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What if the African natives developed steam power ahead of their colonial oppressors? What might have come of Belgium's disastrous colonisation of the Congo if the native populations had learned about steam technology a bit earlier? Fabian Socialists from Great Britain join forces with African-American missionaries to purchase land from the Belgian Congo's "owner," King Leopold II. This land, named Everfair, is set aside as a safe haven, an imaginary Utopia for native populations of the Congo as well as escaped slaves returning from America and other places where African natives were being mistreated. Shawl's speculative masterpiece manages to turn one of the worst human rights disasters on record into a marvellous and exciting exploration of the possibilities inherent in a turn of history. Everfair is told from a multiplicity of voices: Africans, Europeans, East Asians, and African Americans in complex relationships with one another, in a compelling range of voices that have historically been silenced. Everfair is not only a beautiful book but an educational and inspiring one that will give the reader new insight into an often ignored period of history.… (more)
I was really into this book in the beginning, the set-up and characters were so interesting, and nothing like I had ever read before. I got stuck in the middle and gave up because I had a hard time following different characters' over the years, and since the story is told in short vignettes, i stopped caring about any of the characters. I am still giving it three stars since the concept and writing were good. ( )
*glee* The steampunk alternate history of Belgium’s invasion of the Congo if the natives had known a lot more about steam technology. Air canoes! Mechanical bicycles!
In a search for steampunk outside of white people in London, I found Everfair. I put it down after a chapter thinking it was going to be a brutal tale of European colonists but it nagged at me to try again. I did and was happy to find that it was not at all what I had first thought. There were certainly European colonists but they weren't the awful people I anticipated, nor were they saviors. The struggles faced by both Africans and Europeans and their interactions made for a compelling read. ( )
everfair starts with an interesting counterfactual for a premise, but its profoundly liberal worldview and lack of understanding of the structural issues underpinning the subjugation of the congo make for a frustrating and deeply underwhelming read that doesn’t bother to interrogate any of the usual shortcomings of the genre it finds itself in. it treats the violence of the congo free state as a quirk of a fucked up and evil individual tyrant, not the unleashed form of the system of domination in place throughout africa. in a particularly shortsighted move that feels reminiscent of colonialist industrial fantasy at its worst, everfair renders labor completely invisible - the rubber, palm oil, and rare earth metals that form the backbone of the country’s economy appear as if by magic, their production explained away with a hand wave and a promise that the horrors of leopold’s rule are firmly in the past. i so rarely leave a novel wishing the author read more theory, but i think this book has hamilton disease and would really have benefitted from shawl reading marx, spivak, fanon, said - or even giving their own book (writing the other) another glance.
on the upside this is getting me to finally read king leopolds ghost so thanks for that. ( )
What if the African natives developed steam power ahead of their colonial oppressors? What might have come of Belgium's disastrous colonisation of the Congo if the native populations had learned about steam technology a bit earlier? Fabian Socialists from Great Britain join forces with African-American missionaries to purchase land from the Belgian Congo's "owner," King Leopold II. This land, named Everfair, is set aside as a safe haven, an imaginary Utopia for native populations of the Congo as well as escaped slaves returning from America and other places where African natives were being mistreated. Shawl's speculative masterpiece manages to turn one of the worst human rights disasters on record into a marvellous and exciting exploration of the possibilities inherent in a turn of history. Everfair is told from a multiplicity of voices: Africans, Europeans, East Asians, and African Americans in complex relationships with one another, in a compelling range of voices that have historically been silenced. Everfair is not only a beautiful book but an educational and inspiring one that will give the reader new insight into an often ignored period of history.
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Everfair is a wonderful Neo-Victorian alternate history novel that explores the question of what might have come of Belgium's disastrous colonization of the Congo if the native populations had learned about steam technology a bit earlier. Fabian Socialists from Great Britian join forces with African-American missionaries to purchase land from the Belgian Congo's "owner," King Leopold II. This land, named Everfair, is set aside as a safe haven, an imaginary Utopia for native populations of the Congo as well as escaped slaves returning from America and other places where African natives were being mistreated.
Nisi Shawl's speculative masterpiece manages to turn one of the worst human rights disasters on record into a marvelous and exciting exploration of the possibilities inherent in a turn of history. Everfair is told from a multiplicity of voices: Africans, Europeans, East Asians, and African Americans in complex relationships with one another, in a compelling range of voices that have historically been silenced. Everfair is not only a beautiful book but an educational and inspiring one that will give the reader new insight into an often ignored period of history.
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