Review of “Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
4/5 Stars. I finished reading Americanah on a rainy morning, just before dawn. The world outside was still blue and shadowed, and the shape of buildings slowly emerged from the dark, brick by brick, pane by pane, as the sky lightened. The sound of toads and birds rose up from the twilight silence, their throats defrosted and open with warbling calls upon waking…
Review of “If We Were Villains” by M.L. Rio
To be honest, as I was reading this book, I was prepared to give it, at most, 3.5-4 stars. I wasn't too familiar with the intricacies of the Shakespearean references, and I was slightly put off by how the characters talked - sometimes with the true crudeness of college students, other times pretentious and caricatural. At the same time, the Shakespeare references were perfect, doing exactly what Rio intended: imbuing the actors and readers with the words and feelings of his work in parallel to the novel's events…
Review of “Memory Police” by Yoko Ogawa
As someone who has never been a fan of Orwellian-like tales, this one really wowed me. The translation is very clean; the language is beautiful in its quiet simplicity, lending the novel a sort of empty melancholy in its tone. Overall, I loved what this book represented, and it was the only oasis in this dry spell of books I've been reading…
What I Learned from “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates
There is power in media, storytelling, and giving voice to the tangled feelings inside us. I am not an expert, and I cannot speak to the trauma and experiences of the Black community. But I can amplify Black media and speak on the lessons I’ve learned by reading and watching more diverse stories. We start off with Between the World and Me.