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By: HAVE 016
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2025-06-19 14:47:18 |
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It was unanimous! Everyone adored this book - for the writing, the characters, and the history lesson re Uganda. So many discussable themes - racism, colonialism, culture. Highly recommend. |
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By: GISB 017
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2025-04-09 21:23:17 |
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Overall we enjoyed the book but we loved the discussion that it generated. We explored racism, cultural divide and identity. It was a really lively discussion. It did take us a while to get into the book but once we did, we enjoyed learning about another part of the world and its history. The ending divided us - but we recommend getting there. |
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By: PICT 005
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2025-03-22 15:43:54 |
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We were impressed by the writing, appreciated learning more about Uganda, and had a lively discussion linked to the themes of racism,friendship, inequality and colonialism. One member of the group had experienced living in Uganda. |
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By: WHITBY 002
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2024-11-09 10:04:03 |
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Once we got used to the structure and the characters, we all liked this book. We felt the letters were honest and heartfelt and filled in a lot of background information which enabled us to understand the following generations' situation. We learnt a lot about Uganda and the political situation at that time, which occurred within our lifetime. Uncertain about the ending. |
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By: OPOTI 003
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2024-07-10 09:54:15 |
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Although we all found it really interesting, despite taking quite a long time to get into it, we all struggled with the characters who seemed to lack authenticity - none of us got emotionally involved with any of them. A good readable history of Uganda, and made for a really fascinating discussion. Great book club book! |
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By: GOVER 005
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2024-05-24 20:00:17 |
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Mostly disappointed. We felt the writing was contrived and the plot a little obvious. We liked learning about Uganda and the forced expulsion of Asian Ugandans. We mostly lost sympathy with the main character as the novel progressed. Some of us couldn’t be bothered to finish it. |
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By: PALMN 040
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2024-05-20 11:51:54 |
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Thought provoking and educational to most of the group. It garnered strong discussion. |
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By: CHCH 552
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2024-01-19 13:51:00 |
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Everyone enjoyed learning about Uganda and the racial tensions of how South Asians were treated in Uganda. We liked the style of writing with the letters as chapters. There were mixed feelings from our group in regards to the book's ending - some were very unhappy with how the author chose to end the story! |
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By: AUCK 461
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2023-12-09 14:12:14 |
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Our group shared mixed reactions to this book. Some members thought it tried to deal with too many themes and some characters were not well developed. The descriptions of Uganda were very interesting and overall, the book was well worth reading. |
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By: CROMW 004
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2023-10-30 11:32:50 |
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While we enjoyed the storyline and content, most of us struggled to keep track of the characters with the switch over to letters from the Grandfather - a clever concept, but it didn't quite work. We all found the ending abrupt, disturbing and unsatisfactory. |
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By: AUCK 465
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2023-09-14 13:29:11 |
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Some members found this a difficult book to get into. A genogram of book characters may have helped here. We enjoyed a lively discussion generated by the questions. A thoughtful read, but an enjoyable one. |
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By: TAUR 010
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2023-09-13 14:50:16 |
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Really enjoyed by all. |
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By: WHITBY 005
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2023-08-29 20:02:47 |
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Important themes are raised throughout the book. Mixed response from members. |
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By: PICT 001
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2023-08-16 12:25:49 |
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We all enjoyed the book very much and it engendered much discussion about racism, immigration , and what is 'home'. Highly rated. |
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By: AUCK 360
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2023-07-31 11:29:42 |
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Those who finished it found it historically informative with themes of colonialism, racism, exploitation and capitalism. However the characters were not well developed and felt like cardboard cut outs. Led to great discussion as one of our group is an East African Asian from Kenya. |
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By: DUNED 061
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2023-03-23 14:37:50 |
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We all loved it - great discussion. |
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By: CHCH 518
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2023-02-09 12:02:42 |
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Most of our group enjoyed this book and would seek out the author in the future. A few readers struggled with the ending, but overall that did not detract from an entertaining and powerful story about identity. |
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By: AUCK 272
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2022-09-23 10:19:24 |
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We enjoyed this book, despite the many adverbs. We learnt about this period of history. |
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