This is one of those novels in which two things are true, for me: I recognize how great the writing is, and the elegance of the story – it’s objectively a really great book. And, also, for me, this was not really a story that I felt interested in consistently. I think that it was the war stories that made me less interested in this story overall – I’m not really interested in reading about men’s experiences in a war, even when written by someone […]

In the late 19th century, in pre-colonial coastal East Africa, 12-year-old Yusuf is taken by a merchant to pay off his father’s debts. After working as a store clerk for some years, his master takes him on a trading expedition into the rural interior of the region that lasts several months. Yusuf is a strange and passive character that is hard to relate to. From the outset, things happen to him, while he doesn’t make anything happen; he is swept along for the ride, and […]