“The Icarus Girl” by Helen Oyeyemi (Nigeria) Review Readers found this book an easy read and they finished it quickly. However, few of them enjoyed it and one reader said she found it boring. Some felt that it lacked content and that it was repetitive. On the other hand, a couple of readers thought it was a multi-layered story, touching on topics as diverse as … Continue reading The Icarus Girl
“In the United States of Africa” by Abdourahman A. Waberi (Djibouti) Review Readers all agreed that the idea of turning the world upside down was a clever and original one. They liked the beginning of the book, but became disenchanted as they read on finding the story more and more difficult to follow. Although they thought there was some very fine writing, they felt that … Continue reading In the United States of Africa
“Moses, Citizen & Me” by Delia Jarrett-Macauley (Sierra Leone) Review Readers were looking forward to this book and they all found the beginning very promising. However, although the topic of child soldiers was both a challenging and interesting one for a novel, they felt that the author did not quite succeed in making the story a good read. Most readers felt too distant from the … Continue reading Moses, Citizen and Me
“Disgrace” by J.M. Coetzee (South Africa) Review Although readers found the protagonist highly unappealing and they had difficulty engaging with Lucy and some of the other secondary characters, they enjoyed the book very much, describing it as extremely well written and rich. They felt it was a story with many layers needing a number of readings to fully appreciate all it has to offer. They … Continue reading Disgrace
“I Do Not Come to You by Chance” by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani (Nigeria) Review This book was one of the four selected titles for our Summer Reading Group 2010 This is a first novel by a young Nigerian author, which she sets in the infamous world of e-mail scammers known as the 4-1-9ers. Readers loved the book, with some even finding it laugh-out-loud funny, especially … Continue reading I Do Not Come to You by Chance
“An Elegy for Easterly” by Petina Gappah (Zimbabwe) Review Readers loved this book describing it as one of the best collections of short stories they have ever read. They found the themes contemporary and accessible, and they liked the diverse accounts of life in Zimbabwe. With each story, some only a dozen pages long, readers felt they learnt so much about the protagonists that it … Continue reading An Elegy for Easterly
“I Think of You” by Ahdaf Soueif (Egypt) Review Readers were delighted with this collection of short stories which they really enjoyed reading. They loved the language and the style of writing that gave a clear voice to each of the narrators bringing them vividly alive. They liked the descriptions of the situations the characters find themselves in and the author’s use of minor details … Continue reading I Think of You
“Nervous Conditions” by Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe) One of Nicola’s 100 best books for inspiration in the 21st century! Review From the opening sentence, readers were carried along by the story of Tambu and her family, especially the other female characters in her life, namely her mother, her uncle’s wife Maiguru, her cousin Nyasha and her mother’s younger sister Lucia. They liked the authenticity of Tambu’s … Continue reading Nervous Conditions
Nicola's Book Club 