Adele King

While this collection of short stories by contemporary authors is wide ranging in terms of style and also wide ranging in terms of content, I was generally likewarm in my response. The authors hail from multiple Subsaharan nations in Africa, and the style ranges from lyrical to allegorical to directly socio-political. Certainly key issues are raised such as the immigration experience, the experience of exile, of sexism, of brutality, of cultural clashes within and between nations. I would show more say that my favorite story was entitled, "A Woman and a Half", for its plot and it's moral of strength, trust, and wisdom. It was not an exhilirating read, but not bad at all. show less

A collection of short stories from French-speaking Africans or ex-pat Africans in Europe. I found it interesting to read but the stories didn't grab me. The introduction was quite worthwhile, but many of the stories had more gratuitous misogyny than I'm interested in reading.