Great African Reads discussion

Has anyone begun?

I can't get hold of it again... :(

I have the book but have not yet started - this is a newly published book.

I don't have it yet either; I meant to check for a kindle copy but I'm not quite ready to start.

Has anyone been reading this or plan to?

Marieke wrote: "Has anyone been reading this or plan to?"

I know I sound like a broken record -- but I will be reading - I do have the book. I have two books to finish before I can start on this book.

Marieke, I have the book and started it last week. I am enjoying it so far.

Okay good; it's just been so quiet. I'm going to change the end date to March 31. :)

Beverly, I'm in a similar predicament. Just too many books!

If Started this book today. Got it through on overdrive through my library.

Words!! These words strung together like this.

I'm excited to get to it!

Here is review from NYTimes. This is just one of many all of the reviews I have seen - and they have been very positive.

Also - Publishers Weekly (a trade publication in US) has named the author/book one of the best debuts for Spring releases.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/boo...

I will be starting this book in a day or two (can't wait)

I have read the first two chapters (up to p.42) and I am enjoying savoring the language.

"National doors had slammed over vaults of secrets; threats loomed, and the wise chose cowardice as a way of life-not hearing, not seeing, never asking-because sound, like dreams, could cause death."

Wow too many great reads going on here... I have run out of book storage space!

This is the moment you consider making wallpaper from books. ;)

I am feeling happily overwhelmed by how many good reads we have going and coming up. Our members make such great suggestions!

I have started it a couple of days ago. Some of my book friends found it difficult to get into it so I wanted to have a solid block of time to start. I find it totally absorbing; the language is beautifully evocative.

Friederike wrote: "I have started it a couple of days ago. Some of my book friends found it difficult to get into it so I wanted to have a solid block of time to start. I find it totally absorbing; the language is be..."

The same happened with me!

I finished it and posted a review today (no spoilers). One of my top reads of the year for sure.

I just started it and had a little trouble with the prologue but am settling in nicely!

Marieke wrote: "I just started it and had a little trouble with the prologue but am settling in nicely!"

I am glad, Marieke. I hope you get wrapped up in the story as I did.

Well, I didn't want to put it down this morning! :)

And I am looking forward to getting back to it.

okay, WOW! i have to thank whoever recommended this! it defied all expectations (not that i really had any?) i was not familiar with the writer at all, although I must have come across her name before because she won the Caine Prize, but oddly she just hasn't been on my radar. I feel like she should have been and i'm kicking myself for not having paid attention!

I'm still thinking about it...there is so much! the various threads of the story, the structure of the book, the history it evokes, the incredibly poetic language she uses and maintains throughout.

my one and only complaint is that i do think the book could have been a tiny bit shorter. the end seemed to be difficult for her to wrap up and i think it could have been tighter, but maybe not. i'm on the edge about that. i just felt a little impatient as the book started coming to a close.

Wow! is right, Marieke. Interesting your point about the ending. I can see what you mean... it didn't bother me. It's not an easy book to finish and give it a fully satisfactory ending, given what goes on before and how she writes...

I happen to come across a speech by Chimamanda Adichie given at the university of Nairobi. She spoke about DUST and urged everybody to read it: a must read.

This is one I definitely want to reread sometime down the road. This is definitely on my favorites list for the year - it's so complicated, and beautiful. And even given the ending, why do I somehow feel hopeful?

Review, such as it is, is here.

I also definitely want to reread this!

Friederike, I didn't know that Adichie had spoken about Dust, but I did notice a lot of familiar names, like Binyavanga Wanaina, in the Acknowledgments and so I'm looking forward to more from her--I think she has a gift and a great support network, which is wonderful.

Marieke wrote: "Friederike, I didn't know that Adichie had spoken about Dust, but I did notice a lot of familiar names, like Binyavanga Wanaina, in the Acknowledgments and so I'm looking forward to more from her--..."

Yes, I understand that Binyavanga was a major influence on her writin prior to the final version. And now she has Adichie too... For a debut novel it is very well written and imagined I found.

I am about 50% through this marvelous book.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words but with this book you can say a few words is worth a thousand images - the lyrical language evokes the beauty and pain of the landscape and the characters.

Has someone already posted this interview?

http://theafricanbookreview.com/2015/...

I have had the book on my shelf for a while now, and I thought it was scheduled as a group read in another group, but... I seem to have been mistaken! In any case I can't find it, so unless someone here can point me in the direction of a future group read for this I will be reading it by myself soon!

This is such a great book and i'd love to see this discussion reinvigorated, Zanna!

Zanna wrote: "Has someone already posted this interview?

http://theafricanbookreview.com/2015/..."

I'm not able to view this at work; i'll try to remember to check at home this evening.

I'll start reading it soon then, maybe after From the Beast to the Blonde which I'm starting today over at Into the Forest (I think!)

Review!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I was interested in the character of Galgalu as the bearer of traditional beliefs?
Parallels with other authors: Leslie Marmon Silko and Moniza Alvi...

Zanna wrote: "Review!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I was interested in the character of Galgalu as the bearer of traditional beliefs?
Parallels with other authors: Leslie Marmon Silko and Moni..."

I'm so glad you read it and enjoyed it! i loved this part of your review in particular "If this book is accurately described as a sustained poem of grief and anguish, its object is not only a loved person but surely a country, a hope, a generation of stolen people. If you aren't aware of Kenya's history, this is not the place for 101, but the country's pain is braided into that of Ajany and her family, and the mysteries that unravel around them have deep and widely spread political roots that become exposed in all their ugliness as hidden stories are scraped to the surface."

i think it is one of the things i loved about the book...it was not easy to read, in part because it was not written for me. It was not written to teach me about Kenyan history.

Yes, true, the book is not written for me, but when I think about the book as a healing ceremony, I reflect on who and what is in need of healing, and the thread about Isaiah brings home the spreading of colonisation's wounds. Both the extractor and extracted lose their humanity - both are injured. As a white British person I am a rather direct beneficiary of the exploitation of Kenya's people and resources, and in working through the effects of this awareness I can work out a response & responsibility...

Zanna wrote: "Yes, true, the book is not written for me, but when I think about the book as a healing ceremony, I reflect on who and what is in need of healing, and the thread about Isaiah brings home the sprea..."

Yes, this is a great way to read this book. You are making me want to reread it right now! I definitely think it's a book meant for multiple readings. I have never been very good about rereading, though.

Who has time for re-reading?! Too many books... I do have some to re-read though, only I forget...

Zanna wrote: "Who has time for re-reading?! Too many books... I do have some to re-read though, only I forget..."

I know! that's the whole problem!