E’s Reviews > Blood & Milk > Status Update

“Kasisi say I have hearts,” Damu said quietly, holding up two fingers. “One heart for this people, one heart not here.” I blinked, trying to guess the significance. “What does that mean?” “He see I not belong here with whole heart. So I not be warrior.”

Oh boy... I'm guessing this is the set up for the rest of the book.

During my day, while Damu was doing his chores, I used a flat rock and rounded stone to grind the ugali to the fine powder for our porridge. It was a primitive mortar and pestle but just as effective.

No way! Primitive? Really?? I couldn't tell by the way you described it. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Question: Isn't a mortar and pestle primitive in general, regardless of what it's made of?

I held out my arm, and the child very bravely reached out to touch the skin on my forearm. Obviously they’d never seen a white person before. As soon as they touched me, they pulled back their hand. Their face lit up with wonder and broke into a huge smile.



See previous status updates for why this is some made up bs, & also problematic.

I’d only threaded a few beads when a small child of maybe five or six, wearing a cotton t-shirt as a dress, edged closer to me. I had no idea of this child’s gender― it didn’t matter to me.

Of course it doesn't.

This dude is, in turns, super dismissive or unknowingly condescending. Just the type of guy I like to be forced to live with invite into my tribe.

The woman spoke in very broken English, but I was very grateful she was even speaking to me. “Kafir roam our land. No kill him; he protect us.”

Oh, some guy protected them so they didn’t kill him. That was nice.

“Alé has kindness.” Oh. He’d used the name I was given, which was now, I assumed, my Maasai name.

Didn't you inform us of that a few pages ago already?
:flips back:
Yep... Yep you did.

So many things wrong here, but one would probably be smart to do a bit more research (and committing it to memory) before traveling to other countries, so as not to cause offense.

It only costs $30 to buy your way into being a Maasai tribesman/helper! That's so cheap!

It was only when they spoke in English that I looked up. “White man,” one of them said. It wasn’t a racist comment, it was merely an observation.

What I did know was that from the headdress and utmost respect from his tribe, this little old man must be what the Maasai called their ‘diviner.’ Before I knew differently, I probably would have called him a witchdoctor.

....
What? Wth does "Before I knew differently" even mean? This book is written in first person singular, so aren't we learning things along with the character?