onemorebookpodcast's reviews
80 reviews

From the point in which we are introduced to Dr. Kweku Sai (one of the main characters) at the beginning of the book who is having a heart attack & literally seeing his life unfold in front of his eyes, this book pulls you in. And as he takes us through his life story with all its highs and lows while introducing us to his family, we not only get to go on this exhilarating journey with him but also get a lesson in history where we (in this case 'I') learnt so much about the time in 1983 when Nigeria expelled 2 million undocumented West African migrants, half of whom were from Ghana.

Apart from Kweku's life, we get to know about his wife, Fola's life & the effects that this expulsion had on her life, something that seeps into the lives of their 4 children.

I loved how each character had his/her own life experience even if the interacted with each other & had a shared beginning (the Sai Family). It also made me think a lot about the invisible thread that joins members of a family no matter where in this world they are located & how double-sided its effects can be (positive or negative).

I really enjoyed this book & was surprised that it was published over 10 years ago & yet when reading it, I felt like this could even be happening now. This might even end up on my favorite reads of the year.

I have to admit that the reason I added this book to my TBR list was because I wanted to read it before watching the film. I am one of the few people who never watched the first film because it was never shown in the country where I grew up. So the remake of the film sparked my interest to read this classic.

I really loved the way the Author cleverly gave the books' female characters their own strong & special storylines. By using somewhat sub-Par penmanship in Celie's letters, she reminds us of her life's circumstances that took her out of school & predestined that she live a 'simple life'. Nettie on the other, went to school longer & is able to live a more fulfilled & well travelled life. There storylines of the other women in this book are so good but I don’t want to spoil the book for anyone who hasn’t read it.

And even though Patriarchy 'rules' throughout the book with a heavy hand, the love between the sisters, mothers & their children & also the queer love that develops in Celie's life overshadows it & the characters get to experience kindness, hope, forgiveness & the possibility for a new start.

This book & 'Alice Walker' deserve all the accolades & even more!

Black girls are not a monolith! We are exhausted of our constant portrayal in a negative light by being subjected to unfair & untrue stereotypes. We are diverse & this book reminds us to celebrate our individualism. But even as we do this, the writing pulls us together like the way a mother warmly embraces a child that has come back home. We are different but we love, ache, hurt & bleed the same. I saw myself in almost every poem, when I was getting my hair done, when I fell in love, when I had my heart broken, when I broke someone's heart, when I dealt with loss, my feelings about my body & other people’s feelings about my body, my motherhood journey, the fear that I have as I exist in this female body, Sandra Bland, Serena Williams, Michelle Obama…

Jasmine Mans, thank you for seeing us!

'Until the lion tells the story, the hunter will always be the hero'…This African proverb aptly describes my thoughts about this book. A rare find in my local library that took me over a month to finish reading. I have to admit that the book started off very slow for me, there were mentions of names & lineage in families & I couldn’t figure out whose life the author was now describing, the father or the son. But when I got to the part where the Germans 'entered into the chat', I was hooked.

The book describes not only the German occupancy of Tanzania in the early 1900's but also the invasion by other colonial powers; Arabs, Portuguese, British, French after they divided up Africa like a piece of cake amongst themselves. It was refreshing to read about all these from the point of view of the fictitious characters in this book who are local Tanzanians. And even though the book details the trail of terror that colonialism left on the inhabitants of the countries that they wrongly occupied, it also gives us a glimpse of the day to day activities that the community had. Details like how they celebrated Idd, how the women met after finishing their household chores & what they talked about, how the men met in the evening & sat at the porch to hold 'Baraza'…these details were my favorite.

This for me should be how history books need to be written, for us & by us.

Finally, a love story that reminded of my belief in love as I found myself fully immersed into it. Navigating a romantic relationship after loss is something that is rarely talked about, in books & also in real life. And I feel like the writer skillfully & in an empathetic way told us this story of a couple who believed in a love that would last forever but had their lives & love unfortunately shattered by a series of tragedies. We not only get to see them work through their own traumas but we also see the importance of Therapy, strong family bonds & friendships as needed in the restoration of their relationship.

February is IMO the month of Love & am so glad that I had this book to crown it ❤️.

There’s a saying in my local language that says, "I will rest when am dead". This book totally negates that saying. First of all, If you manage to get through the first 50 pages of reading it (I struggled), then you are in for a confusing but exhilarating ride. This book had me googling 1000 words that even 'Big Brother’ (cough cough Google) is probably confused at what my interests are; Sri Lanka's history, flags of different countries, Ola Leaf, the African god 'Mbombo' who vomited the world…

We are introduced to Maali Almeida, 'Photographer. Gambler. Slut' (his words, not mine), a closeted gay man who finds himself dead & embarks on a quest to find out how he died & who killed him. From the bureaucracy involved that he encounters as he tries to figure out how to navigate the life after death in the 'in-between world', his past life & the loved ones that he has left behind, the ghosts & demons roaming the city of Colombo, Sri Lanka's politics, the brutality & killings that take place everyday, the different Government agencies involved (local & foreign), this book declares no rest for the dead in an enthralling way. I totally get why it won the @Bookerprize 2022. And the ending is

Trees are silent witnesses in this world & finally we get to read a book where the main character is a 'Ficus Carica', commonly known as the edible fig.

This book tells us not only of a love story between 2 teenagers who belong to opposite sides of a divided Cyprus, but also the heartbreak that comes with conflicts & wars. Hearts are broken, lives lost, homes destroyed, neighbors divided, families separated, forced migration but nobody ever thinks about the trauma & memories that are passed down from one generation to the next, not only in humans but also in plants & animals. And in a unique way, using interesting storylines, the author was able to mend my heart after breaking it in several instances in the book

After reading 'Girl, Woman Other', I wanted to read more by her because I loved her writing & this book which was published back in 2013 was my pick. A male character written by a female author has never been done better. We meet Barrington Jedidiah Walker 'Esq', a 74 year old Antiguan man living in the UK who has been married to his wife Carmel for over 50 years but has been having an affair with Morris, his best friend for longer than that. Hate him or love him, 'Barry', the main character carries this book all through with his wit, prowess at the Queen’s language, chauvinism, storytelling skills, advice, misogynistic views, fashion sense & of course the undeniable fete of living a lie almost all his life.

Nevertheless, the other characters were also given strong storylines which I feel made this book complete, even though I would have just been contented with 'Barry' alone. I was happy-sad when I finished reading this book & was so glad when it was chosen as a Bookclub pick because it meant that I could read it again & meet 'Barry' again.

Pick it up if you can, 'Barry' is worth it, I promise!

Short stories are meant to introduce you to an author & to evoke a particular emotion or mood in you & this book did just that. It introduced me to an amazing Zimbabwean author, the stories of her people (past & present) but also to the concept of 'Afrofuturism', a vast ocean that I have just 'tapped my toe into'. As a 'Sarungana', she tells us stories of the women in her country whose contribution to the fight against colonialism were never mentioned, what one has to give up in exchange of citizenship in a foreign country, the expectations of parents that their children shall always be 'the head & not the tail' (to mean only first place is accepted), how women have no ownership of their bodies even after death, the concept of time (now & before)…

We are also reminded in this book of themes that we are grappling with currently like patriarchy, violence against women, racism, exploitation of humans & of the environment, corruption, white supremacy, financial exploitation & many more. 'Lest we forget' that the generation before us forged through the same & maybe even the one after us will have to too (hopefully not)!

This book is both a reminder & a lesson for the future (Zamani & Sasa) that I enjoyed reading.

'Passing' is a term that has been used primarily in the United States to describe a black or brown person or of multiracial ancestry who assimilated into the white majority to escape the legal and social conventions of racial segregation and discrimination. (Source…Wikipedia). And this is the main theme of this book where we are introduced to 2 black women, Clare & Irene who grew up together but lost touch & met later in life at 'Drayton' an exclusive hotel in Chicago that had a strict 'Only White people allowed' policy. Obviously, the 2 women were 'passing' but by reading the book, we learn of the psychological burdens that come with choosing this lifestyle & the constant fear that one of the women has to live under that her secret might one day become known.

Going into the book, I had a preconceived negative judgement on their life choices but the further I read, the more sympathetic I became. To have to deny the skin you exist in in order to live life in your own terms is utterly heartbreaking. When I read on the author of this book who is of mixed race descent & who also struggled a lot trying to exist in both worlds where her parents were from, I kind of understood the melancholic mood in this book & the sad ending too