moraa
Written on Sep 20, 2020
Black fists in black gloves delivering black power two jabs at a time.
3.5 stars
I originally intended to finish this tomorrow but it’s been “one more chapter” for the past two hours. Anyway, I’m going to split this into pros and cons as usual and just sort of go from there.
PROS
Representation
Despite some flaws I will discuss in a minute, I would have given anything to read a book like this when I was younger. I certainly enjoyed reading it now but it would have meant more then.
Characterisation
Tristan and Gum Baby were so hilarious and all the others too!
Writing
Simple (though not simplistic) and honestly just refreshing to read.
Anansi
I kind of want to see more of him (them?)
CONS
Constant reference to "Africa"
The year is 2020 and I can’t believe I still have to say this so I’m going to keep it brief and to the point.
“An old African symbol for a spider web”
“An African prince of old”
And other things that I’m not going to type out in full here.
The thing is, no one is simply just from Africa, they’re from xx country in Africa. The continent’s people are not homogenous but somehow this is difficult for most people to grasp (??)
Anansi for instance is not representative of folklore from the continent (the idea of universal African folklore is made difficult by the volumes of diversity). Instead, the lore on the Trickster God has its origins in the culture and religious customs of a certain ethnic group.
Of course, these stories can be told to others (I certainly learnt about Anansi growing up) but that's really not the point here and this is turning into an exposé on media misrepresentation so I'll stop now.
Anyway, it was an enjoyable book (with some problems) that I still would have loved to read as a child.
