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Nazaré
Winner: Foreword INDIES Editor's Choice
Winner: Independent Publisher Book Award
Winner: New Mexico/Arizona Book Award
Finalist: Hurston/Wright Legacy Award
Nominee: William Saroyan International Prize
Nazaré tells the story of a peasants' revolt in the polyglot city of Balaal. An adventure and a parable that pits the oppressed against the oppressor, the work has been likened to that of Gabriel García Márquez and Mario Vargas Llosa in its use of language, its inventiveness, its humor, and its examination of issues of justice.
Winner: Independent Publisher Book Award
Winner: New Mexico/Arizona Book Award
Finalist: Hurston/Wright Legacy Award
Nominee: William Saroyan International Prize
Nazaré tells the story of a peasants' revolt in the polyglot city of Balaal. An adventure and a parable that pits the oppressed against the oppressor, the work has been likened to that of Gabriel García Márquez and Mario Vargas Llosa in its use of language, its inventiveness, its humor, and its examination of issues of justice.
320 pages, Paperback
Published November 9, 2021
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1521 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
November 8, 2021
Nazaré by JJ Amaworo Wilson took me by surprise: an epic fable of rebellion, of one unnamed fishing village and a boy who changes his world. Kin is a young homeless boy who sees a beached whale. When the village can't find a way to help it, he stays—and so he's the only one to see a huge wave rise out of nowhere and pull it back to sea. From there, his connections to water widow Jesa, holy man Fundogu, and the fishermen of the town, will help him to evade the men of Mayor Matanza and the Butcher, and eventually lead to him leading a rebellion that will end the Mayor's bloody reign once and for all.
It's a vivid book that thrives in whirling fabulism and vivid, strange characters. A seagull helps Kin escape difficult situations; a turtle presides over a courtroom; mysterious coincidences bring stories together. My only complaint is that the attempt to make this a fable-like story, outside of time and space, is often disrupted by small details that do seem to hint at specifics, and these can jar the reader slightly out of the story. Even so, the novel is compelling and moves quickly, sometimes touching and other times absurd and funny, the revelations unexpected and exciting. Definitely worth the read.
Content warnings for dictatorship, cannibalism mention, violence, mob violence, imprisonment, hunger.
It's a vivid book that thrives in whirling fabulism and vivid, strange characters. A seagull helps Kin escape difficult situations; a turtle presides over a courtroom; mysterious coincidences bring stories together. My only complaint is that the attempt to make this a fable-like story, outside of time and space, is often disrupted by small details that do seem to hint at specifics, and these can jar the reader slightly out of the story. Even so, the novel is compelling and moves quickly, sometimes touching and other times absurd and funny, the revelations unexpected and exciting. Definitely worth the read.
Content warnings for dictatorship, cannibalism mention, violence, mob violence, imprisonment, hunger.
October 24, 2021
JJ Amaworo Wilson’s novel Nazaré makes me think about why we love stories. How we want to inhabit another life, another world, to become more or other than what we are—to sail right into that! The story of Kin lets me experience this kind of transformation, so unique to writing and reading. Perhaps because the character begins as a young boy, I have that same feeling of transportation that I had reading stories as a child. Of being in the story completely. But Nazaré is really a political fable and so very much for adults and for our time. Many of the events seem familiar, something we read in a newspaper, some war or corruption that we hope stays far away from our lives—and that we know isn’t far away at all, that actually is frighteningly close. Amaworo Wilson has woven magic into these terrible realities of oppression and brutality, and he has given us—like Gabriel Garcia Márquez in One Hundred Years of Solitude—an unexpected, still fragile, but still potent sense of hope and wonder.
March 20, 2022
An enormous whale beaches in a mythical town called Balaal. A motley crew of fishermen unsuccessfully attempts to move the vast creature. Soon, they are joined by the entire village, who also fail. An 11 year old boy arrives at exactly the same time as a freak wave, a Nazaré, and the whale is saved. The boy becomes known as Kin of the Waves, and is soon prophecised to be a future king.
This is a book that defies categorisation. It doesn't quite fit into the magic realism box, nor fantasy, nor speculative, nor dystopian, but none of that matters. It is just a huge amount of fun to read, proper old-fashioned story-telling.
Wilson's influences are easier to spot; Angela Carter, Leonora Carrington, perhaps, and a right giveaway when the aging and decrepit Judge stirs from a doze and shouts "Fish, Bananas," (Python). In fact the book would make an excellent follow up the Holy Grail and the Life of Brian.
I kept asking myself is there something deeper going on here. The corrupt ruling family, the Matanzas and their vicious police enforcers, the Tonto Macoute, bring to mind the notorious despots of Central and South America; the Tonton Macoute were 'Papa Doc' Duvalier's paramilitary force in 1959. Los Barbudos, or 'the bearded ones' seem very similar to the “bearded rebels” of the Cuban Revolution, also of 1959. But these bearded ones are voracious readers. Amongst their rules is 'everyone reads at least an hour a day no excuses'.
But there is little violence in Wilson's story, no mass killings or torture, as might be expected by such references.
Rather, it is a meditation on despotism, stacked high with humour. The horrors of the 1960s to which the clues in the text alude, are only referred to, as if we should not forget. But this is a hugely entertaining story in which nothing is as it seems, a remarkable literary feat.
Here's a clip..
and
This is a book that defies categorisation. It doesn't quite fit into the magic realism box, nor fantasy, nor speculative, nor dystopian, but none of that matters. It is just a huge amount of fun to read, proper old-fashioned story-telling.
Wilson's influences are easier to spot; Angela Carter, Leonora Carrington, perhaps, and a right giveaway when the aging and decrepit Judge stirs from a doze and shouts "Fish, Bananas," (Python). In fact the book would make an excellent follow up the Holy Grail and the Life of Brian.
I kept asking myself is there something deeper going on here. The corrupt ruling family, the Matanzas and their vicious police enforcers, the Tonto Macoute, bring to mind the notorious despots of Central and South America; the Tonton Macoute were 'Papa Doc' Duvalier's paramilitary force in 1959. Los Barbudos, or 'the bearded ones' seem very similar to the “bearded rebels” of the Cuban Revolution, also of 1959. But these bearded ones are voracious readers. Amongst their rules is 'everyone reads at least an hour a day no excuses'.
You have to know why you’re fighting and what you’re fighting against. And that means you have to know history and politics and philosophy.
But there is little violence in Wilson's story, no mass killings or torture, as might be expected by such references.
Rather, it is a meditation on despotism, stacked high with humour. The horrors of the 1960s to which the clues in the text alude, are only referred to, as if we should not forget. But this is a hugely entertaining story in which nothing is as it seems, a remarkable literary feat.
Here's a clip..
The Butcher appeared with four of the toughest Tonto Macoute plus the Anteater, also known as Hormigonera, or the Kid Sniffer. She was rumoured to have been brought up by wolves and had the longest nose in all of Balaal. She was semi-feral and would be paid only in raw meat.
Like most of Balaal’s population, she was of an unknown age. Her limbs were stick-thin and she had a limp from where a child had stabbed her with a knife, but she possessed a great, distended belly from all the meat she had consumed, and her face was as smooth as a peach save for two vertical lines between her eyebrows. She wore a washerwoman’s rags and a pair of runner chinelos, from which her fat, filthy toes protruded like slugs.
and
Finally he sank to the sandy floor of the cave, together with his men, and turned and turned in the mad tides till his hair was seaweed and his skin went blue. Down in Hell, they say, the Matanza family has a block to themselves.
February 24, 2022
This novel, in the genre of futuristic, dystopian magical realism, will have appeal to a specific group of readers, however it is also a very imaginative tale woven by the author, JJ Amaworo Wilson, a German-born Anglo-Nigerian-American writer. A previous novel, Damnificados, won three international awards. This book delves into the fall out after a great wave, the Nazare, hits Kin’s small fishing village, the Fishing Village with No Name. The tale evolves into a riveting story, and the overall tone is set by Kin’s reflective comment from someone he once knew: “Everything begins and ends in the sea.”
November 9, 2021
A strange and fantastic tale of overthrowing oppression. I’m sure there is a great deal of symbolism that I was not able to pick up on from the author’s cultural context. The fantastic elements really captured my interest.
November 28, 2021
Nazaré is the story of Kin, a young, homeless boy, and how he with the help of many others liberated his people from the brutal dictatorship of the Matanza family. It begins one morning on the beach where he discovered a beached whale. With the sailors and townspeople and everyone trying to save the whale, or at least get their picture taken, with no success, Kin stays by the whale, still trying his best until a huge wave comes to wash the whale back into the water. He is accused of sorcery and brought to trial but escapes.
Of course, this is magical realism, so Mayor Matanza has the given names of the most infamous dictators and his last name means massacre. The judge at the trial is an ancient turtle. It’s truly magical realism, not a story with a singular fantastical element.
Kin has to flee and his travels and the people he meets prepare him for the future and build a coalition that will help bring down the dictator, though there is more to the story.
Of course, magic is everywhere.
I loved Nazaré from the first to the last page. I even called up a friend to read a passage because it delighted me so. She’s reading it now. The prose is full of life and humor. And magic, of course. There is so much magic.
I received an ARC of Nazaré from the publisher
Nazaré at PM Press
J.J. Amaworo Wilson author site
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
Of course, this is magical realism, so Mayor Matanza has the given names of the most infamous dictators and his last name means massacre. The judge at the trial is an ancient turtle. It’s truly magical realism, not a story with a singular fantastical element.
Kin has to flee and his travels and the people he meets prepare him for the future and build a coalition that will help bring down the dictator, though there is more to the story.
Of course, magic is everywhere.
I loved Nazaré from the first to the last page. I even called up a friend to read a passage because it delighted me so. She’s reading it now. The prose is full of life and humor. And magic, of course. There is so much magic.
I received an ARC of Nazaré from the publisher
Nazaré at PM Press
J.J. Amaworo Wilson author site
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
December 11, 2021
I’ve heard it said that the artist’s duty is to transport us (the reader/listener/viewer) to new realms, to places we would not ordinarily dare to venture into. If so, then with the narrative artistry of JJ Amaworo Wilson in his latest novel, yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have…liftoff!
Nazaré is an engaging journey into the pursuit of justice in a mystical, tumultuous world. We are guided into a simple story of a boy on a faraway beach (reminiscent of the grandiose Nazaré beach in Portugal), faced with an other-worldly challenge, but gradually – deliciously! – we are transformed, drawn into a hypnotic parable. Through the spirit of Kin, we experience struggles of commitment, courage, and resilience in the face of overwhelming odds and cruel injustices. The deliciousness is the verbal grace of Amaworo Wilson, the captivating charm of this surrealistic journey.
Reminiscent of William Kittredge’s More Sweetly Play the Dance and Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Junkman’s Oggligato, Nazaré sweeps you into a lyrical procession of unlikely characters through the full gamut of human experiences, from the comical to the brutal to the sublime.
Nazaré is an engaging journey into the pursuit of justice in a mystical, tumultuous world. We are guided into a simple story of a boy on a faraway beach (reminiscent of the grandiose Nazaré beach in Portugal), faced with an other-worldly challenge, but gradually – deliciously! – we are transformed, drawn into a hypnotic parable. Through the spirit of Kin, we experience struggles of commitment, courage, and resilience in the face of overwhelming odds and cruel injustices. The deliciousness is the verbal grace of Amaworo Wilson, the captivating charm of this surrealistic journey.
Reminiscent of William Kittredge’s More Sweetly Play the Dance and Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Junkman’s Oggligato, Nazaré sweeps you into a lyrical procession of unlikely characters through the full gamut of human experiences, from the comical to the brutal to the sublime.
February 28, 2022
Not only am I grateful to have received a free copy of Nazare, but Mr. Wilson signed the book as well. So a big thanks for his generosity. Not that this lovely surprise biases my review at all (for whatever my two cents are worth).
What you won't find on the book jacket and overview of the book: Nazare is a highly original work of fiction and comes as close to a "wholly other" work of art that I can imagine. Think of all of the books you've read and you'll find one of two patterns: either a hero leaves his/her/their home to experience an adventure or a stranger arrives to the hero's land. These patterns are necessary for us to comprehend the story and are therefore not to be shunned (if avoiding these two narritival options are even possible). But when an author follows one of these paths with dialogue you've read before, plot points that reek of ad hoc insertion, then the structure becomes a crutch that forecloses on originality and not a framework enabling your consciousness to grace the edges of that of the author 's.
Given my 4 star rating, you will have guessed that Mr. Wilson's work exhibits the later and not the former. Nazare accomplishes this because it actually has BOTH patterns mentioned above, and that is rare indeed. The stranger comes to town in the form of a whale arriving on the beach and ignites the engine or the story; the hero, Kin, then embarks on a journey of development that is motivated by justice for a town oppressed by nefarious rulers. While some of the action is rushed and somewhat paramilitary for my taste, the journey Kin experiences is fresh and delightful.
Nazare is peppered with incredibly original characters and a few astoundingly inventive comments in characters that will make you laugh out loud. Possible spoiler but I have to say it: fortunetellers are unable to lie and, from having been cursed by the gods aeons ago for utilizing such demi-godish powers, are born with their heads on backwards. It doesn't stop there: the evil mayor, dissatisfied with hearing the truth from one of them, condemns the teller to die. The firing squad then faces a dilemma: do they shoot the man in the chest or back... Because which way should he face?... Love it.
Mr. Wilson is a master storyteller and a writer of prose unburdened by choppy cadence or unnecessary extras. Not to say he is reductionistic, though. Indeed, scenes are filled out beautifully and summaries are well rounded (aside from when different factions are corraled to overthrow the mayor).
One criticism: some attempts at humor are simply silly and draw attention away from the emotion of the scene. An example, a central character is carried away from a riot on a giant camel while eating popcorn. The popcorn is mentioned more than once, so repetitively that it becomes the focus, even though one finds out later that the camel may have supernatural origins. This fascination with trying hard, too hard, to land a joke makes one nearly miss an interesting backstory plot-point.
But my minor literary quarrels are just that, minor. Mr. Wilson has found a new fan in me and I can't wait to read the Damnificados.
What you won't find on the book jacket and overview of the book: Nazare is a highly original work of fiction and comes as close to a "wholly other" work of art that I can imagine. Think of all of the books you've read and you'll find one of two patterns: either a hero leaves his/her/their home to experience an adventure or a stranger arrives to the hero's land. These patterns are necessary for us to comprehend the story and are therefore not to be shunned (if avoiding these two narritival options are even possible). But when an author follows one of these paths with dialogue you've read before, plot points that reek of ad hoc insertion, then the structure becomes a crutch that forecloses on originality and not a framework enabling your consciousness to grace the edges of that of the author 's.
Given my 4 star rating, you will have guessed that Mr. Wilson's work exhibits the later and not the former. Nazare accomplishes this because it actually has BOTH patterns mentioned above, and that is rare indeed. The stranger comes to town in the form of a whale arriving on the beach and ignites the engine or the story; the hero, Kin, then embarks on a journey of development that is motivated by justice for a town oppressed by nefarious rulers. While some of the action is rushed and somewhat paramilitary for my taste, the journey Kin experiences is fresh and delightful.
Nazare is peppered with incredibly original characters and a few astoundingly inventive comments in characters that will make you laugh out loud. Possible spoiler but I have to say it: fortunetellers are unable to lie and, from having been cursed by the gods aeons ago for utilizing such demi-godish powers, are born with their heads on backwards. It doesn't stop there: the evil mayor, dissatisfied with hearing the truth from one of them, condemns the teller to die. The firing squad then faces a dilemma: do they shoot the man in the chest or back... Because which way should he face?... Love it.
Mr. Wilson is a master storyteller and a writer of prose unburdened by choppy cadence or unnecessary extras. Not to say he is reductionistic, though. Indeed, scenes are filled out beautifully and summaries are well rounded (aside from when different factions are corraled to overthrow the mayor).
One criticism: some attempts at humor are simply silly and draw attention away from the emotion of the scene. An example, a central character is carried away from a riot on a giant camel while eating popcorn. The popcorn is mentioned more than once, so repetitively that it becomes the focus, even though one finds out later that the camel may have supernatural origins. This fascination with trying hard, too hard, to land a joke makes one nearly miss an interesting backstory plot-point.
But my minor literary quarrels are just that, minor. Mr. Wilson has found a new fan in me and I can't wait to read the Damnificados.
March 30, 2022
Everything begins and ends in the sea.
Having loved J.J. Amaworo Wilson's Damnificados, I picked up a copy of Nazaré without even really reading anything about it -- I'd been eagerly awaiting his next work and I'm very happy with my decision. Nazaré has much of what I liked best about Damnificados -- a diverse group of protagonists who need to figure out how to come together, and the perfect blend of political fable + magical realism.
Nazaré follows Kin, a young boy living in a fishing village in Balaal, who may or may not be magically inclined. He ultimately plays a key role in challenging the country's brutal dictator, Matanza; as Wilson writes on the back of the novel, "their revolution is unlike any other, fought by tinkers and miners, monks and acrobats, clairvoyants in bowler hats, a painted saint, the King of the Rats, and a giant turtle named Abacaxi" (who, despite his very old age, had never before actually participated in a revolution). This novel had me alternating between laughing aloud and feeling excited and angry and hopeful. It's rare for me, but I'd probably read this again.
Content warnings: violence, grief, death, animal cruelty + animal death, mention of drowning, mention of cannibalism
Having loved J.J. Amaworo Wilson's Damnificados, I picked up a copy of Nazaré without even really reading anything about it -- I'd been eagerly awaiting his next work and I'm very happy with my decision. Nazaré has much of what I liked best about Damnificados -- a diverse group of protagonists who need to figure out how to come together, and the perfect blend of political fable + magical realism.
Nazaré follows Kin, a young boy living in a fishing village in Balaal, who may or may not be magically inclined. He ultimately plays a key role in challenging the country's brutal dictator, Matanza; as Wilson writes on the back of the novel, "their revolution is unlike any other, fought by tinkers and miners, monks and acrobats, clairvoyants in bowler hats, a painted saint, the King of the Rats, and a giant turtle named Abacaxi" (who, despite his very old age, had never before actually participated in a revolution). This novel had me alternating between laughing aloud and feeling excited and angry and hopeful. It's rare for me, but I'd probably read this again.
Content warnings: violence, grief, death, animal cruelty + animal death, mention of drowning, mention of cannibalism
October 13, 2022
This story is well crafted, full of meaning, and has a more hopeful message of justice, yet the characters themselves are very flat and lack dimension or depth. The dialogue is also weak and seems there only to serve the plot. There is very little that lets a reader look deeper into the characters lives, emotions, or thoughts.
The narrative is mostly full of explanations and descriptions of what is happening, and why it is happening, which is good for giving an understanding of the sequence of events, yet makes it more difficult for a reader to use their imagination and feel into the scenes. The sequences themselves happen very fast, in a way that feel hard to believe, and very often seem unnatural.
Magic and prophecy is often used to explain why things happen, which makes the story more colorful and full of surprises, yet since there is not the deeper emotional connection, or deeper thoughts, or more playful nuances, or more involved dialogue, it is harder to feel a real attachment to the story.
I still think this story has really beautiful qualities, delightful magic, and a righteous message, so I'm glad I read it.
The narrative is mostly full of explanations and descriptions of what is happening, and why it is happening, which is good for giving an understanding of the sequence of events, yet makes it more difficult for a reader to use their imagination and feel into the scenes. The sequences themselves happen very fast, in a way that feel hard to believe, and very often seem unnatural.
Magic and prophecy is often used to explain why things happen, which makes the story more colorful and full of surprises, yet since there is not the deeper emotional connection, or deeper thoughts, or more playful nuances, or more involved dialogue, it is harder to feel a real attachment to the story.
I still think this story has really beautiful qualities, delightful magic, and a righteous message, so I'm glad I read it.
February 23, 2022
I had high hopes for this book, but for me it fell short. Dystopian futures/worlds with magical fantasy elements are right up my alley. What I really love though is the world building. I want to be transported into the author's vision. I don't need it to be a nice place I want to live in but I want to be able to feel like I'm there. This book didn't do that for me. The world wasn't really cohesive and it didn't gel. It felt like lots of disparate elements carelessly tossed together to try to drive home the political message. I have no issues with embedding political messages in books, but this does it at the expense of the story and the atmosphere. As others have stated, this is more accurately described as a political fable. If you start reading knowing this, maybe you'll have an enjoyable journey.
September 15, 2025
"A whole life spent fighting solitude, and now he realized he needed it like he needed air."
I must admit, I was taken by surprise by Nazare. It's a fun, very fun actually, and well-written book that I'm certain should have more readers/attention. Nazare lets you create Balaal, the setting of this novel, in your head, which I loved. Very personally Balaal took the shape of a mix between a Caribbean island, the Phillipines, and northern South America, and it becomes a playground for this playful mix of natural and supernatual happeninings. I had a great time with Nazare, truly. Like I mentioned it's well-written and willing to try and be more insightful when need be, and I can't not acknowledge the more veiled but still obvious messages at play with what the Mantanza family represent. I'm sure I'll revisit at some point. Just a fun, nice read.
Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
I must admit, I was taken by surprise by Nazare. It's a fun, very fun actually, and well-written book that I'm certain should have more readers/attention. Nazare lets you create Balaal, the setting of this novel, in your head, which I loved. Very personally Balaal took the shape of a mix between a Caribbean island, the Phillipines, and northern South America, and it becomes a playground for this playful mix of natural and supernatual happeninings. I had a great time with Nazare, truly. Like I mentioned it's well-written and willing to try and be more insightful when need be, and I can't not acknowledge the more veiled but still obvious messages at play with what the Mantanza family represent. I'm sure I'll revisit at some point. Just a fun, nice read.
Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
April 11, 2022
The first chapter stopped me - I read it three or four times before I continued reading because I loved it so much and I wanted to make sure I took it all in. Kin wakes up early one morning to discover a beached whale. Residents of the fishing village make their way to the beach to see, and when they all leave a big wave carries the whale back into the ocean with Kin as its only witness. Everyone believes that Kin has magically saved the whale himself and by the end, I did, too.
The rhythm of every detail, the symbols and magical realism and specificity of the characters and cultures wash over you like a dream. This book is a true treasure.
The rhythm of every detail, the symbols and magical realism and specificity of the characters and cultures wash over you like a dream. This book is a true treasure.
April 14, 2025
What a strange book. Kin is a young orphaned boy in an unnamed fishing village. Through odd circumstances, he is credited with returning a beached whale to the sea and is proclaimed to be a shaman by the levitating prophet in his town. And Kin does go on to do great and mysterious things with the help of a variety of other odd characters and interesting circumstances.
I'm still not quite sure what to make of the story, but I was entertained and rooted for Kin the whole way through. A mix of real and unreal, random and quirky, I wasn't too vested in the outcome and felt like I was missing something, even to the end of the book. Weird.
I'm still not quite sure what to make of the story, but I was entertained and rooted for Kin the whole way through. A mix of real and unreal, random and quirky, I wasn't too vested in the outcome and felt like I was missing something, even to the end of the book. Weird.
February 22, 2022
From the beginning this story grips you and keeps you in its hold. Full of trials and turmoils for Kin and his allies this story shows resilience at its best. The story covers so many things involving life and is based in the everyday, the extraordinary and mysticism. This story is unlike any other I have read and evokes feelings that are difficult to describe. Truly a great work! I look forward to reading Damnificados by this author. I won this book in a GoodReads Giveaway.
February 12, 2022
This was an absolutely beautiful book. The language was evocative and flowing, the characters were endearing, and the mishmash of cultural elements throughout the story made for a truly unique and fascinating setting. It usually takes me a few chapters to get sucked into a book, but this one hooked me pretty much immediately from the first page. I'm excited to read more of this author's work!
April 21, 2022
A very entertaining tale about good versus evil. The protagonist maintains his humanity while freeing the world from a cruel ruler. I would have liked more integration of Nazare, the water magic, into the motivation for being bonded with Kin. Maybe I missed something, but Nazare saves Kin without clearly showing why the bond was formed.
May 20, 2023
This was fantastic--I loved it.
This is the story of a young boy prophesied to lead a city through a rebellion. It feels like a folktale, but the story is also both modern and ancient.. very strange with some magical realism. It's about political corruption and injustice, but somehow it's also charming, light, and easy to read.
This is the story of a young boy prophesied to lead a city through a rebellion. It feels like a folktale, but the story is also both modern and ancient.. very strange with some magical realism. It's about political corruption and injustice, but somehow it's also charming, light, and easy to read.
October 15, 2022
Other world fiction is not my favorite however a gift is a gift - thank you Good Reads
This is very well written it’s exquisite descriptions of life and struggles I. The netherworld of corruption, rulers overthrown, creatures of the sea and pursuit of good over evil
This is very well written it’s exquisite descriptions of life and struggles I. The netherworld of corruption, rulers overthrown, creatures of the sea and pursuit of good over evil
January 14, 2024
first book of 2024 woooooo!!
i really loved the book and the writing, but the ending left me unsatisfied. and not in the fun mysterious way — in the annoying u kinda tied a rushed bow in the last 5 pages. but all in all, great book
i really loved the book and the writing, but the ending left me unsatisfied. and not in the fun mysterious way — in the annoying u kinda tied a rushed bow in the last 5 pages. but all in all, great book
March 27, 2022
Highly original magical realism tale.
April 11, 2022
A story of rebellion. I enjoyed this book. I think you will too!
February 7, 2024
a good reads win that i really enjoyed. very different but i loved the style of writing. so interesting . i book i think others will enjoy as well!
July 19, 2025
JJ Amaworo Wilson is a master of language. This is an intelligently written tale of revolution, an epic-like story, coming-of-age, calling out to ancient myths and wars of the past.
March 29, 2022
I loved this book so much. Nazare, by J.J. Amaworo Wilson, pulled me in from page one and didn’t let go. It’s full of beautiful language, magical and unique characters, and an intriguing storyline. The genre may not be for everyone, but I found it fascinating. I will be following this author and reading his other works.
I thank the generous author and publisher, for my signed copy that I won through Goodreads Giveaways.
I thank the generous author and publisher, for my signed copy that I won through Goodreads Giveaways.
December 28, 2024
Nazare tells a compelling political parable of good versus evil, centering on a young boy determined to escape the grasp of the corrupt mayor who rules over his village. Each character, no matter how minor, leaves a lasting impression. The story pulls you in with its powerful themes and keeps you enthralled until the very last page. Wilson’s use of vivid and enchanting language brings the village and its inhabitants to life, creating a world that feels both magical and deeply real.
Several reviewers note that the characters feel flat and one-dimentional, and I think it's important to remember that Wilson has written Nazare in the magical realist tradition, where characters are intended to be archetypes. With that said, some of the aspects of the absurd, as is standard in magical realism, come across as though the author used some kind of random item generator to create their lists of absurdities rather than pulling in things that are both unexpected and fit the overall aesthetic of the book and worldbuilding. Unfortunately, this did pull me out of the story a few times as it felt as though the author was trying too hard at creating a particular kind of narrative but not quite succeeding.
3.5 stars, rounded up.
Several reviewers note that the characters feel flat and one-dimentional, and I think it's important to remember that Wilson has written Nazare in the magical realist tradition, where characters are intended to be archetypes. With that said, some of the aspects of the absurd, as is standard in magical realism, come across as though the author used some kind of random item generator to create their lists of absurdities rather than pulling in things that are both unexpected and fit the overall aesthetic of the book and worldbuilding. Unfortunately, this did pull me out of the story a few times as it felt as though the author was trying too hard at creating a particular kind of narrative but not quite succeeding.
3.5 stars, rounded up.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews