Sep 6, 2019

Review: The Dragonfly Sea by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor

The Dragonfly Sea
The Dragonfly Sea

The Dragonfly Sea by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, March 12, 2019, Knopf Publishing Group


Book beginning:
To cross the vast ocean to their south, water-chasing dragonflies with forbears in Northern India had hitched a ride on a sedate "inbetween seasons" morning wind, one of the season's introits, the matlai. One day in 1992, four generations later, under dark-purplish-blue clouds, these fleeting beings settled on the mangrove-fringed southwest cove of a little girl's island.... 
And so we are introduced to that little girl, Ayaana, whose life on the Kenyan island of Pate is described in the first sections of the novel. It's a life full of her love for the sea, her rescued little white kitten, and the man she adopts as her father who teaches her at home because of bullying and bias in her island school,

The next sections of the book sees an older Ayaana in China, which has claimed her as a Descendant, one with Chinese ancestry, and sent her to study in a college, a way to help cement her and Kenya's ties to China.

Aayana struggles with all the changes in her life, the new faces, languages, places, while searching to find out who she really is, who she truly loves, and where she truly belongs.

Written in a poetic style, with multiple plays on language and imagery and symbols, The Dragonfly Sea is a literary novel about a girl's universal search for meaning and belonging in a complex and diverse world. I gave it an enthusiastic five stars.

Location: 56 %

Ayaana walked as one condemned. She ached for a return to life aboard the ship.
Ni shi shei? the sea still called out to her. Who are you? She ignored it. 

Memes: The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader

7 comments:

  1. That's a very long first sentence, I almost couldn't keep up with it!

    Sounds intriguing, though.

    Here's my Friday Post. Happy Friday!

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  2. I love reading books written in poetic style, that is if the poetry is well-written. Once the brain makes the switch, it makes reading so much fun. My Friday Quotes

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  3. Oooh! I love that cover so much! The beginning is so beautifully written. I hope that you continue to enjoy it. Thanks for sharing it. :)

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  4. This does sound good! I love the excerpt you shared. I am glad you enjoyed it so much. That is high praise! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Happy reading!

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  5. Sounds like it is beautifully written! Happy weekend!

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  6. The Dragonfly Sea looks interesting. The cover is also really pretty. I love the colors.

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  7. Harvee,
    Thanks for this wonderful introduction to The Dragonfly Sea!

    ReplyDelete

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