Stephanie Jane recenzis The bead collector de Sefi Atta
Disappointed with this one
3 steloj
I was excited to read The Bead Collector because its publisher, Interlink, is also the publisher for one of my favourite authors, Mhani Alaoui, so I had high hopes that Atta's writing style would similarly appeal to me. Unfortunately that turned out not to be the case and I finished The Bead Collector feeling distinctly underwhelmed. The story is set in a tumultuous period in Nigeria's history and features a diverse cast of characters. I didn't ever feel that I became immersed into any of their stories though. Even our narrator, Remi, felt to be always keeping herself one step removed from the reader. I could appreciate her thoughts and experiences on a cerebral level, but I wasn't invested emotionally so the story didn't truly come alive for me. I was reminded of my recent read The Passion According To Carmela by Marcos Aguinis which is similarly set in a …
I was excited to read The Bead Collector because its publisher, Interlink, is also the publisher for one of my favourite authors, Mhani Alaoui, so I had high hopes that Atta's writing style would similarly appeal to me. Unfortunately that turned out not to be the case and I finished The Bead Collector feeling distinctly underwhelmed. The story is set in a tumultuous period in Nigeria's history and features a diverse cast of characters. I didn't ever feel that I became immersed into any of their stories though. Even our narrator, Remi, felt to be always keeping herself one step removed from the reader. I could appreciate her thoughts and experiences on a cerebral level, but I wasn't invested emotionally so the story didn't truly come alive for me. I was reminded of my recent read The Passion According To Carmela by Marcos Aguinis which is similarly set in a historically significant era (the Cuban Revolution in that case) and which I didn't think made the most of either its setting or its characters.
The Bead Collector incorporates a large cast of characters most of whose back stories we are told as soon as we meet them which keeps the novel's pace slow. Atta does a lot of telling with very little showing and I think this is probably the main cause of my dissatisfaction. A lot happens within the story by way of people's marriages breaking up and social intrigues at the Golf Club, and there is the ever-present threat of another military coup plunging Nigeria into a second vicious civil war. Tension is lacking though and I totally failed to understand why Frances was considered a spy and what in her conversations with Remi could have alluded to this belief. In fact it wasn't until I reread the synopsis that I realised The Bead Collector is meant to be 'an international espionage tale'. From my perspective it was more a women's fiction gossip story set in a fairly closed and claustrophobic community. I don't regret having taken the time to read The Bead Collector, but this novel wasn't particularly suited to my reading tastes.