sllyllyd's Reviews (277)

A complicated and dark book but well worth a read. 

It follows the life of Ada who is born of prayer and is inhabited by spirits. Her life journey is long and hard and painful.

Despite difficult subject matter, this book is so readable. I felt like I flew through the book. Sometimes I understood completely and other times I felt lost but that never affected my enjoyment of the novel as I felt that imbibed the understanding or loss of Ada. 

This won’t be for everyone but if you pick it up, then I urge you to finish - you won’t regret it.

Reading up on ogbanje (spirit children) is helpful to understand the themes. 

Almost immediately when starting reading I realised the author is white writing about Venezuelan immigrants (not very well IMO) and after reading other reviews decided I didn’t want to finish. 

This is the most practical and most informative anti-racism book I’ve read. Robert Livingston breaks down racism into chunks and deconstructs any arguments you may think of. He gives useful tools for reasoning and helps you build your own anti-racism goals. 
If you’re White, this is a must read. 

I really enjoyed this. The book follows three main characters through two separate investigations. They all became real to be, flaws and all and I was rooting for them!
Enjoyed the plot very much although a bit gruesome (it's in the blurb, I should have known!) but won't spoil it here. If you like thriller/ crime then this is an excellent read. 

A hard read but a wonderful one. The skill of interweaving cold hard facts with personal experience helped the cold hard facts of caste sink in. It’s the best explanation of why we’re in the mess we’re in that I’ve seen so far. In my opinion This book is a must read for anti-racism or pro-black work.