So this first week of University, I've done something that I haven't had a lot of time to do for quite some time now...I read books! Surprising, I know. I love reading, actually, and I have this problem where I go to the public library (wonderful place) and check out tons of interesting books and take them home with me...where they sit in various places throughout the house, waiting to be read. And then usually I end up returning them unread because I don't get the time to just sit down with a delicious book and read. It's awful. But this week, that was not the story. Since I took books from the library in my hometown all the way up to the University that's two hours away, I figured that I should read them. It's about time.
One of the books I finished this past week is called "Far from Home", by Na'ima B. Roberts.
There's a picture of the cover there. Memorize that image, then go search for it at your public library. You must read this book.
My initial desire is to go off about how terrible this book is. Because it is. If you want to read a happy story where there are challenges but then everything turns out really great in the end and good vanquishes evil and then the princesses all get married, then go to another blog about how to make cute crafts and miniature pies. I don't want to go into detail about this awful book, though, because a) nobody wants spoilers, and b) that would be a plot summary, which is a sin in English classes...and is certainly not about writing. Which is what this blog is about. Obviously.
So, the book is about Zimbabwe and the colonial repercussions that are causing political strife there. As you read the book, try to remember the time period it's all happening in. It's sometimes difficult to believe. The book is written in three sections. The first is written through the perspective of a young Shona African named Tariro. It's probably my favorite part of the book because Tariro's life is so unbelievable. The book then changes pace completely and tells the story of a white girl named Katie, living twenty five years later. And the third part switches between the two perspectives as their different worlds inevitably collide in a series of events much more magnanimous than I expected.
Definitely no fairy tales here.
I love the way that this book is written, though. It's kindof weird to switch settings and personalities and demographics so suddenly and thoroughly because you become so encased in one that you nearly forget the other. Which is exactly the way that the book has to be written in order to have such a powerful ending. If the two narrators had been telling stories simultaneously, things would be too jumbled and readers would be forced to choose sides. But in this format, it's difficult to choose a side. Even after reading the book, I'm not sure who I would choose to come out on top over the other, because I know each girl so deeply and I know what she needs, what she's been through, and how she feels about the dispute. The writing integrates each girl's distinct culture so thoroughly that you see both sides of the story without any reservation, and you appreciate and connect with each one on an individual basis.
Without the structure of this book, the story would become very confusing and biased. The format keeps it fairly objective, actually, and free from emotion. Which makes the ending almost disappointing, because there is no clear-cut good and no absolute evil. There is no winning side and no losing side. Not much of a denoument. Just catharsis. And that's all there really needs to be...all that there could be.
It's a terrible book.
Read it. :)
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