Rate this book

Kadotettujen Hedelmätarha (2014)

by Nadifa Mohamed(Favorite Author)

3.84 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Atena Kustannus Oy

review 1: Man, this woman can write. I had never heard of Nadifa Mohamed until I wandered into the library one afternoon and casually picked up this book. The setting of this book is one that I have to admit that I knew very little about, Somalia in the late 1980s. The country was pretty much under a Communist dictatorship until they were attacked by rebel forces with innocent civilians caught in the middle. All of these events foreshadow the widespread famine and the "Black Hawk Down" disaster that most Americans are familiar with, and I enjoyed the fact that even though the book was fiction, it was somewhat of a history lesson as well without being boring or coming off too preachy. The book is told through Deqo, a young orphan, Kawsar, a well off woman who is treated brutally by t... morehe police, and Filsan, a female officer within the ranks of the Somalian armed forces. The book started off a bit slow and difficult to follow at first, but once the voices of three main characters became more distinct I could not put this book down. This book has a quick pace and the stories are fascinating, and Mohamed does an excellent job with making you actually feel like you're right there in the middle of the village of Hargeisa with her. Of course I don't want to give the book away, but it was certainly a worthy read for me.
review 2: It is so difficult to review this novel as whilst the story depicts the heartbreaking stories of war through the eyes of 3 very different characters the reality is that I found the book quite a tedious read. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly why as the Somalian war of the 1980s is graphically told through the stories of a 10 year old orphaned refugee, a female soldier and an old woman. With the lives of these 3 women becoming entwined through a brief encounter at the beginning of the book, subsequent chapters are split into each characters story until the finall few pages. All in all an okay book but definetly not a riveting read. less

Download links for: Kadotettujen hedelmätarha

Advertising