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The Book of Echoes
Narrated by the soul of an African slave woman, this is a searing debut novel of hope, redemption and the scars of history.
While giving thanks at a shrine in Africa over two hundred years ago, a young woman tosses her infant son to safety moments before she is hauled away by slavers. After a brutal sea passage, her baby girl is snatched steaming from her loins as she gives birth. Although she doesn’t know it yet, her spirit is destined to roam the earth in search of her lost children.
She will make her way to England where Michael is trying to stay out of trouble as riots spit and boil down the streets of South London, and all the way to a sun-baked village in Nigeria, where a servant girl named Ngozi struggles to escape her low-caste status.
As the invisible threads that draw her to these lives are pulled ever tighter, The Book of Echoes asks: how can we overcome the traumas of the past when they are woven, so inextricably, with the present? Humming with horror and beauty, Rosanna Amaka’s miraculous debut establishes her as a vibrant new voice in fiction.
While giving thanks at a shrine in Africa over two hundred years ago, a young woman tosses her infant son to safety moments before she is hauled away by slavers. After a brutal sea passage, her baby girl is snatched steaming from her loins as she gives birth. Although she doesn’t know it yet, her spirit is destined to roam the earth in search of her lost children.
She will make her way to England where Michael is trying to stay out of trouble as riots spit and boil down the streets of South London, and all the way to a sun-baked village in Nigeria, where a servant girl named Ngozi struggles to escape her low-caste status.
As the invisible threads that draw her to these lives are pulled ever tighter, The Book of Echoes asks: how can we overcome the traumas of the past when they are woven, so inextricably, with the present? Humming with horror and beauty, Rosanna Amaka’s miraculous debut establishes her as a vibrant new voice in fiction.
384 pages, Paperback
First published February 27, 2020
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3090 people want to read
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February 25, 2020
Reverberate
A powerful potent story of struggle against poverty and discrimination, as a young black man and woman, take a journey of choices and travel to break free from their expected lives in search of something better. Driven by an ancestral voice, they are destined to meet even though they live worlds apart, Michael in London and Ngozi in Nigeria.
The African slave trade and the poor souls that were treated so inhumanly is a rich ground for compelling stories of, torn lives, human atrocities, echoes of ancestral voices, and spirits that seek resolution or retribution. The Book of Echoes starts with an African slave who when captured in Africa leaves behind her hidden son and gives birth to a daughter as she arrives as a castaway on a ship bound for London. Put to death along with her partner, Wind, they haunt the West India docks
Michael is facing a difficult time with family issues, money issues, racial discrimination and pressures with criminal activities. The life he leads and the stark choices he is forced to make are very powerfully portrayed by Rosanna Amaka. Ngozi also has to make very tough choices if she can better her prospects through education and moving away from the family home. Both their lives require the fortitude to keep going through real challenges and end the echoes of hardship and misery that reverberate through generations and an inferred cycle that cannot be broken.
While I expected to be enthralled throughout this book, I wasn’t, and that was quite disappointing considering all the ingredients were there. From the beginning where it seemed to set up a narrative that would have totally captivated me, it then down-shifted and lost its appeal. There were periods when it picked up and the story showed some of that promise but it ended in a very predictable way. Rosanna Amaka provides an authentic voice and her passion to vividly portray the difficulties the black community face, is fabulous, and I appreciate her achievement.
I think there will be a great cohort of readers that will really enjoy this novel to the full, but I just have my reservations. I would rate the book 3.5+ stars and I’d like to thank Doubleday, Random House UK, Transworld and NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC copy of this book in return for an honest review.
A powerful potent story of struggle against poverty and discrimination, as a young black man and woman, take a journey of choices and travel to break free from their expected lives in search of something better. Driven by an ancestral voice, they are destined to meet even though they live worlds apart, Michael in London and Ngozi in Nigeria.
The African slave trade and the poor souls that were treated so inhumanly is a rich ground for compelling stories of, torn lives, human atrocities, echoes of ancestral voices, and spirits that seek resolution or retribution. The Book of Echoes starts with an African slave who when captured in Africa leaves behind her hidden son and gives birth to a daughter as she arrives as a castaway on a ship bound for London. Put to death along with her partner, Wind, they haunt the West India docks
“My heart cries out for the two, Uzo, my baby boy, and my baby girl, taken from me that morning while I lay dying over there among the barrels of sugar, spices and tobacco, the feel of the cold hard floor against my back.Now two hundred years later, as she narrates her own story and the stories of Michael and Ngozi, we see the same old racial prejudices and bigotry still echoing in society. Maybe not as blatant but still as caustic.
…
Each day I search for them, look for them, hunt for them. I did not choose to leave them. I am and will always be their mother, their African mother.”
Michael is facing a difficult time with family issues, money issues, racial discrimination and pressures with criminal activities. The life he leads and the stark choices he is forced to make are very powerfully portrayed by Rosanna Amaka. Ngozi also has to make very tough choices if she can better her prospects through education and moving away from the family home. Both their lives require the fortitude to keep going through real challenges and end the echoes of hardship and misery that reverberate through generations and an inferred cycle that cannot be broken.
While I expected to be enthralled throughout this book, I wasn’t, and that was quite disappointing considering all the ingredients were there. From the beginning where it seemed to set up a narrative that would have totally captivated me, it then down-shifted and lost its appeal. There were periods when it picked up and the story showed some of that promise but it ended in a very predictable way. Rosanna Amaka provides an authentic voice and her passion to vividly portray the difficulties the black community face, is fabulous, and I appreciate her achievement.
I think there will be a great cohort of readers that will really enjoy this novel to the full, but I just have my reservations. I would rate the book 3.5+ stars and I’d like to thank Doubleday, Random House UK, Transworld and NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC copy of this book in return for an honest review.
October 24, 2019
The novel opens with the spirit of a woman haunting the West India docks, in London. She remembers two hundred years back when the smell of a dead boy gave her hiding position away and her and her unborn baby were dragged away, their freedom lost forever. She still searches for her Son, Uzo, who she hid before being taken by the slavers, and the daughter, although she never saw her, she knows that she had a baby girl, who she never got to name. On days she can hear them cry out to her, and she searches, the world for them, always returning to these docks empty handed.
Michael’s world is turned upside down when his eighteen-year old brother Simon, murders his stepmother. Michael, only sixteen, quickly realises that he is drowning, unable to handle the weight of the world crushing him. He does not even have enough money for his stepmother’s funeral, and his part time job at the super-market is not going to be enough to pay the multitude of bills.
With his mind fragile and his psyche fractured he turns to his best friend from his school days and starts to become ensnared in the world of drugs. Not just because he needs the money, but he needs a place where he can relax and mask the pain of what has happened. He doesn’t realise that this lifestyle is only a façade, the problems are still there and getting worse by the day.
Chapter five, returns the reader to Nigeria in 1981, to the little town of Obowi. This is the town where the ghost of the mother left her son before the slavers took her and she takes up the narration again. She laments that not much has changed until you start looking more closely. Some items such as the World War II tank left from the Biafran War, incongruous to her time, others have remained for over two hundred years. It is here in Obowi that we meet Ngozi.
Ngozi is anxious because she must move to Enugu, a village much larger than Obowi. Ngozi, does not want to leave her family, but has no choice, because she is moving to continue her education. She is worried that the family who she is staying with, the Asikas will not like her.
Through the eyes of the ghost of the mother, while continuing her endless search for her children, we follow the narratives of Michael and Ngozi, who for some reason she is drawn to.
We witness their lives changing as they get older. Both characters represent archetypical classes that they are locked into, a titanic effort needed to break the mould into which they have been poured.
I think that this is reflected in the brilliant choice of title. The Book of Echoes. Echoes representing the same lives, lives that are locked into similarity and repetition, never changing with each generation and weakening with each echo.
Both of their lives are extremely different but equally challenging. We live with the difficulties that Ngozi and Michael experience. Amaka uses a wonderful phrase, “force-ripened into adulthood” as they try to escape from the stereotype and live a better life.
Throughout the novel, the narrative will switch back to the past when the ghost of the mother was alive, and we witness the horrible conditions she experiences after being stolen from her village. I don’t think that a novel can capture the cruelty and sadness that she would have experienced, but Amaka gives it a cracking attempt.
Amaka’s biography states that she started this novel twenty years ago and it certainly shows. There are no signs of this being a debut and it is smartly written. You can feel Amaka’s passion rising off the page. The novel covers an enormous amount of time, capturing the lives of the protagonists, from child to adult, but it never gets mired in the mundane, perhaps because the protagonist’s lives are such a struggle and such a fight to survive, they don’t seem to experience a boring moment.
Amaka does not hide that this book’s central theme is the oppression and struggle of black African people and women. She makes the excellent point of how far they and we as a whole society have come through the words of Marcia, Michael’s sister,
“Michael, it doesn’t look like things are changing because we’re living it. But over time, just as when we look back to our greatgrandparents’ time, we’ve moved a whole galaxy forward. In our great-grandfathers’ and -grandmothers’ time, we would have been out there cutting sugar cane for some slave master on some plantation, being whipped For Christ’s sake, we might not have even known each other or Mum – they might have sold us at birth. Or even forty years ago, would I have had the opportunity to go to the school I went to?”
In this novel, it’s Nigeria and England, but the narrative holds true for the world. We are making, and have made huge progress to wiping racism, sexism, and bigotry from the world, it is hard for us to see because we are living in the moment, but hopefully in the next couple of generations, if we have not destroyed the planet, we will have at least destroyed racism, sexism and bigotry.
I requested this book for review because of it’s narrative, it’s strong theme of racism and the struggle of those who experience it. Growing up in Queensland Australia, I experienced many forms of racism inflicted on the Aborigines, who are mentioned a few times in this book. Everybody in this world deserves the same chance, the same opportunities, the same happiness as everybody else, regardless of race or sex.
People will read that sentence and say, Oh but it’s not that simple.
But it is!
4 Stars!
This book will be published by Doubleday on 27th February 2020.
Michael’s world is turned upside down when his eighteen-year old brother Simon, murders his stepmother. Michael, only sixteen, quickly realises that he is drowning, unable to handle the weight of the world crushing him. He does not even have enough money for his stepmother’s funeral, and his part time job at the super-market is not going to be enough to pay the multitude of bills.
With his mind fragile and his psyche fractured he turns to his best friend from his school days and starts to become ensnared in the world of drugs. Not just because he needs the money, but he needs a place where he can relax and mask the pain of what has happened. He doesn’t realise that this lifestyle is only a façade, the problems are still there and getting worse by the day.
Chapter five, returns the reader to Nigeria in 1981, to the little town of Obowi. This is the town where the ghost of the mother left her son before the slavers took her and she takes up the narration again. She laments that not much has changed until you start looking more closely. Some items such as the World War II tank left from the Biafran War, incongruous to her time, others have remained for over two hundred years. It is here in Obowi that we meet Ngozi.
Ngozi is anxious because she must move to Enugu, a village much larger than Obowi. Ngozi, does not want to leave her family, but has no choice, because she is moving to continue her education. She is worried that the family who she is staying with, the Asikas will not like her.
Through the eyes of the ghost of the mother, while continuing her endless search for her children, we follow the narratives of Michael and Ngozi, who for some reason she is drawn to.
We witness their lives changing as they get older. Both characters represent archetypical classes that they are locked into, a titanic effort needed to break the mould into which they have been poured.
I think that this is reflected in the brilliant choice of title. The Book of Echoes. Echoes representing the same lives, lives that are locked into similarity and repetition, never changing with each generation and weakening with each echo.
Both of their lives are extremely different but equally challenging. We live with the difficulties that Ngozi and Michael experience. Amaka uses a wonderful phrase, “force-ripened into adulthood” as they try to escape from the stereotype and live a better life.
Throughout the novel, the narrative will switch back to the past when the ghost of the mother was alive, and we witness the horrible conditions she experiences after being stolen from her village. I don’t think that a novel can capture the cruelty and sadness that she would have experienced, but Amaka gives it a cracking attempt.
Amaka’s biography states that she started this novel twenty years ago and it certainly shows. There are no signs of this being a debut and it is smartly written. You can feel Amaka’s passion rising off the page. The novel covers an enormous amount of time, capturing the lives of the protagonists, from child to adult, but it never gets mired in the mundane, perhaps because the protagonist’s lives are such a struggle and such a fight to survive, they don’t seem to experience a boring moment.
Amaka does not hide that this book’s central theme is the oppression and struggle of black African people and women. She makes the excellent point of how far they and we as a whole society have come through the words of Marcia, Michael’s sister,
“Michael, it doesn’t look like things are changing because we’re living it. But over time, just as when we look back to our greatgrandparents’ time, we’ve moved a whole galaxy forward. In our great-grandfathers’ and -grandmothers’ time, we would have been out there cutting sugar cane for some slave master on some plantation, being whipped For Christ’s sake, we might not have even known each other or Mum – they might have sold us at birth. Or even forty years ago, would I have had the opportunity to go to the school I went to?”
In this novel, it’s Nigeria and England, but the narrative holds true for the world. We are making, and have made huge progress to wiping racism, sexism, and bigotry from the world, it is hard for us to see because we are living in the moment, but hopefully in the next couple of generations, if we have not destroyed the planet, we will have at least destroyed racism, sexism and bigotry.
I requested this book for review because of it’s narrative, it’s strong theme of racism and the struggle of those who experience it. Growing up in Queensland Australia, I experienced many forms of racism inflicted on the Aborigines, who are mentioned a few times in this book. Everybody in this world deserves the same chance, the same opportunities, the same happiness as everybody else, regardless of race or sex.
People will read that sentence and say, Oh but it’s not that simple.
But it is!
4 Stars!
This book will be published by Doubleday on 27th February 2020.
March 10, 2020
The opening of “The Book of Echoes” at West India Docks, London in 1803 was a very powerful and emotional start to this poignant and at times harrowing story. Narrated by the spirit of a kidnapped African slave, she roams the streets, houses and lives of people, together with her lover ‘Wind’, endlessly searching for their lost child.
The story then jumps nearly two hundred years and we see into the lives of Michael, who is struggling to stay out of trouble after the brutal murder of his step mother and Ngozi, a servant girl struggling to escape her low-caste status in a poor sun-baked village in Nigeria.
Throughout the story we are privy to how Michael and Ngozi’s lives change rapidly through the years and at times it was heartbreaking to read. I enjoyed reading (though it was exceedingly sad) the intermittent chapters of the ghostly narrator and her backstory with the distressing slave ships and how she was so brutally kidnapped.
There were many memorable moments to the story, slavery, the Brixton riots, the plight of blacks in South London as they tried to make a life for themselves and poor Ngozi as she faces the abuse and trauma of man after man she encounters, through to the disappearing of black communities due to recent gentrifications of areas and subsequent emigration.
“The Book of Echoes” is a redemptive story of how trans-generational trauma and racism can destroy a person but how resilience, survival and all the good things in life can instinctively turn lives around. I did thoroughly enjoy this book but felt it petered out a bit towards the ending and didn’t quite impact on me the way I was expecting and hoping by the denouement.
Saying that, this is still a well deserved four star book for a timely, intricately written, beautiful story that highlights the struggles of African men and women and how slowly we are eliminating the world of racism and the bigotry that accompanies it.
The author Rosanna Amaka is a debut writer and has spent the last twenty years composing and writing this book, to give voice to the Brixton community she grew up in and a wish to promote the understanding of the impact history has on present day lives.
It is without doubt that Rosanna will be writing more novels, I just hope we don’t have to wait another twenty years to read it! “The Book of Echoes” is highly recommended.
4 well deserved stars!
The story then jumps nearly two hundred years and we see into the lives of Michael, who is struggling to stay out of trouble after the brutal murder of his step mother and Ngozi, a servant girl struggling to escape her low-caste status in a poor sun-baked village in Nigeria.
Throughout the story we are privy to how Michael and Ngozi’s lives change rapidly through the years and at times it was heartbreaking to read. I enjoyed reading (though it was exceedingly sad) the intermittent chapters of the ghostly narrator and her backstory with the distressing slave ships and how she was so brutally kidnapped.
There were many memorable moments to the story, slavery, the Brixton riots, the plight of blacks in South London as they tried to make a life for themselves and poor Ngozi as she faces the abuse and trauma of man after man she encounters, through to the disappearing of black communities due to recent gentrifications of areas and subsequent emigration.
“The Book of Echoes” is a redemptive story of how trans-generational trauma and racism can destroy a person but how resilience, survival and all the good things in life can instinctively turn lives around. I did thoroughly enjoy this book but felt it petered out a bit towards the ending and didn’t quite impact on me the way I was expecting and hoping by the denouement.
Saying that, this is still a well deserved four star book for a timely, intricately written, beautiful story that highlights the struggles of African men and women and how slowly we are eliminating the world of racism and the bigotry that accompanies it.
The author Rosanna Amaka is a debut writer and has spent the last twenty years composing and writing this book, to give voice to the Brixton community she grew up in and a wish to promote the understanding of the impact history has on present day lives.
It is without doubt that Rosanna will be writing more novels, I just hope we don’t have to wait another twenty years to read it! “The Book of Echoes” is highly recommended.
4 well deserved stars!
November 17, 2019
The Book of Echoes is a powerful debut novel by Rosanna Amaka, following the lives of a teenager in London, Michael, and a young woman from a poor background in Nigeria, Ngozi. The story is narrated by their shared ancestor from 200 years ago, an African woman who was kidnapped and enslaved.
If I'm honest, I struggled to get into the book initially. The lyrical writing at the start of the novel didn't sit well with me but luckily, the style changed after a while and once Ngozi's story got going, I was pulled in. The Book of Echoes is a thought-provoking novel about racial injustice and the circle of life. I'll be very interested to read future books by the author.
Many thanks to Random House UK, Transworld publishers for my review copy in exchange for an honest review.
If I'm honest, I struggled to get into the book initially. The lyrical writing at the start of the novel didn't sit well with me but luckily, the style changed after a while and once Ngozi's story got going, I was pulled in. The Book of Echoes is a thought-provoking novel about racial injustice and the circle of life. I'll be very interested to read future books by the author.
Many thanks to Random House UK, Transworld publishers for my review copy in exchange for an honest review.
July 13, 2020
A captivating story about race, injustice, hardship, love and opportunity.
The Book of Echoes is a story told from the perspective of a spirit haunting the West India Docks in London. It begins in 1803, an African woman is kidnapped, transported and sent into a life of misery. Leaving her life and loved one’s behind her.
The story then jumps to the 1980’s to join Michael in London and Ngozi in Nigeria. Their stories are told separately while the spirit observes the struggles they endure in a vastly different world than the one she lived in. Ngnozi and Michael are both African and growing up in the same time, but their lives are immensely dissimilar.
I was, for the most part, captivated and eager to find out what happens next. But I’d find myself slightly frustrated because the main character switches from Ngnozi to Michael every 5 chapters or so. Despite this, I found Ngozi and the spirit’s stories fascinating and poignant. It was a very interesting story and unlike anything I’ve read before. I found it to be well written and easy to read.
The Book of Echoes is a story told from the perspective of a spirit haunting the West India Docks in London. It begins in 1803, an African woman is kidnapped, transported and sent into a life of misery. Leaving her life and loved one’s behind her.
The story then jumps to the 1980’s to join Michael in London and Ngozi in Nigeria. Their stories are told separately while the spirit observes the struggles they endure in a vastly different world than the one she lived in. Ngnozi and Michael are both African and growing up in the same time, but their lives are immensely dissimilar.
“You see, that’s what life is about. God gives you gifts along the way and you have to invest in each one and let it grow. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but you don’t gain anything by doing nothing.”
I was, for the most part, captivated and eager to find out what happens next. But I’d find myself slightly frustrated because the main character switches from Ngnozi to Michael every 5 chapters or so. Despite this, I found Ngozi and the spirit’s stories fascinating and poignant. It was a very interesting story and unlike anything I’ve read before. I found it to be well written and easy to read.
February 29, 2020
A beautifully written story about two people, Michael in Brixton and Ngozi in Laos, and a tortured spirit of a slave who haunts the London docks looking for her lost children. The story explores the horrors of the slave trade and how it echoes through the centuries. It follows the lives of Michael and Ngozi, which are full of hardship, despite this, both move forward because of their courage.
Rich in details of their lives, portrayed through vivid imagery. It is honest and poignant. Echoes of the past affect both Michael and Ngozi. The spirit who watches over them is herself an echo. A heartbreaking story, which brings the past to life, and shows how it illuminates the present. The ending is powerful and uplifting.
I received a copy of this book from Random House UK, Transworld Publishers - Doubleday via Netgalley in return for an honest review.
January 14, 2020
3.5 stars
The Book of Echoes follows the lives of Ngozi, a young woman from Nigeria and Michael, a Londoner of Jamaican descent. The story is narrated by a shared ancestor, a woman stolen from Africa by slavers who, when captured, leaves a child in Africa and then, following a harrowing sea passage, gives birth to another child prior to her death. As her soul roams the earth in search of her lost children, she watches Michael and Ngozi and the struggles they both face.
The dual settings of Nigeria and South London provide an opportunity to explore a number of issues: through Michael, the book highlights issues such as knife crime, the susceptibility of young black men to crime, racial tensions in 1980s London and gentrification.
Through Ngozi, from a poor family and born to an unwed mother, Amaka illustrates the various forms of abuse women are constantly susceptible to and the burdens they are forced to carry in societies that rarely hold men accountable for their actions.
.
The book was also draws attention to the ill-feeling that has been known to exist between West Africans and West Indians- an element of the so-called ‘diaspora wars’. Whilst I’d like to think that right now, in 2019, there is a greater recognition and appreciation of our shared history and that this issue is increasingly less evident, considering this novel is set in the 80s/90s I really appreciated this aspect of the storyline.
I will say that there were a few moments where the dialogue felt a little scripted and the take-home messages almost spelled out, however, overall, The Book of Echoes is a touching, fascinating and timely novel.
The Book of Echoes follows the lives of Ngozi, a young woman from Nigeria and Michael, a Londoner of Jamaican descent. The story is narrated by a shared ancestor, a woman stolen from Africa by slavers who, when captured, leaves a child in Africa and then, following a harrowing sea passage, gives birth to another child prior to her death. As her soul roams the earth in search of her lost children, she watches Michael and Ngozi and the struggles they both face.
The dual settings of Nigeria and South London provide an opportunity to explore a number of issues: through Michael, the book highlights issues such as knife crime, the susceptibility of young black men to crime, racial tensions in 1980s London and gentrification.
Through Ngozi, from a poor family and born to an unwed mother, Amaka illustrates the various forms of abuse women are constantly susceptible to and the burdens they are forced to carry in societies that rarely hold men accountable for their actions.
.
The book was also draws attention to the ill-feeling that has been known to exist between West Africans and West Indians- an element of the so-called ‘diaspora wars’. Whilst I’d like to think that right now, in 2019, there is a greater recognition and appreciation of our shared history and that this issue is increasingly less evident, considering this novel is set in the 80s/90s I really appreciated this aspect of the storyline.
I will say that there were a few moments where the dialogue felt a little scripted and the take-home messages almost spelled out, however, overall, The Book of Echoes is a touching, fascinating and timely novel.
March 14, 2020
Rosanna Amaka’s debut is essentially a testament to black history and a portrayal of the oppression and injustices that were overcome on the road to equality and an expansive story which crosses continent and decades. The story also serves as a reflection to how the traumatic experiences of one’s ancestors continue to resonate through future generations and how racism and oppression can be countered by resilience, hope and love.
The novel opens with the voice of an African slave woman losing her life on arrival at West India Docks some two hundred years ago and together with her lover, Wind, continuing to travels continents and watch over ordinary peoples lives in an effort to be reunited with her two lost children. It is through this characters ghost that readers witness the lives of the novels two protagonists, Michael and Ngozi, and watch their lives unfold from very different starting points in the 1980s onwards. That the lives of these two characters will eventually collide much further down the line and after their experiences have shaped them is known from the off. However as the novel opens it is difficult to envisage how Michael Watson, a boy of Jamaican heritage living with his step-mother in a Brixton council flat might possibly cross paths with Ngozi Nwosu, a fruit seller in a small Nigerian village.
Michael’s story begins with the violent murder of his step-mother at the hands of his psychotic brother and leaves him at the age of fifteen angry and determined to support his younger sister, Marcia, and ensure she continues her education. As he is led astray by his old primary school friend, Devon, and in need of ready money is unwittingly drawn into the thriving drugs trade he is casually involved with a continuous stream of always white women. It is when he is sent to prison and after several years away is thrust out into a very different London to the one he remembers that he faces his biggest test yet and must show his true courage and fortitude.
It was Ngozi’s story that I found the most powerful, perhaps because I had no knowledge about the life she was born into and was in awe at the hardship she battled through. From leaving the tiny village of Obowi and her single mother and younger siblings to travel and work as a maid for a wealthy family, her story is one of adversity, tragedy and heartbreak and is a genuine inspiration. Much of Ngozi’s dialogue is written in patois and although initially disconcerting it quickly became easier to comprehend and alongside Amaka’s vivid descriptions of her surroundings served to generate a real sense of place.
I had no expectations prior to reading the novel and after being throughly impressed with the emotive first half and vying for both Michael and Ngozi my interest began to taper off in the later stages. The quality of writing was never at issue and is very well done, rather my reservations relate to the content of the second half which lost the balanced presentation of the first. As the novel gradually comes up to date I was frustrated that the characters journeys turned more prosaic and portrayed so much of the struggle in Brixton rather myopically. From simply reading the novel one would be left with a very biased impression of London in the 1980s and not the reality which was that racism, police brutality and social prejudice was met and matched by confrontation, antagonism and uprising and not the one-sided affair shown. As a South Londoner myself it was ultimately Amaka’s rewriting of recent history in the area that spoiled what had promised to be an involving and emotive read. Worth reading and well-written for sure, but a portrayal of London in the 1980s that deserves regarding with scepticism.
The novel opens with the voice of an African slave woman losing her life on arrival at West India Docks some two hundred years ago and together with her lover, Wind, continuing to travels continents and watch over ordinary peoples lives in an effort to be reunited with her two lost children. It is through this characters ghost that readers witness the lives of the novels two protagonists, Michael and Ngozi, and watch their lives unfold from very different starting points in the 1980s onwards. That the lives of these two characters will eventually collide much further down the line and after their experiences have shaped them is known from the off. However as the novel opens it is difficult to envisage how Michael Watson, a boy of Jamaican heritage living with his step-mother in a Brixton council flat might possibly cross paths with Ngozi Nwosu, a fruit seller in a small Nigerian village.
Michael’s story begins with the violent murder of his step-mother at the hands of his psychotic brother and leaves him at the age of fifteen angry and determined to support his younger sister, Marcia, and ensure she continues her education. As he is led astray by his old primary school friend, Devon, and in need of ready money is unwittingly drawn into the thriving drugs trade he is casually involved with a continuous stream of always white women. It is when he is sent to prison and after several years away is thrust out into a very different London to the one he remembers that he faces his biggest test yet and must show his true courage and fortitude.
It was Ngozi’s story that I found the most powerful, perhaps because I had no knowledge about the life she was born into and was in awe at the hardship she battled through. From leaving the tiny village of Obowi and her single mother and younger siblings to travel and work as a maid for a wealthy family, her story is one of adversity, tragedy and heartbreak and is a genuine inspiration. Much of Ngozi’s dialogue is written in patois and although initially disconcerting it quickly became easier to comprehend and alongside Amaka’s vivid descriptions of her surroundings served to generate a real sense of place.
I had no expectations prior to reading the novel and after being throughly impressed with the emotive first half and vying for both Michael and Ngozi my interest began to taper off in the later stages. The quality of writing was never at issue and is very well done, rather my reservations relate to the content of the second half which lost the balanced presentation of the first. As the novel gradually comes up to date I was frustrated that the characters journeys turned more prosaic and portrayed so much of the struggle in Brixton rather myopically. From simply reading the novel one would be left with a very biased impression of London in the 1980s and not the reality which was that racism, police brutality and social prejudice was met and matched by confrontation, antagonism and uprising and not the one-sided affair shown. As a South Londoner myself it was ultimately Amaka’s rewriting of recent history in the area that spoiled what had promised to be an involving and emotive read. Worth reading and well-written for sure, but a portrayal of London in the 1980s that deserves regarding with scepticism.
January 30, 2020
An impressive and assured debut that travels around the globe and down through generations, The Book of Echoes by Rosanna Amaka is a captivating and compelling tale.
The book opens in London, 1803 on the West India docks, with the discovery of a female stowaway on a slaving ship and her tragic ending. Throughout the rest of the book we learn more about how she ended up on the ship, and her experiences on board, and how she is connected to the two protagonists of the main story.
In Brixton, 1981 we meet Michael, a teenager reeling from the death of his mother and determined to keep custody of his little sister. It's a difficult time to be Black in Britain and Michael is swept up in an incident that will profoundly shape his future, but in the present he resorts to shady ways to earn cash with unfortunate consequences.
Meanwhile in Nigeria we are introduced to Ngozi, a young girl desperate for and education who is leaving her family behind to work and attend school, whose new situation comes with dangers of its own.
Over the course of the book we follow Michael and Ngozi through difficult times and triumphs, as they are "force ripened into adulthood" to quote the author, before finally seeing their paths cross in a most satisfactory ending.
The book focuses on the struggles experienced by Black Africans, both at home and abroad, and the glacially slow pace at which the world is moving towards equality and fairness. I am in awe at the author's skill and cannot say how much the story she tells has moved me. This is a book about the journey, and for that reason I did not find the somewhat predictable ending disappointing. I found myself rooting for both these characters through their struggles and hardships, and engaging with them in a way I rarely do, a testament to the care and attention that has gone into their creation.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.
The book opens in London, 1803 on the West India docks, with the discovery of a female stowaway on a slaving ship and her tragic ending. Throughout the rest of the book we learn more about how she ended up on the ship, and her experiences on board, and how she is connected to the two protagonists of the main story.
In Brixton, 1981 we meet Michael, a teenager reeling from the death of his mother and determined to keep custody of his little sister. It's a difficult time to be Black in Britain and Michael is swept up in an incident that will profoundly shape his future, but in the present he resorts to shady ways to earn cash with unfortunate consequences.
Meanwhile in Nigeria we are introduced to Ngozi, a young girl desperate for and education who is leaving her family behind to work and attend school, whose new situation comes with dangers of its own.
Over the course of the book we follow Michael and Ngozi through difficult times and triumphs, as they are "force ripened into adulthood" to quote the author, before finally seeing their paths cross in a most satisfactory ending.
The book focuses on the struggles experienced by Black Africans, both at home and abroad, and the glacially slow pace at which the world is moving towards equality and fairness. I am in awe at the author's skill and cannot say how much the story she tells has moved me. This is a book about the journey, and for that reason I did not find the somewhat predictable ending disappointing. I found myself rooting for both these characters through their struggles and hardships, and engaging with them in a way I rarely do, a testament to the care and attention that has gone into their creation.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.
July 18, 2021
⭐️ 4 ⭐️
What a fabulous debut novel!
The story is narrated by the spirit of an African woman who lost her life over 200 years ago at The West India Docks in London, shortly after arriving on a slave ship. She tells the poignant story (starting in the 1980s), of Michael, living in Brixton and Ngozi, in Nigeria.
Beautifully written by Amaka, with rich prose and wonderful characterisation. We learn in detail about the lives of Michael and Ngozi; the atrocities they experience, the challenges they face and eventually, how fate brings them together.
The Book of Echoes is a truly powerful, thought-provoking read, dealing with the injustices of racial discrimination and inequality. The emotional story is heart-breaking, but also hopeful and uplifting.
Many thanks to the publisher for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
What a fabulous debut novel!
The story is narrated by the spirit of an African woman who lost her life over 200 years ago at The West India Docks in London, shortly after arriving on a slave ship. She tells the poignant story (starting in the 1980s), of Michael, living in Brixton and Ngozi, in Nigeria.
Beautifully written by Amaka, with rich prose and wonderful characterisation. We learn in detail about the lives of Michael and Ngozi; the atrocities they experience, the challenges they face and eventually, how fate brings them together.
The Book of Echoes is a truly powerful, thought-provoking read, dealing with the injustices of racial discrimination and inequality. The emotional story is heart-breaking, but also hopeful and uplifting.
Many thanks to the publisher for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
July 13, 2021
My first thought when reading the opening pages of this book was ‘Wait a minute, I thought it was set in the 1980s not the beginning of the 19th century?’. I’ll confess my second thought was ‘What an earth is going on here?’. In fact, the opening pages are the reader’s introduction to the book’s (omniscient) narrator, the spirit of a long dead African woman uprooted from her village and sent as a slave to a sugar plantation in Jamaica. There was a lyrical, dreamlike quality to this section and her subsequent commentaries on the events she witnesses are rendered with a wisdom born of centuries spent observing human nature.
As well as serving as the book’s narrator, she also provides a link between events of the past and those in Brixton from the 1980s onwards. Drawing upon the echoes of the book’s title, she makes comparisons between the Brixton riots and the slave revolt she witnessed two hundred years earlier in Jamaica. As she observes, ‘I understand what being under siege can do to a person… I know it echoes inside them, that recognition of freedom being taken away as that baton of pain is passed on.’ Indeed, the idea that, depressingly, nothing much has changed when it comes to the treatment of black people is one the book frequently illustrates.
That mention of a baton is just one of a number of instances of its use as a metaphor for the concept of certain attitudes and character traits being passed between generations. For example, we learn that Michael’s reluctance to become a father is born out a fear of passing on the mental instability of his brother, Simon, or the lack of commitment of his father. And the hard-working attitude of Michael’s sister, Marcia, is also attributed to the legacy of earlier generations: ‘But the truth of it was in the blood, that desire, that wanting to heal, handed down from an ancestor who foraged in the bush, searching for plants to heal, who sat upon a ship in sheer despair heading to the new world, that baton of survival successfully passed on.’
The book switches, in several chapter-long chunks, between the experiences of Michael growing up in Brixton and of Ngozi, first in Nigeria and then in London. There are also brief interludes in which the reader learns a little of the harrowing story of the spirit narrator, including how she came to meet her fellow spirit, the man she calls Wind.
Michael is a complex character. On the one hand, his devotion to his sister Marcia and his determination, following the death of their mother, to find a way to continue funding Marcia’s education, is heartwarming. It’s this that leads him into risky and illegal ventures alongside his friend, Devon. On the other hand, Michael is promiscuous and has a surprising and rather unsettling attitude towards forming relationships with black women, as if he’s consciously trying to deny his own heritage. I found Ngozi a much easier character to like. Her story is particularly compelling as she searches for a way to fund her own education and support her family in Nigeria. Despite one setback after another, she retains her determination to achieve a better life for herself.
Both Ngozi and Michael experience personal loss, are forced to take on responsibilities at an early age, and witness scenes they cannot easily forget. The convergence of their two storylines when it finally occurs – have patience, dear reader – may not be unexpected, trailed as it is in the book description, but illustrates one of the other themes in the book, that of turning points. These turning points include chance encounters, decisions taken or choices made – the forks in the road, as it were – that determine future life courses.
The author creates a great sense of place whether that’s the bustling streets of Lagos, described as a city that ‘comes at you in surround sound’, or daily life in the community of south London. The latter includes a recognition of the contribution of the Windrush generation, exemplified by Michael’s Aunt Eliza and Uncle Fred. The rhythm of Nigerian speech, including use of vernacular words and phrases, is also much in evidence.
Usually the inclusion of an element of magical realism in a book would make me nervous but the way the author has used it, along with the book’s blend of historical and contemporary fiction, made The Book of Echoes a story which really lingers in the memory.
As well as serving as the book’s narrator, she also provides a link between events of the past and those in Brixton from the 1980s onwards. Drawing upon the echoes of the book’s title, she makes comparisons between the Brixton riots and the slave revolt she witnessed two hundred years earlier in Jamaica. As she observes, ‘I understand what being under siege can do to a person… I know it echoes inside them, that recognition of freedom being taken away as that baton of pain is passed on.’ Indeed, the idea that, depressingly, nothing much has changed when it comes to the treatment of black people is one the book frequently illustrates.
That mention of a baton is just one of a number of instances of its use as a metaphor for the concept of certain attitudes and character traits being passed between generations. For example, we learn that Michael’s reluctance to become a father is born out a fear of passing on the mental instability of his brother, Simon, or the lack of commitment of his father. And the hard-working attitude of Michael’s sister, Marcia, is also attributed to the legacy of earlier generations: ‘But the truth of it was in the blood, that desire, that wanting to heal, handed down from an ancestor who foraged in the bush, searching for plants to heal, who sat upon a ship in sheer despair heading to the new world, that baton of survival successfully passed on.’
The book switches, in several chapter-long chunks, between the experiences of Michael growing up in Brixton and of Ngozi, first in Nigeria and then in London. There are also brief interludes in which the reader learns a little of the harrowing story of the spirit narrator, including how she came to meet her fellow spirit, the man she calls Wind.
Michael is a complex character. On the one hand, his devotion to his sister Marcia and his determination, following the death of their mother, to find a way to continue funding Marcia’s education, is heartwarming. It’s this that leads him into risky and illegal ventures alongside his friend, Devon. On the other hand, Michael is promiscuous and has a surprising and rather unsettling attitude towards forming relationships with black women, as if he’s consciously trying to deny his own heritage. I found Ngozi a much easier character to like. Her story is particularly compelling as she searches for a way to fund her own education and support her family in Nigeria. Despite one setback after another, she retains her determination to achieve a better life for herself.
Both Ngozi and Michael experience personal loss, are forced to take on responsibilities at an early age, and witness scenes they cannot easily forget. The convergence of their two storylines when it finally occurs – have patience, dear reader – may not be unexpected, trailed as it is in the book description, but illustrates one of the other themes in the book, that of turning points. These turning points include chance encounters, decisions taken or choices made – the forks in the road, as it were – that determine future life courses.
The author creates a great sense of place whether that’s the bustling streets of Lagos, described as a city that ‘comes at you in surround sound’, or daily life in the community of south London. The latter includes a recognition of the contribution of the Windrush generation, exemplified by Michael’s Aunt Eliza and Uncle Fred. The rhythm of Nigerian speech, including use of vernacular words and phrases, is also much in evidence.
Usually the inclusion of an element of magical realism in a book would make me nervous but the way the author has used it, along with the book’s blend of historical and contemporary fiction, made The Book of Echoes a story which really lingers in the memory.
January 7, 2020
Thank you to Transworld Publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The book is told from the perspective of a woman who was taken into slavery aged 25 in the 1800s. 200 years later, her spirit floats around the world, searching out for her lost children.
Michael, a teenage boy living in Brixton in 1981, has to work hard to support himself and his sister. He gets involved in the riots, mixes with questionable people and fights against racial tensions in London at that time.
Ngozi, a young girl living in Nigeria in 1981, is pushed to get a better education and begins to work as a maid for a healthy family. She has to leave her mother, sisters and friends to move to a new and bigger place with better opportunities.
I loved the contrast between the two characters. They were both black, from single-parent homes, and lives in poor conditions; but had different challenges. They were both constantly fighting for survival. You experience each exertion with them, and the painful burden that adds to their young minds.
In the beginning, the book didn’t grip me. I felt like giving up until around 20% of the way through, and then felt detached again at the end. I knew what was going to happen well before it happened.
The story takes place in Nigeria and England but the central theme is evident: oppression, racism and the struggle of growing up in such an unforgiving world. The book covers a large time period, and highlights the positive changes that have been made. While our society as a whole is moving forward, it’s still clear that not everyone has the same opportunities.
The author’s voice is passionate and authentic from start to finish. I didn’t realise it was a debut novel because the narrative is so thought-provoking. It’s a beautiful story that covers injustice among generations. While the ending was predictable, I enjoyed the book nonetheless.
Read more reviews and blog posts at https://chaptersofmay.com and follow along at instagram.com/chaptersofmay ✨
The book is told from the perspective of a woman who was taken into slavery aged 25 in the 1800s. 200 years later, her spirit floats around the world, searching out for her lost children.
Michael, a teenage boy living in Brixton in 1981, has to work hard to support himself and his sister. He gets involved in the riots, mixes with questionable people and fights against racial tensions in London at that time.
Ngozi, a young girl living in Nigeria in 1981, is pushed to get a better education and begins to work as a maid for a healthy family. She has to leave her mother, sisters and friends to move to a new and bigger place with better opportunities.
I loved the contrast between the two characters. They were both black, from single-parent homes, and lives in poor conditions; but had different challenges. They were both constantly fighting for survival. You experience each exertion with them, and the painful burden that adds to their young minds.
In the beginning, the book didn’t grip me. I felt like giving up until around 20% of the way through, and then felt detached again at the end. I knew what was going to happen well before it happened.
The story takes place in Nigeria and England but the central theme is evident: oppression, racism and the struggle of growing up in such an unforgiving world. The book covers a large time period, and highlights the positive changes that have been made. While our society as a whole is moving forward, it’s still clear that not everyone has the same opportunities.
The author’s voice is passionate and authentic from start to finish. I didn’t realise it was a debut novel because the narrative is so thought-provoking. It’s a beautiful story that covers injustice among generations. While the ending was predictable, I enjoyed the book nonetheless.
Read more reviews and blog posts at https://chaptersofmay.com and follow along at instagram.com/chaptersofmay ✨
August 6, 2021
A powerfully crafted debut novel by Rosanna Amaka, ‘The Book of Echoes’ is an enthralling tale that captures the power of love, resiliency, and forgiveness, while grappling the throes of trauma, heartbreak, and abuse.
‘The Book of Echoes’ combines the coming-of-age tales of protagonists Ngozi and Michael, as they navigate through the complications of life, both experiencing life altering events that shape the course of their lives. It is through an inevitable act of fate, that draws these two seemingly different people, into each other’s lives. Interestingly, the story is narrated by the ancestral spirit of a previously enslaved woman, whose own life story exudes an ample amount of unyielding strength, seemingly passed down through generations.
The story includes memorable characters and plots that will leave you, as the reader, hanging on the edge of the tale with a vast of intrigue. The pacing of the novel was satisfactory, although the ending seemed a bit rushed, with many details quickly included. I also felt that Ngozi’s storyline was thoroughly constructed, with very few gaps in the story, however Michael’s storyline included some gaps that left me with unanswered questions. I also would have liked the plots of some characters explained in more detail, such as Michael’s beloved and intelligent younger sister, Marcia.
In general, I really enjoyed this book. I am definitely keeping Rosanna Amaka on my radar and look forward to reading more works from her in the coming future. I undoubtedly rate this book a solid and well-deserved 4 stars.
‘The Book of Echoes’ combines the coming-of-age tales of protagonists Ngozi and Michael, as they navigate through the complications of life, both experiencing life altering events that shape the course of their lives. It is through an inevitable act of fate, that draws these two seemingly different people, into each other’s lives. Interestingly, the story is narrated by the ancestral spirit of a previously enslaved woman, whose own life story exudes an ample amount of unyielding strength, seemingly passed down through generations.
The story includes memorable characters and plots that will leave you, as the reader, hanging on the edge of the tale with a vast of intrigue. The pacing of the novel was satisfactory, although the ending seemed a bit rushed, with many details quickly included. I also felt that Ngozi’s storyline was thoroughly constructed, with very few gaps in the story, however Michael’s storyline included some gaps that left me with unanswered questions. I also would have liked the plots of some characters explained in more detail, such as Michael’s beloved and intelligent younger sister, Marcia.
In general, I really enjoyed this book. I am definitely keeping Rosanna Amaka on my radar and look forward to reading more works from her in the coming future. I undoubtedly rate this book a solid and well-deserved 4 stars.
January 5, 2020
The Book Of Echoes is a beautiful story about two people growing up in different parts of the world and in different circumstances. We follow Michael, who was born in Jamaica but grew up in Brixton, England and we follow Ngozi, who was born in Lagos, Nigeria. We get to see many different but difficult situations they both face until they both finally meet many years later. The story tells the history of Brixton and what it was like in 1970-2000 for black people and it discusses the history of slavery.
I'm amazed that The Book Of Echoes is Rosanna Amaka's first novel as the writing is exceptional. It is so beautiful and it really captured my heart. The world she has created for both Michael and Ngozi was highly vivid and real. It wasn't hard for me to imagine all the places both characters traveled to in the story. Very well done.
The characters as well are very well developed and I feel like I truly know both of them. I really enjoyed Ngozi's story the most and I kept looking forward to the parts where I got to continue her story. It was amazing to see her go from a shy 11 year old girl to a strong woman who conquered the world. She is a very admirable character.
I look forward to reading more great stories like this one from Rosanna Amaka.
I received a free review copy through the publisher via Netgalley.
I'm amazed that The Book Of Echoes is Rosanna Amaka's first novel as the writing is exceptional. It is so beautiful and it really captured my heart. The world she has created for both Michael and Ngozi was highly vivid and real. It wasn't hard for me to imagine all the places both characters traveled to in the story. Very well done.
The characters as well are very well developed and I feel like I truly know both of them. I really enjoyed Ngozi's story the most and I kept looking forward to the parts where I got to continue her story. It was amazing to see her go from a shy 11 year old girl to a strong woman who conquered the world. She is a very admirable character.
I look forward to reading more great stories like this one from Rosanna Amaka.
I received a free review copy through the publisher via Netgalley.
September 25, 2020
This book didn't instantly grab me - actually at first, I wasn't even sure that I liked it. I wasn't keen on the narrative style and the jumps in time and location, but over time the book became absolutely engrossing. It's possible that my initial dislike was actually just subconscious racism and I'll own that (I know that this is an actual barrier of entry for Black people to get published in the first place; white editors will reject their stories on basis of "didn't grab me", "I couldn't relate" etc. it's more complex than I'm staying here but for brevity let's leave it at that, so I was already aware before reading this book that this is a bias I may have to overcome, and that I now think I definitely need to be more conscious of).
So anyway, the book did become absolutely engrossing to me, as I got used to the style and as I realised, on a literary level, what the author was doing and why she chose this narrative framing. It's not just clever: it tells a richer story.
This book was sold to me as a warm-hearted story about survival. I don't think I agree - I mean, it's not *wrong*, but what I think this story is about at its core is healing. There is a lot of pain in this book, but ultimately the story is about healing from that pain. The narrative frame weaves together the story of a young woman stolen away into slavery, the story of a young woman of a lower-class status growing up in Nigeria and trying to build a better life for herself and her family, and the story of a young man of Jamaican descent growing up in Brixton and also trying to build a better life for himself and his family. What unites the three of them is the pain and generational trauma of slavery (and no punches are pulled - I especially appreciated the inclusion of Scottish slave owners as this is something I've only recently learned about) but also the love and kindness and willingness to open up and shed fears that eventually heals them. It is heavily implied that Ngozi and Michael are descendants of the young woman who narrates the book, and that them finding each other is a part of the healing process from the trauma they and their ancestors have suffered at the hands of white men. At the same time their story is a kind of parable - this book cautions and encourages and preaches, from a place of love and hope and despair, that the way forward, the path to healing, is through finding and supporting and loving one another. To be clear, this message is aimed at Black people, not us white folks.
In the end, this is a beautiful book. I cried at the end.
So anyway, the book did become absolutely engrossing to me, as I got used to the style and as I realised, on a literary level, what the author was doing and why she chose this narrative framing. It's not just clever: it tells a richer story.
This book was sold to me as a warm-hearted story about survival. I don't think I agree - I mean, it's not *wrong*, but what I think this story is about at its core is healing. There is a lot of pain in this book, but ultimately the story is about healing from that pain. The narrative frame weaves together the story of a young woman stolen away into slavery, the story of a young woman of a lower-class status growing up in Nigeria and trying to build a better life for herself and her family, and the story of a young man of Jamaican descent growing up in Brixton and also trying to build a better life for himself and his family. What unites the three of them is the pain and generational trauma of slavery (and no punches are pulled - I especially appreciated the inclusion of Scottish slave owners as this is something I've only recently learned about) but also the love and kindness and willingness to open up and shed fears that eventually heals them. It is heavily implied that Ngozi and Michael are descendants of the young woman who narrates the book, and that them finding each other is a part of the healing process from the trauma they and their ancestors have suffered at the hands of white men. At the same time their story is a kind of parable - this book cautions and encourages and preaches, from a place of love and hope and despair, that the way forward, the path to healing, is through finding and supporting and loving one another. To be clear, this message is aimed at Black people, not us white folks.
In the end, this is a beautiful book. I cried at the end.
July 20, 2020
The Book of Echoes is a unique book in which the narrator is a 200 year old enslaved African who is telling a modern day tale of Michael from Brixton and Ngozi from Nigeria. The book starts with searing pain where I was scared to even turn pages to see what worse can happen to the characters. But there is hope and love as the paths of the two characters cross.
This book explores the struggles of Black people and the impact of history on our daily lives. It the storytelling is gripping and profound.
Favourite excerpts (Spoiler Alert):
“And this constant battle, and always being under suspicion, and having to prove myself all the time, constantly having to believe in myself, and having it torn down, and having to rebuild it time and time again, and always having to second-guess, and always doubting. I sometimes wonder if it's worth fighting against, and I should just give up and become what they want me to become. Do you think we're cursed? Do you think black people are cursed?”
“Michael, it doesn't look like things are changing because we're living it. But over time, just as when we look back to our grandparents' time, we've moved a whole galaxy forward. We're just entering a different phase in the fight: it's mental, it's more hidden than before.”
This book explores the struggles of Black people and the impact of history on our daily lives. It the storytelling is gripping and profound.
Favourite excerpts (Spoiler Alert):
“And this constant battle, and always being under suspicion, and having to prove myself all the time, constantly having to believe in myself, and having it torn down, and having to rebuild it time and time again, and always having to second-guess, and always doubting. I sometimes wonder if it's worth fighting against, and I should just give up and become what they want me to become. Do you think we're cursed? Do you think black people are cursed?”
“Michael, it doesn't look like things are changing because we're living it. But over time, just as when we look back to our grandparents' time, we've moved a whole galaxy forward. We're just entering a different phase in the fight: it's mental, it's more hidden than before.”
August 9, 2022
This is a moving story about race, poverty, and love. It focuses on the lives of two people as they become adults in the 1980s/90s. What makes this even more emotional is that it is narrated by the spirit of an enslaved African woman. A very easy five stars.
Read
October 14, 2020I DNF it after listening to half of it (+6 hours) unfortunately. It’s a great novel I guess but it was too long for me and my mood at the moment.
February 25, 2021
3.5 stars
'I often wonder if - no I don't, I believe that history was truly invented for the rich and the learned. I look back at the group gathered around the statue, their faces expectant.They are young. They will never know they stand on the very spot where I drew my last breaths. Their history has erased us.'
A nameless woman is taken from her African homeland and sold into slavery. Her namelessness represents her dehumanisation as cargo. Through tragic circumstances she dies and the man she loved, 'Wind'. Her spirit walks the earth looking for her children and she becomes the narrator of the story.
The story than leaps forward 200 years to 1980s Brixton, England and we meet Michael, whose life has just fallen apart by the tragic murder of his step mother. The themes in this narrative deal with the racial marginalisation of black people as a societal norm and how difficult it is for a individual to rise above it.
We than meet Ngozi in Nigeria who is the oldest daughter and her mother is single parent. Her father has rejected her & her other 3 siblings due to her mother's caste, Osu. The family pressure was too much for him. Ngozi has to leave home and become a maid for a rich family so they will pay for her education. Ngozi's mother sees her daughter as unmarriable due to her social standing and believes an education is her only chance of independence.
These two narrative grow & weave in different directions but show the barriers that both Michael and Ngozi endure and how they individually have to find the strength to rise above. Eventually their stories entwine and restoration begins.
'I often wonder if - no I don't, I believe that history was truly invented for the rich and the learned. I look back at the group gathered around the statue, their faces expectant.They are young. They will never know they stand on the very spot where I drew my last breaths. Their history has erased us.'
A nameless woman is taken from her African homeland and sold into slavery. Her namelessness represents her dehumanisation as cargo. Through tragic circumstances she dies and the man she loved, 'Wind'. Her spirit walks the earth looking for her children and she becomes the narrator of the story.
The story than leaps forward 200 years to 1980s Brixton, England and we meet Michael, whose life has just fallen apart by the tragic murder of his step mother. The themes in this narrative deal with the racial marginalisation of black people as a societal norm and how difficult it is for a individual to rise above it.
We than meet Ngozi in Nigeria who is the oldest daughter and her mother is single parent. Her father has rejected her & her other 3 siblings due to her mother's caste, Osu. The family pressure was too much for him. Ngozi has to leave home and become a maid for a rich family so they will pay for her education. Ngozi's mother sees her daughter as unmarriable due to her social standing and believes an education is her only chance of independence.
These two narrative grow & weave in different directions but show the barriers that both Michael and Ngozi endure and how they individually have to find the strength to rise above. Eventually their stories entwine and restoration begins.
February 19, 2023
The back of the book depicts a story of a man and a woman who meet and fall in love (amongst other things) however the pair don’t even meet until page 324 of 370. Their back stories were interesting and I did enjoy the book to some degree but it’s not one I would rush to recommend
January 27, 2022
From the very first paragraph this book got into my soul. It was gripping, emotional, well written and hard to put down. Such a powerful book and a truly enjoyable read.
February 13, 2020
This is a love letter to black families who have suffered injustice, displacement, and inequality, yet come out determined to find their place in the world. It acknowledges the common experiences of different black communities while celebrating their cultural differences. But most of all, it's a engrossing tale of the endurance of two kids with the odds stacked against them.
Unsurprisingly, this wasn't comfortable reading. Protagonists Ngozi and Michael experience abuse, loss, violence. Ngozi in particular must come to terms with the hard realisation that her body is at times her only commodity. They're compelling characters: I couldn't help but empathise - and suffer - alongside them. It was also interesting to see the parallels and differences between Nigeria and Brixton.
Two quibbles: (1) I wasn't enamoured with the dead slave's POV; her scenes felt intrusive to the primary narrative. However, she's a key plot device to link the protagonists together and remind the reader of how violence perpetuates across generations. (2) I struggled with the Nigerian Creole, which made it hard to follow certain scenes and pulled me out of the story, but that's my own shortcoming.
Ultimately, I'm not the target audience, yet still took a lot away from this impressive debut. I'd love to hear own voice perspectives to better inform my opinions.
𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗳... You enjoyed HOMEGOING by Yaa Gyasi.
Unsurprisingly, this wasn't comfortable reading. Protagonists Ngozi and Michael experience abuse, loss, violence. Ngozi in particular must come to terms with the hard realisation that her body is at times her only commodity. They're compelling characters: I couldn't help but empathise - and suffer - alongside them. It was also interesting to see the parallels and differences between Nigeria and Brixton.
Two quibbles: (1) I wasn't enamoured with the dead slave's POV; her scenes felt intrusive to the primary narrative. However, she's a key plot device to link the protagonists together and remind the reader of how violence perpetuates across generations. (2) I struggled with the Nigerian Creole, which made it hard to follow certain scenes and pulled me out of the story, but that's my own shortcoming.
Ultimately, I'm not the target audience, yet still took a lot away from this impressive debut. I'd love to hear own voice perspectives to better inform my opinions.
𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗳... You enjoyed HOMEGOING by Yaa Gyasi.
August 8, 2020
4.5 ⭐️
The debut book from Rosanna Amaka, is told through the eyes of an African slave women, who gets murdered whilst trying to escape her captors. She tells her story while wandering the earth to find the children she left behind. Throughout the book We go back and fourth between her own life in 1803 and her telling us about the lives of Micheal and Ngozi, in the 1980s through to the present day.
Split between Brixton, England and Lagos, Nigeria, The Book of Echoes is a story of survival and the fight for a better life. This has historical elements throughout which I enjoyed because it set the tone you can feel the tensions building especially with the Brixton Riots taking place in parts of the book. This book doesn’t shy away from, racism, women’s rights, and slavery, it takes them head on and delivers a powerful story of changing your path in life.
If you like books set in Africa, then you’ll enjoy this one, Amaka’s writing is so descriptive that you feel you are there. I hope Amaka, is planning on writing more books in the future, because this was a stunning debut.
The debut book from Rosanna Amaka, is told through the eyes of an African slave women, who gets murdered whilst trying to escape her captors. She tells her story while wandering the earth to find the children she left behind. Throughout the book We go back and fourth between her own life in 1803 and her telling us about the lives of Micheal and Ngozi, in the 1980s through to the present day.
Split between Brixton, England and Lagos, Nigeria, The Book of Echoes is a story of survival and the fight for a better life. This has historical elements throughout which I enjoyed because it set the tone you can feel the tensions building especially with the Brixton Riots taking place in parts of the book. This book doesn’t shy away from, racism, women’s rights, and slavery, it takes them head on and delivers a powerful story of changing your path in life.
If you like books set in Africa, then you’ll enjoy this one, Amaka’s writing is so descriptive that you feel you are there. I hope Amaka, is planning on writing more books in the future, because this was a stunning debut.
December 9, 2021
This book captivated me from the start. We meet our narrative anchor for the novel - a nameless voice whose experiences and metaphorical sons and daughters span the whole globe, having stemmed from Africa and being torn apart by slavery.
From then, across the span of well over a decade, we follow the lives of Michael in Brixton and Ngozi in Nigeria - growing with them thriugh their struggles, triumphs and sufferings.
The author does an impeccable job of interlinking the experiences of many black people across the dual narratives, illustrating how mistreatment and trauma truly Echoes through generations.
With this, Amaka offers pathways that present hope, difficult choices, ones that will provide no forward progress and pathways that may even provide negative progress for our characters. We journey with them as they find out for themselves which direction they are destined for.
This is a novel that offers a critical, angry eye at the way black men and women were mistreated by the white population in London, the way poverty erodes all aspects of life in Nigeria and the way women in particular have to engage with men to earn a living.
For a novel with such darkness, such trauma and so much reflection on the root of division and mistreatment through the slave trade, it may be surprising to hear that the main feeling I came away with was one of hope - but it is true.
This is a novel that will stick with me for years to come.
Thanks Randomthingstours for a copy of this book.
From then, across the span of well over a decade, we follow the lives of Michael in Brixton and Ngozi in Nigeria - growing with them thriugh their struggles, triumphs and sufferings.
The author does an impeccable job of interlinking the experiences of many black people across the dual narratives, illustrating how mistreatment and trauma truly Echoes through generations.
With this, Amaka offers pathways that present hope, difficult choices, ones that will provide no forward progress and pathways that may even provide negative progress for our characters. We journey with them as they find out for themselves which direction they are destined for.
This is a novel that offers a critical, angry eye at the way black men and women were mistreated by the white population in London, the way poverty erodes all aspects of life in Nigeria and the way women in particular have to engage with men to earn a living.
For a novel with such darkness, such trauma and so much reflection on the root of division and mistreatment through the slave trade, it may be surprising to hear that the main feeling I came away with was one of hope - but it is true.
This is a novel that will stick with me for years to come.
Thanks Randomthingstours for a copy of this book.
January 9, 2020
I loved the way this was written, we're given the perspective of a woman who died trying to escape from slavery as she watches over her descendants. It was so moving reading her feelings as she sees them grow and develop, her love of them, and fear for them. As a framing device I think it worked beautifully.
I also loved the people she was watching over, how they both came through tough situations and while it took a long time they achieved their dreams of making a better life for themselves. My heart bled for Ngozi during her trials, and soared for Michael when he found a way of life. The writing was brilliant and rich and I will be thinking about this book for a long time.
I also loved the people she was watching over, how they both came through tough situations and while it took a long time they achieved their dreams of making a better life for themselves. My heart bled for Ngozi during her trials, and soared for Michael when he found a way of life. The writing was brilliant and rich and I will be thinking about this book for a long time.
July 13, 2021
Today is my stop on the blog tour for 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞 𝗢𝗙 𝗘𝗖𝗛𝗢𝗘𝗦 by Rosanna Amaka. Thank you to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours and Transworld/Penguin Random House for having me along, and sending me a copy of the book.
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𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗱. 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀, 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀. 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗯 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲. 𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀.
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It's hard to know where to start with book reviews sometimes, so I will start by simply saying I loved The Book of Echoes.
Told from three main perspectives - Michael, a young black man from Brixton; Ngozi, a young black woman from Nigeria, and; the spirit of an African woman, an ancestor of sorts, who lost her life on a slave ship two centuries earlier - it is an incredibly moving and poignant book.
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𝗔 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝘄. 𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁. 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗺𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗿. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲? 𝗧𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘃𝗲? 𝗧𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗲? 𝗧𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲? 𝗧𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗲? 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗻’𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱.
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As you'd probably expect, the book does make comments on racism, inequality, and the corruption that stems from outdated class sytems, both in the UK and in Nigeria.
However, the stories of Michael and Ngozi kept me hooked and interested throughout. This was not a preachy or reprimanding novel; instead, it highlighted the stories of two excellently crafted characters, who could easily be based on real people, and whose experiences stay with them.
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𝗙𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗹’𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁. 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝘆 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲, 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺 ... 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻, 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻. 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝗿, 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗻. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗶𝗺, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀, 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗷𝗼𝘆, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆’𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗮𝗽 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿
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Amaka portrays emotion so well within The Book of Echoes, both positive and negative. There is a lot of injustice and righteous anger, but there is also joy, love, and acceptance.
Michael and Ngozi both have difficult experiences, in very different ways, but rather than dwell on the emotions and experiences that could crush them and make them bitter about life, they choose to rise up and focus the energy into something beneficial for others as well as themselves.
This made me really root for them both, and I was glad when they found each other.
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‘𝗬𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.’
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I found Michael's journey particularly interesting. He goes through different phases of trying to umderstand himself, and trying to understand his heritage.
We all want to understand where we came from, and what we are made of, but this certainly isn't an easy feat for Michael given his family history and the tragedies and heartbreaks that have taken place.
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𝗛𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹, 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘁 – 𝗶𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗶𝗿, 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲’𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆. 𝗡𝗼 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝗻𝗼 𝗱𝗿𝘂𝗴𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝗺, 𝗻𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝘁, 𝗻𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀. 𝗛𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗿, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝘅, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀, 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱, 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱, 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲, 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲, 𝗺𝗶𝘅𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗱.
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Family is an interesting theme within The Book of Echoes. As in real life, the family surrounding Michael and Ngozi can be nurturing, but they can also cut them to the quick with a fleeting phrase or action.
From Ngozi being told very matter-of-factly that it is unlikely anyone will marry her, to Michael trying to deal with the well-meant but ineffectual well wishers when he is stricken with grief, it highlights that while family is always there, sometimes they shape us in ways they may not mean to.
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𝗡𝗴𝗼𝘇𝗶’𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗷𝗮𝘄 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽𝘀. 𝗛𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀. ‘𝗜’𝗺 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄.'
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Setting and the passage of time is excellently portrayed by Amaka - both in respect of scene-setting and atmosphere, but also with how the narrative moves from the 1980s as the present, and shifts back to the past, where Michael and Ngozi's lineage began.
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𝗔𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗠𝘀 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘇 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱, 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟭, 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗮 𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗼𝗶𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝘅𝘁𝗼𝗻. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁, 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗽𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲. 𝗥𝘂𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘀. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗵𝘂𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻.
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But while sad and distressing things may happen to Michael, Ngozi and the spirit of an African woman who recounts the past, this is not a depressing or negative book. Instead, it is a book whose foundations are built on love, and hope, and the myriad of things that may happen in any one person's life.
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𝗪𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘆. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗜 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁, 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗜 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗼 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀, 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲.
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I would highly recommend The Book of Echoes to everyone, and would absolutely read more from Rosanna Amaka in the future.
The Book of Echoes is currently on sale for 99p on Kindle, so if you can, you should definitely get yourself a copy 💚🧡💙🖤💖
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𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗱. 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀, 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀. 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗯 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲. 𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀.
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It's hard to know where to start with book reviews sometimes, so I will start by simply saying I loved The Book of Echoes.
Told from three main perspectives - Michael, a young black man from Brixton; Ngozi, a young black woman from Nigeria, and; the spirit of an African woman, an ancestor of sorts, who lost her life on a slave ship two centuries earlier - it is an incredibly moving and poignant book.
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𝗔 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝘄. 𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁. 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗺𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗿. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲? 𝗧𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘃𝗲? 𝗧𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗲? 𝗧𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲? 𝗧𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗲? 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗻’𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱.
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As you'd probably expect, the book does make comments on racism, inequality, and the corruption that stems from outdated class sytems, both in the UK and in Nigeria.
However, the stories of Michael and Ngozi kept me hooked and interested throughout. This was not a preachy or reprimanding novel; instead, it highlighted the stories of two excellently crafted characters, who could easily be based on real people, and whose experiences stay with them.
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𝗙𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗹’𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁. 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝘆 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲, 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺 ... 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻, 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻. 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝗿, 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗻. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗶𝗺, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀, 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗷𝗼𝘆, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆’𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗮𝗽 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿
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Amaka portrays emotion so well within The Book of Echoes, both positive and negative. There is a lot of injustice and righteous anger, but there is also joy, love, and acceptance.
Michael and Ngozi both have difficult experiences, in very different ways, but rather than dwell on the emotions and experiences that could crush them and make them bitter about life, they choose to rise up and focus the energy into something beneficial for others as well as themselves.
This made me really root for them both, and I was glad when they found each other.
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‘𝗬𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.’
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I found Michael's journey particularly interesting. He goes through different phases of trying to umderstand himself, and trying to understand his heritage.
We all want to understand where we came from, and what we are made of, but this certainly isn't an easy feat for Michael given his family history and the tragedies and heartbreaks that have taken place.
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𝗛𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹, 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘁 – 𝗶𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗶𝗿, 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲’𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆. 𝗡𝗼 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝗻𝗼 𝗱𝗿𝘂𝗴𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝗺, 𝗻𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝘁, 𝗻𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀. 𝗛𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗿, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝘅, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀, 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱, 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱, 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲, 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲, 𝗺𝗶𝘅𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗱.
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Family is an interesting theme within The Book of Echoes. As in real life, the family surrounding Michael and Ngozi can be nurturing, but they can also cut them to the quick with a fleeting phrase or action.
From Ngozi being told very matter-of-factly that it is unlikely anyone will marry her, to Michael trying to deal with the well-meant but ineffectual well wishers when he is stricken with grief, it highlights that while family is always there, sometimes they shape us in ways they may not mean to.
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𝗡𝗴𝗼𝘇𝗶’𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗷𝗮𝘄 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽𝘀. 𝗛𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀. ‘𝗜’𝗺 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄.'
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Setting and the passage of time is excellently portrayed by Amaka - both in respect of scene-setting and atmosphere, but also with how the narrative moves from the 1980s as the present, and shifts back to the past, where Michael and Ngozi's lineage began.
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𝗔𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗠𝘀 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘇 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱, 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟭, 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗮 𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗼𝗶𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝘅𝘁𝗼𝗻. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁, 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗽𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲. 𝗥𝘂𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘀. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗵𝘂𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻.
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But while sad and distressing things may happen to Michael, Ngozi and the spirit of an African woman who recounts the past, this is not a depressing or negative book. Instead, it is a book whose foundations are built on love, and hope, and the myriad of things that may happen in any one person's life.
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𝗪𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘆. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗜 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁, 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗜 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗼 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀, 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲.
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I would highly recommend The Book of Echoes to everyone, and would absolutely read more from Rosanna Amaka in the future.
The Book of Echoes is currently on sale for 99p on Kindle, so if you can, you should definitely get yourself a copy 💚🧡💙🖤💖
February 9, 2021
This was an engaging and well-structured book, but the ending felt so rushed! Poor Marcia was only given two pages to deal with the trauma and guilt following her mother's murder, and the chapter involving Michael and Ngozi is similarly blasted through. There were some wordy conversations about race and opportunity that didn't feel like natural dialogue, and Ngozi's accent wasn't always consistent. All that said, it was an enjoyable read.
August 19, 2020
5 stars to this very heart-wrenching, inspiring and empowering book about 2 black people’s journey through a generation that’s been cruel to them. Michael's sentiment saying, "why if a black person or POC experience adversities, it is always tenfold comparing to white people?".
Narrated by a ghost/soul of Ngozi and Michael’s ancestor dating back 200 years ago, the story is a journey from their past life that is relevant still. With alternating storyline, from Nigeria to Brixton England. The author weaves a vivid story that even though it spans centuries, it captivates my frail reader heart and held my attention. Amaka succeeded in enriching my soul and making my heart full again after breaking. It felt that I've been through their life first hand. Their love story was told in a life long battle of finding their place on earth while also finding their home. It packed a punch, made me sob, heartbroken, happy and relief for the ending that they so well deserve. I am personally moved with Ngozi's experience as a poor 11 year old outcast in Nigeria to a woman making history and living her dream life and changing the world. It felt too good to be true but with all she's been through (there's a lot), her fighting spirit never wavered. Such an inspiring story.
I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO READ THIS BOOK. It is so important to know the Black African people, their history and culture. What they’ve been through compared to other POC or white people. It touches on slavery, riots, discrimination, human resilience. As a debut, Amaka did very well because the writing was exceptional. I'd read her future books that's for sure.
July 5, 2022
a beautiful read!
it was hard for me to get into this book at first, but after
ngozi's first chapter i was lured in good.
a soul of an enslaved woman almost set free at her death
roams the world in search of her children. a great concept
to tell a story of love through the people's life stories first.
and this book was much more than a story of love. it was a
story of generational pain and trauma. a story of sacrifice.
how money and power make this world deadly. it was also a
story of culture and the good among the bad.
rosanna amaka's words are authentic and they leave you
with so many emotions.
the ending for me was not unexpected but i kind of didn't
realise. where the two stories were going. it was quite quick,
the ending. but i do see that the ending of the book was a
beginning for the character's life together. so i do see the
point. i see the big fall into love that happens very
quickly in real life too.
the book of echoes makes me think of my own roots and
hope that there is an ancestral soul looking for me too and that, whoever it is, they find me
:)
it was hard for me to get into this book at first, but after
ngozi's first chapter i was lured in good.
a soul of an enslaved woman almost set free at her death
roams the world in search of her children. a great concept
to tell a story of love through the people's life stories first.
and this book was much more than a story of love. it was a
story of generational pain and trauma. a story of sacrifice.
how money and power make this world deadly. it was also a
story of culture and the good among the bad.
rosanna amaka's words are authentic and they leave you
with so many emotions.
the ending for me was not unexpected but i kind of didn't
realise. where the two stories were going. it was quite quick,
the ending. but i do see that the ending of the book was a
beginning for the character's life together. so i do see the
point. i see the big fall into love that happens very
quickly in real life too.
the book of echoes makes me think of my own roots and
hope that there is an ancestral soul looking for me too and that, whoever it is, they find me
:)
July 24, 2021
The Book of Echoes” is a haunting, yet redemptive tale, exploring how the consequences (or echoes) of the past -slavery, hate crimes, can reverberate throughout generations. But also how through sheer strength of resilience, love and hope, people can slowly, start to turn things around.
I must admit I did initially struggle to get into the book, and although I admired the dual narrative as a premise -allowing Amaka to explore and highlight a number of issues susceptible to those of colour, no matter who they are or what country they’re in. It did take quite a while for things to eventually come together, and the ending -for me, felt slightly too neat and predictable.
Nevertheless this is a beautifully written book and I can’t wait to see what Amaka writes next!
3 stars
Thank you to penguin Transworld for sending me this copy to review!
I must admit I did initially struggle to get into the book, and although I admired the dual narrative as a premise -allowing Amaka to explore and highlight a number of issues susceptible to those of colour, no matter who they are or what country they’re in. It did take quite a while for things to eventually come together, and the ending -for me, felt slightly too neat and predictable.
Nevertheless this is a beautifully written book and I can’t wait to see what Amaka writes next!
3 stars
Thank you to penguin Transworld for sending me this copy to review!
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