mohamedzakria

As a former ESL teacher of refugees, I had high hopes for this book about a young Nigerian refugee trying to find herself. I was turned off almost immediately by the syntax and vocabulary of the book, which was far too advanced for a teenage girl from Africa who had spent only a few years teaching herself the Queen's English from the newspaper (how would you learn words like "tarmac" and "dashboard" from the paper? Or English idioms? Or how to write a metaphor or simile?) It never felt real to me. But I felt obligated to finish it because I had paid for it and because of the stellar reviews it had received. When I finished it, I was relieved it was over, as if I had been forced to read it for a literature class assignment on overuse of adjectives and figurative language in a novel. I think it could have been a really great short story had it been written in the true voice of a young African girl, without all of the adjectives and overworked descriptions. I liked the premise. But it got so very slowly to the point that I felt like I was swimming through vats of Little Bee honey--thick and syrupy and too sweet for my taste.

2022-09-28 07:16