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Bezig met laden... Disgruntleddoor Asali Solomon
Overdue Podcast (631) Bezig met laden...
Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. 2.5 stars. The plot didn't go much of anywhere, and there was very little resolution in the end. ( ) This was an odd one. While I enjoyed it overall, I also felt like it never really took off...as if it were one prolonged exposition. I loved the beginning of the book up until Kenya's parents' separation and once again when she goes to visit Johnbrown on his farm, but a lot of the middle I found difficult. Perhaps Bahni Turpin's teenage voices were a little too good (and while she remains my favorite reader, her Caribbean accent verged on a Russian accent) during that segment, but I found the dialogue between the girls hard to stomach. I enjoyed this book but felt a little adrift when it came to the story itself. I really liked how Solomon developed the characters and I was intrigued with the context, but I had a hard time following along with Kenya and her experiences. I would find myself really into a particular section of the book only to find that it was over and the story was moving on. I would have read a longer book if there was been more detail put in. Did I love this book? No. Would I read something else by Asali Solomon? Probably. At just eight years old, Kenya Curtis feels cast out by her West Philadelphia classmates. Though most of her classmates are black, she’s one of the only kids who celebrates Kwanzaa and can’t say the Pledge of Allegiance. Kenya’s feelings of isolation only grow as her parents, Johnbrown and Sheila, drift apart and she enters adolescence in the new environment of a suburban private school. More than anything, the strength of Asali Solomon’s Disgruntled lies in its balance. Pulled too far toward any of its themes, the novel could have felt too young adult, too political or too philosophical. Instead, Solomon finds a sturdy base in a relatable coming-of-age story and counters it with Johnbrown and Sheila’s evolving beliefs, both of which Kenya comes to question through the course of the novel. Though she’s often critical, Kenya views the lifestyles she sees around her—including her own—with a balanced and questioning eye based on what she’s been taught. We see this as her parents raise her to distrust Christianity, particularly “the Christianity of tacky white people”, while Sheila makes it clear that “being fanatically religious was a reasonable choice for black people who didn’t know any better.” When Kenya meets a wealthy, suburban white Christian, she is understandably baffled and works to untangle her preconceptions. “Only when he finished The Key would Johnbrown go back to school and get what he called a square job. (‘Do you know what cats used to call jobs in the fifties?’ he asked Kenya ‘What?’ ‘Slaves.’ ‘You calling me a slave, Johnbrown?’ said Sheila. Cats have jobs? thought Kenya.)” Solomon’s skill shines in her ability to make the novel’s layered themes and ideas palatable without ever sacrificing depth. Questions of race, class and religion weave their way into Disgruntled‘s pages and surface as Kenya is routinely reminded of their place in her life, often appearing as a mix of humor and pointed observation. Smart and wonderfully narrated, Disgruntled is full of the frank commentary I’d love to see more of in fiction. More at rivercityreading.com Here's the thing with this book: it lacks focus. It's an easy read and mildly enjoyable, the characters have potential. Parts of the story are certainly interesting and could stand on their own if given the time. But in this coming-of-age story, events are too quickly swept away and forgotten; a new direction is given and zoom, years pass by. The story lacks clear purpose, and though this may reflect the protagonist's issues with her own identity, it does not make for a good story. Certainly there is considerable talent shown in Disgruntled. The story is heartbreaking, riveting, and even funny at times. The characters could have brought things together if only I'd known their destination. I believe with a tighter story, Solomon could shine. She had me at moments, but in the end, I just felt lost. geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
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"An elegant, vibrant, startling coming-of-age novel, for anyone who's ever felt the shame of being alive Kenya Curtis is only eight years old, but she knows that she's different, even if she can't put her finger on how or why. It's not because she's Black--most of the other students in the fourth-grade class at her West Philadelphia elementary school are too. Maybe it's because she celebrates Kwanzaa, or because she's forbidden from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Maybe it's because she calls her father--a housepainter-slash-philosopher--"Baba" instead of "Daddy," or because her parents' friends gather to pour out libations "from the Creator, for the Martyrs" and discuss "the community." Kenya does know that it's connected to what her Baba calls "the shame of being alive"--a shame that only grows deeper and more complex over the course of Asali Solomon's long-awaited debut novel. Disgruntled, effortlessly funny and achingly poignant, follows Kenya from West Philadelphia to the suburbs, from public school to private, from childhood through adolescence, as she grows increasingly disgruntled by her inability to find any place or thing or person that feels like home. A coming-of-age tale, a portrait of Philadelphia in the late eighties and early nineties, an examination of the impossible double-binds of race, Disgruntled is a novel about the desire to rise above the limitations of the narratives we're given and the painful struggle to craft fresh ones we can call our own"--
"Novel about a young black girl coming of age in Philadelphia in the late '80s and early '90s"-- Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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