author: masha hamilton
completion date: 23/08/10
method: borrowed (debbie)
this year i took a course disguised as a world literature class but which was actually an african literature book. now i didn't have any objections to this until about the 5th class when we were still asking the question 'what the fuck is african literature'. now this book is not written by an african author, but it does take place in africa and is about the clashing of two cultures- us and them.
this book is all written from the 3rd person, but the perspective switches very elegantly and feels very unforced. because of the extremely different views each of the characters possess it is nice to see the world from over their shoulder.
this book was great. it was well written and engaging and interesting. there was however one major issue with it: when the camel bookmobile (the travelling library) turns out to be unsuccessful i didn't understand why Fiona is surprised. her idea is that they should bring books to the semi nomadic tribes of africa. they will promote literacy and curiosity among the people, but the problem is many of the books don't connect with the people and they don't understand why these stories are important. and fi never understands why her project inevitably will fail with each tribe. it is sad that she is totally blinded by what is important to her and forgets that that isn't what everyone needs.
i'm sorry if this is a little short, but i spent all day today entertaining, feeding and cleaning up after about 5 very demanding children and am amazed that i could even write this.
xo-ellebee
No comments:
Post a Comment