DK Nnuro

What Napoleon Could Not Do by D.K. Nnuro intrigued me with its title, beautiful cover art, and description. But I can’t say I liked the book.

The book is divided into the lives of Jacob (and those around him), his sister Belinda, and her husband Wilder. Nnuro does a good job of establishing several characters’ desires, cultures, experiences, and secrets.

I enjoyed Belinda’s and Wilder’s sections, but not Jacob’s whatsoever. There were a few times it was close to going into my DNF pile because I couldn’t see the point. I kept thinking “Where is this even going? What’s important here?”. I wondered if there were too many characters and subplots in Jacob’s part. It’s also possible the audiobook influenced my experience. I listened to Jacob’s part and had a difficult time following or gaining interest due to the narrator’s cadence.

I’m one of those readers who hate sex scenes in non-romance novels, and this novel had a few that I had to keep skipping past.

The trendy phrase “truth be told” was overused, annoying, and constantly felt like filler words that missed their mark.

It wasn’t until the end of the book that I felt the characters’ lives pulled together but I still didn’t walk away with a strong overall message.

My appreciation to D.K. Nnuro and Riverhead Books for the Goodreads Early Reviewers printed copy.… (meer)