Wayétu Moore

This fictional origin story for the nation of Liberia brings together three characters with unique talents. Gbessa, born with red hair in the West African village of Lai, is considered to be cursed and ostracized. June Dey is born into slavery in Virginia under miraculous circumstances and develops superhuman strength. Norman Aragon is the child of an enslaved woman and a white British slaveholder who gains an ability to fade from sight. All three end up in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia founded by the American Colonization Society to resettle freed Black people. The summary makes it sound like a comic book superhero team, but the book is more nuanced than that. The book works well as an examination of the ongoing trauma of slavery, Liberia's intricate ties with the United States, and the interaction of the American Blacks with the indigenous people of that part of Africa.… (meer)

parts of this were really well done and i do think it's an important history to tell (i've learned a little of this liberian history from a handful of books i've read, but not from school). there were pieces that needed more exposition or shouldn't have been included, though, especially in the second section when she's an adult in america. i thought including her child perspective in the first part of the book was a risky choice, but she mostly handled that well. it really was the second part that i had the most trouble with. i was really surprised and pleased to find the third part was her mother's story and voice, as that really helped put the entire picture together. especially as the first part was told from the child, who really didn't understand much, it really helped the reader to see her mother's story.

the second section, where she is an adult in america and also when she is starting to try to research this history and return to liberia is one where she needed to go deeper in every aspect. it is lacking because she doesn't. i almost didn't understand why she even included this section, because it simply isn't explored or excavated enough.

i would read her fiction because she is a talented writer. this just didn't work quite as well as it could have.… (meer)