Paul

One of the most popular books from the Nobel-winning author, this first book of the Cairo trilogy brings to life a culture and history which is incredibly unique and largely unknown to Western society.
Though the style of writing is very descriptive and the focus on character and custom over plot-line can make this a difficult read, it is definitely worth the time. The book wonderfully portrays the dissonance between the time's popular party-culture and radical Islam, both of which rule the society. It gives a personal view into family lives, individual struggles, and political strife all at the same time, with diverse and complex characters, strong and weak, hypocritical and devout. The book can drag, and the first half can be particularly slow, but it is worth the patience for the intimate experience it inevitably delivers.

I have a feeling that the next generation of fantasy authors will strive to be the next N. K. Jemisin. This book about the planet breaking apart was Earth-shattering for me. Not only was I shocked as an avid fantasy reader at the sheer volume of original ideas and characters, but it also reflects our cultures and world history in a potent way that is completely unique from what previous authors have done.

In this book, you will find a system of “magic” with fantastically detailed rules that follow the science of this created world brilliantly; you will find races and creatures that in no way resemble the typical elves, giants, trolls etc; you will find a world with a 10000+ year history. Yet with all this, the content never seems overwhelming and the pace of the story never drags. (You will also find chapters written in second person, which can become quite an addictive style.)

The cool and original world and characters isn't what makes this book though. What truly sets it apart are the deep and intense social structures. The classic idea of heroes and monsters is turned on its head, and eventually you learn that the characters you follow are considered monstrous villains by other characters. There are some very clear analogies to our world, but it goes far beyond just the analogy to tell a powerful and exciting story. If this book were half as good as it is, I'd have given it 5-stars.

The unbelievable living conditions this family went through is enough to grip any reader. Anyone who thinks “I had pretty crazy parents” has nothing on Jeannette Walls.
But what really makes this story unique is the perspective Walls writes from. She recreates her memories and feels them as she experienced them at the time, rather than reflecting back on them with her current perspective. The result is that you begin by seeing her father as a genius and a hero and her mother as brilliant and creative, and as she grows, she begins to portray the good with the bad. Writing this way, the reader can understand why she seems to hold an unwavering loyalty to her parents in spite of the obvious neglect and mistreatment she suffered.
The book is packed with symbolism and complex relationships, and though it may not be a factual autobiography so much as a story based on her actual childhood, it excellently portrays her emotions toward a family which put her through horrific experiences while showing her unconditional love. It's a true must-read.

This is just another Thriller.
I had really high hopes for this book. Not only do all my friends rate Hill's The Book of Negros as one of their favourite books, but it won the Canada Reads. Despite the hype though, this book was not special. Rather, a book that starts off with the potential to be deeply significant quickly changes into a shallow thriller with a ridiculous plot, unrealistic characters and an ending so preposterous I almost thought it was a satire.
The book was pitched as being relevant because of its focus on refugee issues, but it doesn't actually address those issues at all. The main character, Keita, is the son of an internationally known journalist and he's among the best marathoners in the country. Both these factors are crucial to the plot. Sorry, but most refugees aren't internationally competitive athletes with world famous fathers. His story is not the story of the modern refugee by a long shot.
Also, the use of fake countries makes the story hard to relate to. The history of why these two countries so close together in the Indian Ocean are so opposite is never explained, leaving the reader confused about why things are the way they are. I thought the fake countries would make a statement about how refugee problems are the same no matter what the context, but that didn't happen at all. Nothing about this plot is remotely relatable to actual historical refugee stories. Instead it just felt like the fake countries were a lazy tool to let the author tell his own story without connecting it to any actual country or event.
The only reason I gave it more than 1 star was because the story was fairly entertaining and very readable. It was a decent book for passing the time, like most thrillers. But I was looking for a thought-provoking book, and it failed completely on that front. All I thought at the end was “How did this win Canada Reads?”

I loved the first two books in this series as was among the first people to put my name on the hold list for this, but despite being ready to love it, I was quite disappointed.
Admittedly, writing a massive historical piece about the politics of the 60s and 70s has many more challenges than writing about the World War eras; specifically there was no single all-encompassing war to write around, but multiple loosely connected events. But Follett for whatever reason felt the need to get characters personally involved in every major event, which created a series of scattered and totally unrealistic story lines with very little cohesiveness or character development.
The interactions between families felt forced and unnecessary unlike in the previous stories, and his attempt at writing conservative characters who did not come off as evil was a total failure. Do I regret reading this? No. The parts that concluded the stories of the original characters was very touching and I was satisfied with how everything was tied up. But as a stand-alone novel, this book really dropped the ball.