REVIEW: Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi

Source: Borrowed

Publish Date: March 5th 2013

Publisher: Penguin Press HC

ASIN/ISBN: 9781594204494

Format: ebook

Genre: Adult, Literature

Pages: 310

Date Read: December 22, 2013

Description

Kweku Sai is dead. A renowned surgeon and failed husband, he succumbs suddenly at dawn outside his home in suburban Accra. The news of Kweku’s death sends a ripple around the world, bringing together the family he abandoned years before.

Ghana Must Go is their story. Electric, exhilarating, beautifully crafted, Ghana Must Go is a testament to the transformative power of unconditional love, from a debut novelist of extraordinary talent.

Moving with great elegance through time and place, Ghana Must Go charts the Sais’ circuitous journey to one another. In the wake of Kweku’s death, his children gather in Ghana at their enigmatic mother’s new home. The eldest son and his wife; the mysterious, beautiful twins; the baby sister, now a young woman: each carries secrets of his own. What is revealed in their coming together is the story of how they came apart: the hearts broken, the lies told, the crimes committed in the name of love. Splintered, alone, each navigates his pain, believing that what has been lost can never be recovered—until, in Ghana, a new way forward, a new family, begins to emerge.

Ghana Must Go is at once a portrait of a modern family, and an exploration of the importance of where we come from to who we are. In a sweeping narrative that takes us from Accra to Lagos to London to New York, Ghana Must Go teaches that the truths we speak can heal the wounds we hid

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Review

For all the hype, Ghana Must Go is terribly underwhelming.

It is not "electric" or "exhilarating". The narrative is not "sweeping".

There are interesting moments, heart warming words and great use of words but they're easily forgettable in the midst of all the "poetic" stuff.

The technique is terrible and leaves you confused for the most part.It's a great idea but it didn't work. It felt disorganised sometimes.The first part of the book is tedious and difficult to follow. I had to reread pages several times to get the point.It got better after half of the second part.

It's a great story, there are some nice characters (Olu & Kehinde are my favourites) but for all the hype, I expected more.

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Rating

3 stars

Recommended

to no one really. If you think you can get past all the "poetic" nonsense

REVIEW: The Hangman's Replacement by Taona Dumisani Chiveneko

The Book
Source: Free copy courtsey of author
Published: February 22, 2013
Publisher: Chiveneko Publishing Inc
ASIN/ISBN: 9781481211932
Format: ebook (epub)
Pages: 400+
Date Read: June 03, 2013
Other Info: the full title is "The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption"

Description
The death row cells are becoming full and Zimbabwe needs a new hangman.
How are so many people connected by a series of (seemingly) unrelated events.
Why do some people really want a new hangman. Who are the unseen puppet masters pulling the strings.

My Review

The structure of the book was very interesting. It was written with a mixture of individual stories (that don't seem to fit together in the beginning), newspaper articles, and letters. The story moves from person to person and place to place without confusiing the reader.

There are a lot of characters but they all play a part in the story. There are no unnecessary elements in the story.
The writing is amazing. The complexity of the book is it's biggest strength and the author does it well.

The dots connect easily towards the end of the book. You now easily see the importance of all the 'unimportant and unnecessary details' and every one of them reveals or reflects something.
The reader gains a lot of insight into the characters' minds and the motives for their actions

The only thing that put me off [hence the 4 stars] was all the botany talk but it was important to help the reader understand the point of the book

In General
I have read a lot of books in almost every genre and I can say that this book is in a class of it's own.
It's obviously a well planned and researched book. Definitely in the top ten books I've read this year.

This is basically it

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Recommended To
Everyone. This book has everything. If you love a good mystery, this is for you. Sci Fi? Horror? Humour? There's even a little bit of romance.
If you don't mind the length

Rating
4 stars