Plot, characters, nor setting are catching me at all. I give up!

I read through this one in a day (more like half a day, really). However the ease of reading it wasn't because it was simple, but because the narrative was both compelling and quiet and you moved through it with ease. There was a sense of urgency that kept you going, but also held you steady.

Anna Bain grew up in London with a white single mom - and herself of mixed race. The only thing she knew of her father was his name. Upon her mother's death she discovers her father's diary hidden in her mother's things and realizes he is more than just a man who is her biological relative - he is a wealthy, revered and controversial West African leader. This is the story of how she seeks him out and tries to make peace with who she is and who he ultimately chose to be and also how the narratives we tell ourselves are not always honest. ( )

TW/CW: Family death, some violence, racism, racist language, talk of eating disorders, divorce, adultery

REVIEW: I enjoyed this book. It is not a long book, and the lovely writing is quite engaging and moves quickly.

Sankofa is the story of a middle-age woman who discovers her unknown father’s journals after the death of her mother. After reading them and obsessing over the man her father was, she travels to Africa to meet him for the first time, and during her visit comes to understand herself better as well.

Things I liked about this book –

The writing. It drew you in and you came to care about the characters.
The story. It was interesting and unique.
The ending. I’ll not leave any spoilers here, but I liked how it kind of ended in the middle…the same as Anna’s identity.

Things I didn’t like about this book –

The beginning. I was really thrown off by the way the book just…started without any real introduction, just jumping into everything in the first couple pages. It was a bit off-putting at first.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it. ( )

A delightful slow burn that dances from the implausible to the unbelievable to the magical and back again. It is a story of a woman learning to allow herself to imagine, and how often she walks into walls she should be able to see. If I allow myself one complaint, it is that Anna is at times blindingly oblivious to her own faults in service of the plot. But that is, perhaps, the core of her development. ( )

Anna Bain Graham, a forty-something mixed-race British woman, grew up in England with her mother and never knew her father. Anna is in the midst of her own personal crisis. She and her husband are estranged due to his infidelity, and she is contemplating divorce. Upon her mother’s death, she discovers her father’s diary and goes in search of him. Her search takes her to West Africa, where she learns more about her father and herself.

This novel explores race, belonging, identity, and different forms of power. It is told in first person by protagonist Anna. The first half is dedicated to the discovery of the diary and figuring out how to find her father. The pace picks up in the second half when she arrives in Bamana.

Onuzo does a marvelous job of creating the fictional African country, complete with culture and political backstory. She examines how revolutionary ideals can devolve into corruption. She explores the way identity can become fractured. In Anna’s case, she has denied her personal power, allowing herself to be directed by circumstances and the will of others. Her trip to Africa helps her come to terms with the past. There is a segment that veers into the surreal, which did not quite fit with the rest of the story, but overall, I enjoyed it very much.
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