★★★★★ 4
Factual young adult read!
Format: Paperback
The book was as wonderful as could be expected considering the subject matter. The author clearly did her research. That was made apparent early own when she depicted African storytelling. It was fast pace and the writing style was simplistic. I later discovered this is consider a young adult read so that’s why the simplistic writing style and the lack of profanity. Yes, there were racial slurs and derogatory remarks, but nowhere near as heavy and hard hitting as other books I’ve read. I would consider it “clean” and the rape scenes were brief and not detailed. I will say I initially struggled with Polly’s introduction into the story. My mind immediately went to white savior and I was put off. Even after I realized that wasn’t the narrative the author was going for I still struggled to like her detailed presence and felt like the story should have been solely focused on Amari. However after I got about half way through the book the author skillfully made me forget all about that dislike with a surprising plot twist. From then on I had to read with my hand covering the adjacent page because my eyes would try to skip over and read what’s next. The end of their journey had started to feel a bit fairytalish but the author subtly rectified that with numerous clear facts. So that was appreciated. I feel like some authors try to say “well yeah they went through all these horrible things but they finally were free and lived happily ever after”… like no, not quite.
In the afterword, Draper does separate fact from fiction and encourages the reader to do some deeper research of their own. She list numerous informative sites as well as books. I do feel like the simplistic writing style and the fast pace story took away from the emotional depth of the characters. Just to clarify, this is a work of fiction but the facts of the story are true.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2024
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