lipglossmaffia's Reviews (1.52k)

I don't like the plot, the structure, the style, the language, the character development. Nothing.
I'm only going to be reminded of my irritation when I think about this novel.

First of all, I'm so proud of Mbue's growth as a writer in this novel. I thought her debut was just okay but I had hope and she delivered in this one.
Though this book is set in a fictional village, the issues and things that happen make me think it might have been inspired by the Ogoni people of Rivers State in Nigeria vs Shell. So, it felt like a story I knew but with a fresh take.
The writing is lovely, easy to follow but it's also poetic. It's a well-paced novel, I especially love that the plot is unravelled through the multiple POVs, transitions are so smooth. The character development was good but the reason I'm giving this a 4 is because of how bleak the situation is. It's so close to real life, I know art imitates life but I prefer happier endings in these situations.

I really enjoyed The Family Tree. There are some parts that kinda dragged, but when I got to the end, I could understand why the writer decided to write it that way. It didn't spoil the experience for me though. A pretty stellar debut.

This is a story about the power of storytelling. While I dig the writing prowess of this writer, the appropriation of North African culture made me very uncomfortable.

In the blurb, it's says it's a novel about the fear of being forgotten and in a sense I think the author achieved what they wanted to do. But I didn't enjoy the novel at all, there are basic things that I expected in a historical novel and the boo didn't deliver.

This is a stunning sequel

What a marvellous novel