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Radiance of Tomorrow

Ishmael Beah

Discussion: 2014-Jan-Feb-Mar

Why we're reading this: January 8, 2014 - author guest and book mentioned
[close] January 8, 2014 - author guest and book mentioned

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2014-Jan-Feb-Mar

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* March 2014
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 21 views

last updated Apr 02, 2014 01:05PM

* February 2014
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 24 views

last updated Mar 01, 2014 02:27PM

What Members Thought

Aug 06, 2015 Marieke rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, 2015, tour-d-afrique, great-african-reads-book-club, africa, west-africa

Oof. I'm really having trouble with this book, not so much the story, but the writing. Despite some beautiful sentences and passages, it just didn't work for me. I was surprised to see that I'm in a minority, with most people giving the book four and five stars. Even three stars is somewhat of a stretch for me. I'm waffling between two and three stars.

Although something was amiss for me with the writing, it was somehow still evocative. The book had a mood and I had visceral reactions to certain Oof. I'm really having trouble with this book, not so much the story, but the writing. Despite some beautiful sentences and passages, it just didn't work for me. I was surprised to see that I'm in a minority, with most people giving the book four and five stars. Even three stars is somewhat of a stretch for me. I'm waffling between two and three stars.

Although something was amiss for me with the writing, it was somehow still evocative. The book had a mood and I had visceral reactions to certain events and characters, so that is good. I thought the central piece of the storyline (a mining company's takeover of a small town)was well told from the vantage of local people and I thought the buildup to that was good, with the reader learning about other (lesser?) forms of exploitation and corruption, the school principal embezzling salaries, for example. My favorite parts were the scenes in which elders, Mama Kadie in particular, tried to stand up to figures of authority like the paramount chief and the police so the reader could appreciate how futile their efforts were. I felt inspired to read similar works taking place in the mines of Appalachia here in the US.

However, the writing seemed to waver between novelistic writing and documentary writing. The transitions between the two were not smooth to me and it got on my nerves. I also think perhaps Beah tried to get too much stuff into this one story, which means some things got lost. I am having ambivalent feelings about the storylines concerning Ernest and Sila's family, the symbolism of Colonel throughout, and the fates of the war orphans who settled in Imperi with Colonel.

Finally, I wish this was two books. I felt that the ending was rushed and forced, with way too much "showing" (or do i mean "telling"? whatever it was, it was aggravating...)going on. Any subtlety found in the Imperi portion of the book was lost in Freetown. I think the book would have been stronger had Beah ended it with Bockarie's family's departure. A sequel about their life in Freetown would have given Beah the space to flesh out all the problematic things Bockarie and Kula encountered there. ...more

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May 24, 2014 Liz Murray rated it it was amazing

I haven't read Ishmael Beah's memoir yet, and I'm glad I started with this one. I'm not sure how he writes his memoir, and whether there is adherence to strict facts (not that I think that's a prerequisite, especially given the circumstances). I'm sure the events laid out in this book are based on factual occurrences but there is leeway to ascribe actions and thoughts to particular characters, for the purpose of exposition. It's dense but easy to read. It tells the story of people returning to t ...more

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