Sam > Recent Status Updates

I'm not at all convinced I'm going to see this through.

If you've seen the film, The Mauritanian, on Prime, you know the story. I was so captivated by Mohamedou as a person that I wanted to read it in his own words. English is his fourth language but he writes with a vivid and compelling voice that propels the narrative forward - even though he's recounting many days of the same brutal, dehumanising treatment in the hands of Jordanian and US military intelligence.

The opening chapters are captivating. They setup the characters, setting and plot with a fair amount of dramatic tension while also toying with the sentimental and romantic presentation of Americanism. I felt reminded of a.m.homes - though Ng is not nearly as skilful in her rendering of these tropes, yet.
But the middle section of the book has taken a frustrating turn, sidestepping plot for secondhand recount.

DNF

Page 1 opens well. But now I've read the reviews here, I can hardly be bothered to read this. Oh well.

I've reduced my number of books for the 2018 Book Challenge because I've just been obsessing about how many books I need to finish each week in order to complete the challenge. I'm reading as much as I can and still not catching up with myself. Wouldn't have been so bad if I'd started the challenge in January instead of March!