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What Members Thought
Jun 04, 2018
Inge
rated it
really liked it
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review of another edition
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Loved this, very beautiful. <3 Also: learnt lots of things, cool.
This was a culturally interesting and engaging book. I guess living in New York City I'm used to being around all different races all the time, I rarely take the time to think about what it's like for a person to grow up in a place where everyone is the same race and then move to America. I don't refer to every black woman as beautiful and I'm aware that a lot of this is meant to be funny, but it did make me seriously think about what race foibles I may have myself. I enjoyed the blog posts spri
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So I didn't finish it, but I'm counting it as read because I got 200 pages into it. Truth is, I found the main characters underdeveloped and the endless repetitive philosophy annoying. I love perspectives from countries I've never been to, and I love philosophy and racial perspective, but I didn't like this book. I don't care what happens to the characters. That's my signal to give up and move on. I would read this author again, however.
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Thanks to my favorite literary podcast, Overdue, covering this book this month, I finally took this one off the shelf where it's been collecting dust and read it. I'm very glad I did. This is the first time in, maybe ever, that I loved the turns of phrase of a book so much that I had to highlight it in pen. The lyricism of this book is amazing. The story is great too, I've always been a sucker for lovers finding each other again after decades of being apart. I enjoyed Ifemelu's sections more tha
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I feel completely unqualified to offer any sort of perspective on the topics in this book, so I'll just say that I liked the writing for the most part, and the characterization. I think it dragged in a few spots, and I was a bit exasperated by the time-hopping and switching points of view. But these are small complaints in a book that I liked overall, and that inspires a lot of thought.
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7/10 while I'm glad that I read this and it gave me many things to think about I'm glad it's over. I thought the writing was beautiful so I may check out other books by this author. However, I felt mostly ambivalent toward the characters. The plot was a little ho-hum. The main point seems to be less about the plot and more about getting general feelings about race in America and what the differences are between America and African countries (Nigeria), which is interesting but I would have liked
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Thought provoking and easy to read. I have a lot of criticisms, but overall I'm glad I read it.
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3.5. A lot of interesting insights in this--I feel like I learned a lot, had my perspective shifted and eyes opened--but the relationship that was the through-line of the story just wasn't compelling to me. Maybe it was just the ending that I didn't like. It felt thrown together.
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2017 Reading Challenge: A book about an immigrant or a refugee
Jun 08, 2015
Julie
marked it as to-read
Aug 09, 2015
Jacqueline Marie
marked it as to-read
Nov 02, 2015
Haylee Lederer
rated it
it was amazing
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review of another edition
Shelves:
contemporary
Dec 13, 2015
Jas Merrick
marked it as to-read
Dec 29, 2015
Holli
marked it as to-read
Jan 23, 2017
Mayumi
marked it as to-read
Dec 28, 2017
Melissa Lashley
marked it as to-read
Feb 22, 2018
Mandy (Zen)
rated it
really liked it
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review of another edition
Shelves:
contemporary,
rep
May 13, 2018
Jillypenny
marked it as to-read
Jul 11, 2018
Sam
marked it as to-read
