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ClareR (5784 KP) rated Small Worlds in Books

Sep 20, 2023

Small Worlds

Caleb Azumah Nelson | 2023 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry

9.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson is an intensely emotional coming of age story, of a Ghanaian Londoner called Stephen.

As a young black man, Stephen feels safety in his small worlds: music, family and friends. And then there is outside those worlds where Stephen feels less safe: places in London where there is brutality or unrest, and University, which is where he really doesn’t want to be, as it’s so far from his friends and family - and his world.

Stephen needs these constants in his life, and when it’s taken away, he’s lost.

Stephen goes to Ghana to see the people and places of his parents youth, and it’s here that he finds some connection with those he loves. When he goes home, he’s able to come to terms with those people he has lost and rebuild relationships.

This was a really moving novel that made me really think about the challenges of culture, family, race and policing in London (in particular).
Recommended.

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ClareR (5784 KP) rated Highway Blue in Books

Apr 9, 2024

Highway Blue

Ailsa McFarlane | 2024 | Contemporary, Crime, Fiction & Poetry

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Highway Blue was rich in description, especially for such a relatively short book (192 pages). I could see the story unrolling in my head as I read.

It’s almost a modern day Bonnie and Clyde - except there aren’t multiple deaths or bank robberies! Anne Marie is trying to forget about her estranged husband, Cal, and when he turns up out of nowhere, it comes as a shock. He brings trouble with him, a man ends up dead, and they find themselves on the run. It seemed to me that Anne Marie is in a state of shock throughout this whole novel.

Will they make it to safety before they’re caught? I was hoping that Anne Marie would leave Cal and make her own way. At the beginning he clearly wants money from her to solve whatever problem he has made for himself and is very disappointed when he realises she has nothing.

Despite its darkness, and it was relentless at times, I really enjoyed this.