap in the present literature, at the time of the publication of this book. There was no book-length study on any Anglophone West African country in the colonial era when Aderinto started writing his work (24). There was and still is silence on the topic to uncover. To create a framework for how to approach and think about prostitution in colonial Nigeria, Adertino turned to other literature on sexuality in other regions of the British Empire. Besides the historiography in other British colonies, Aderinto was inspired by Luisa White’s early work, The Comforts of Home.

In When Sex Threatened the State, Aderinto moves beyond mentioning race and sex to show how the matters manifested in the day-to-day interactions between colonizer and colonized. It demonstrates the history of sexuality in Nigeria could have taken a completely different turn without the colonists’ rigid construction of prostitution, positing it as a moral crime for Nigerians and a threat to the White colonizers.

Saheed Aderinto is writing sexuality into Nigeria’s past. He shows the deep analyses around the ideological line of sex and perversion by numerous groups and historical individuals along multiple social, racial, and power divides at various levels including the local, regional, and international.

The three-pronged argument that follows throughout the whole book is that first, sexuality as a component of human behaviour cannot be understood in isolation from wider historical processes; second, the age of females who practised prostitution played a significant role in moulding the perception and institutional attention towards sex work, exemplifying the constructed difference between child and adult sexualities and lastly, the intersection between sexuality nationalism in Africa is far more complex than the present literature would suggest. ). Overall Saheed Aderinto accomplishes what he sets out to do with When Sex Threatened the State.

I read Babel as a buddy read! This is my second Kuang book.

I read Babel over about three months. It was stop and go because I wanted to sit what I was reading. Kuang's writing is so tangible. Readers will feel like they're at Babel. The vibes reminded me of Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House. The plot unfolds very well for the first 150 pages of the book. Certain events create drama and suspense but it is not until the last 200 to 150 pages of the book that the pace of the plot picks up to a runaway freight train. I ATE UP the stylistic choice of footnotes in the book. The Historian in me was geeking.

Kuang's themes are overt and constant. Readers may feel like they are being hit over the head with colonization, what it means to be colonized, and how colonized people feel in their colonized state; but that dear gentle reader is the entire point. Readers know what it is like to be a half-white, half-Chinese boy turned man or a Black young woman or an Indian young man pushing boundaries in spaces where you are only tolerated for your skills.

The dynamic between Letty, Victorie, Ramy, and Robin was fascinating. The levels between friendship and romance, jealousy and familial love are all bound up together. They do not get sorted out, even at the end of the book. There are hints of queer love here and there that are not explicitly spoken upon. Letty got on my nerves with her inability to try to understand her peers. She does not seek to try to understand them at all, instead placing them inside her shoes but never the reverse. She cannot admit when she is wrong. However Letty is also unable to see all the micro-aggressions her friends face because she is not trained to see them.

(obviously) Language is a big theme in the book. All the white/native English speakers see other languages and the people who speak those languages as interchangeable. Professor Lovell sees English as the superior language above all others. They see the English upbringing as better than others, which is why Lovell “creates” his own personal Chinese translators and takes them back to England. Kuang has so many sprinkled instances of racism throughout the plot it can be overwhelming. The reason why Victoire can’t study West African languages is an extremely layered example.

Professor Lovell's character growth towards the end of the book is wild. It makes me think that Kuang wanted to (finally) give depth to his character while allowing Lovell to assuage his guilt about being a terrible guardian. Lovell hoped that Robin would be only an extension of him and his Englishness, leaving the Chinese language to be the only thing from Robin's mother.

The ending had me in shock!! I enjoyed that we were able to see another point of view at the end. I wanted to cry though. In some ways, it makes one feel hopeless about situations like the ones that are being addressed in the book.

I found the stylistic choice of never letting readers know Robin or his mother's Chinese names very intriguing. I wonder why Kuang did it.

li Hazelwood has written a book out of my 14-year-old Wattpad-loving dreams. Werewolves and Vampires in an enemies-to-lovers book, ugh! The plot was very tight in the beginning, it drags in the middle and gets predictable by the end. I read Bride on audiobook with a fantastic narrator.

I enjoyed the romance and the romantic scenes between Misery and Lowe. But knotting?!? That's the worst werewolf stereotype out there in the ether. The worldbuilding had me wanting more, it made me want more books in this fantasy world. Misery is very naive which starts to get annoying towards the middle and end of the book. Lowe is a semi-dick head. It was clear from the beginning that Lowe was her mate, like OH SO CLEAR. I wanted more tension on that aspect, though we know that Lowe and Misery are the main characters. Also ONCE AGAIN Misery is just so damn naive. The side characters did what they needed to do in this book.

The mystery aspect of the book is part of what makes it drag. Misery finds out nothing about Serena for months and months yet it is all she talks about it in the book. I wanted a clue or something, Hazelwood should have thrown readers a bone instead of going from 0 to 100 at the end.

uly 2024
Cress is was a nice audiobook to put on in the car. Cress is my least favourite out of the main character group. I hate insta-love in books.
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May 2015
It was a little long for me. In the middle it started to get bit boring-ish but end was on point. I can't wait for Winter.

Real Americans is a family saga that spans three generations of a family. It follows Lily, Nick, and Mei or mother, son, and grandmother respectively. The writing was compelling and the story keeps you reading. This was GoodVibesBites&Brews Book Club Read and it was highly enjoyable. Generally, I do not like family sagas but Real Americans hit the spot. There is a lot to unpack as Khong tackles multiple topics with her book; there were so many we could not even talk about them all at book club.

My favourite POV was either Lily or Mei. I think Nick was ungrateful the older he got and that made me dislike his character towards the end of the book. I enjoyed Mei's perspective because I liked reading about what it was like to grow up during the Cultural Revolution in China. Each of the characters has a distinct voice that causes the plot to unweave itself until the reader has a full understanding of the actions of the characters.

I do think the genre of the book changed as the plot went along. It went from being literary fiction to science fiction.

Myriam JA Chancy dazzles again with her beautiful writing. Blending a sad tale with poignant writing and the rekindling of a family. The narrative switches between time and location as readers follow the POV of Sisi and Gertie. The plot takes time to unfold and at times lags. I enjoyed the blend of Haitian Keyol, French and Spanish that took place in the book. I enjoy when authors do not cater to English-speaking audiences (though I fall into that category). The ending made me shed a tear. It was not what I wanted but it was very impactful. I thought the big fight in the book was a tad overdone, but I just hate the miscommunication trope in media

Between the main characters, I enjoyed them both but I was such a fan of Sisi! I could not understand her fascination with Gertie, after being friends for a short amount of time at a young age. The constant belief that Gertie was still one of her 'best friends' even after so much time had passed made me roll my eyes. The book focuses on women and their relationships, whether it was motherhood, sisterhood, daughterhood or romantic. I enjoyed that the most - the othering and decentering of men in the narrative. I enjoyed the unexplained cultural nuances that were sprinkled throughout the book.

I enjoyed the historical settings of each location. I was especially fascinated with the resistance in France by Algerians and Haitians. I also enjoyed reading about fictional characters under the Duvalier Regime. It was a perspective I hadn't gotten the chance to read before in fiction. It made me think about the Chinese under Mao or those in the Dominican Republic under Trujillo. The ever-present terror that sticks with the population and the desire to not step out of line.

Chancy has written another great novel.

Thank you to Tin House for an ARC and finished copy.

His only Wife is was a mindless shallow fun read. I couldn’t stop reading it. I didn’t read the synopsis before I picked it up so I was going in blind. Afi (the main character) has only one goal. There’s only one goal in the book, that’s it. No twists or turns just one thing. To be his only wife.

Afi acted like a child for almost the entire book, until she grew a backbone and realized she was not going to be the chosen one. HOWEVER, it did throw me that she wasn’t a virgin and that she had been with two other men, because honest to God. In my opinion, she was acting like a virgin. Afi being so wary of any other women hurt my heart. Like what happened to girlhood?!

As the course of the book played out, I could see where the plot was heading. It hurt my heart. I didn’t realize all of Reese’s book club books had ‘happy’ endings until Caitlin brought it up. I thought Afi was, maybe, going to be a very miserable woman. It’s crazy (annoying) how all of the contemporary African novels I’ve read recently have the sons seen by everyone in the books as mindless saints in need of protection.

Most of the other characters in the book - Afi’s mom, husband, uncles, aunts, and other side characters - were just there. They were there to further the plot along and provide interactive scenes for Afi to move the plot forward. I liked a few of them, Afi’s favourite cousin for example. But most of them irked me, for all the right reasons. They played their part in the book well.

The growth of Afi did throw me for a loop. She evolved throughout the book from being a ‘backward’ country girl to a ‘posh’ city woman. BUT for her to grow a backbone like she did was something else. I honestly didn’t expect her to be so stout in her resolution regarding what she wanted out of life at the end. There were a few timeline or plot skips that made me peeved. We go from Afi thinking about opening a boutique to her opening one in the span of a few paragraphs. That threw me for a loop. Over all this wasn’t a stand-out book but it was an enjoyable read.

Heterosexual Africa? contributes to Epprecht’s arguments made in his earlier work that a singular, heterosexual identity has been constructed for Africa by scholars and colonial officials which in turn is parroted by African elites. The newest voices to this supposed fallacy are healthcare workers who flocked to Africa following the HIV/AIDs pandemic. Epprecht aims to trace how the “invisible presence of homosexuality” was concocted, conjured, confirmed, and contested over time through various professions (5). Heterosexual Africa? is the history of an idea. The idea is that there is no homosexuality in Africa, which reads and extends like a minor footnote in European intellectual history.

Marc Epprecht criticizes and uses queer theory in his work. He gives the background of the creation of queer theory and the word queer. The constant critique of queer theory throughout the work comes because Epprecht does not believe it is helpful anymore (14). He gives three reasons for this belief; African scholars and Africanists who do gender and sexuality are reluctant to embrace the term ‘queer,’ the efforts to globalize queer theory remain heavily dependent on Western empirical evidence, and in methodological terms queer theory can be very old fashioned (14-15).

While Epprecht makes broad sweeping claims on the whole of Africa, much of his sources come from the Sesotho culture in Lesotho (7). To combat criticism, he says he “casts the search [for source material] as widely as possibly over the whole of Africa south of the Sahara, although, for historical reasons that will be discussed, the pertinent scholarship is far denser in southern Africa” (26). He does not want to impose southern African experiences or models on the whole of Africa but suggests avenues for productive future research in different subregions (27).

He uses terminology that is local and historical when referring to local and historical instances of same-sex sexuality. He also uses terminology that is preferred by African lgbti associations in their activism, which includes using lowercase letters rather than LGBTQIA as is used in the global north. Epprecht also uses the two concepts, cultural intimacy and self-stereotypes, created by anthropologist Michael Herzfeld which were helpful for his study (25).

The book aims to support those African intellectuals. ). Epprecht claims his “goal here is not to position histories of individual lgbti, msm (men having sex with other men), wsw (women having sex with other women), or specific subcultures of nonnormative sexualities in the centre of the picture. Rather it is to focus on how and why they were left out of the picture in the first place, and so often continue to be. It aims at strengthening the argument in favour of a truly holistic and cross-sectorial approach to HIV and AIDS and other sexual health and human rights discussions” (29). In this effort Epprecht does just that with his work Heterosexual Africa?.

I enjoyed the characters the most in this book, out of the entire series. However I hated the way Maas literally decided that the characters could suddenly do whatever the hell they wanted. Like Bryce did not struggle with using the mask at all!! Basically my gripe is the continuity and merging of the worlds.