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There are currently 17 member reviews
for A Girl is A Body of Water
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Naomi B. (Tucson, AZ)
A Girl Is a Body of Water: A stunning coming of age story
With A Girl is a Body of Water, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi gives us an epic coming of age tale not only of Kirabo, a young girl growing up in the rural village of Nattette, but of the nation of Uganda. The story begins in 1975, when Kirabo is twelve. She lives with her grandparents and a house full of teenagers of unspecified relation to Kirabo. Kirabo has a gift for storytelling, and the book begins with her story of a woman who buries her newborn daughter in an anthill because her husband wants only sons. This sets the stage for a novel steeped in mwenkanonkano, the Ugandan feminist movement.
Kirabo is a "special child." She is born with "the original state" inside her, a consciousness going back to Ugandan origin myths. It allows her to leave her body and fly, swinging from the church steeple until, "like a canon, she launched into the sky." Kirabo is conflicted because her Christian upbringing tells her these powers are evil. In secret, she consults Nsuuta, the village witch. She has two requests: to lose her original state and to find her birth mother, who deserted her when she was a newborn. These conflicts propel Kirabo forward as she leaves the village for boarding school in Kampala, falls in love, and survives Idi Amin's reign of terror.
"Stories are critical," Nsuuta tells Kirabo. "The minute we fall silent, someone will fill the silence for us." Makumbi has told a critical story. With beautifully wrought prose, characters you cannot help but fall in love with, and the bravery to confront the complex issues of society, she gives us a vision of a brighter stronger, and more equal world.
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Susan B. (Fort Myers, FL)
Endearing portrait of growing up in Uganda
A Girl is a Body of Water, you drop her in and she finds her depth. I enjoyed this book and recommend it to all my bookclub friends.
Kirabo, a twelve year old Ugandan girl, grows into a young adult. She has to struggle with traditional roles and modern roles, between history and a modern future. The importance of family and culture are always pulling her in different directions.
She is forced by circumstances to deal with family expectations, a missing mother, the dealth of loved ones, war, and friendships; those lost and those found. The entire cast of family and friends are delightful, a wonderful testament to folklore and a way of living that has much common sense in it.
Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi works a spell that puts you in the story. The depth of the characters is woven in the narrative. Her writing is excellent, I look forward to her next book.
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Margaret F. (Beaumont, CA)
A Girl is a Body of Water
Jennifer Makunbi has written a sensitively descriptive story of Kiroba, a young Uganda girl's development into a goal-oriented woman. Readers may identify with the theme of coming of age for all young women regardless of culture. The main family characters are strong and thoughtful. The story shifts between past and present to support a tender story highly recommended for book club discussion. The cast of characters listed was very helpful.
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Fran...Shirley, New York
Journey of Self Discovery
The ancients claimed women could not share land wealth. "They claimed that the very first woman rose out of the sea while the first man emerged from earth...both women and the sea were baffling...water has no shape...is inconsistent...cannot be tamed...you cannot draw borders on the ocean...land belonged with men".
Nattetta, Uganda, a rural patriarchal village in the 1970's. Grandfather (Miiro) was a member of the school board, his mantra, "A girl uneducated is an oppressed wife in the making". Grandmother (Alikisa), in a careful, loving way, encouraged all girls whose lives she touched, to finish their studies.
At six months of age, Kirabo Nnamiiro was given to Miiro and Alikisa to raise. Their son Tom was Kirabo's father. Motherless Kirabo, now 12, wanted to find the mother who abandoned her. She secretly consulted with the town witch, Nsuuta. Deep, dark secrets! Why were Grandmother and Nsuuta, once close friends, now arch enemies? Why did Grandmother birth Tom only to give him to Nsuuta to raise? "Traditionally, wives share children. You could not leave your co-wife to live a childless life while you hoard all your progeny to yourself". It was well advised for Tom to take Kirabo to the city with him.
Upon arriving in Kampala, Tom told his wife, "That is Kirabo. This is her home". Turbulent, confusing times for Kirabo...soon off to an elite private school. If Kirabo were home, the entire village would have given her a send-off. "Let your ancestors' blessings walk with you...". Kirabo just put her suitcase in the boot of Tom's car.
Ultimately, "A Girl Is a Body of Water" by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi is a literary novel describing the roadblocks encountered by women in a patriarchal society. Men are the landowners. A wife can leave a marriage, the children must stay with their extended paternal family. Marriage itself? Young girls, if beautiful, marry early. Education keeps a girl off the marriage market thus offering her fewer choices finding a suitable husband. Issues could arise over a "ringed" wife and a husband's true love. Children, therefore, can have a "senior mother" and a "younger mother". Kirabo's thoughts, "Grandfather's biggest wealth was his children, and their education of course, he had land and land...". One of this reader's favorite scenes was a joyfully liberating torrential rainstorm! Highly recommended!
Thank you Tin House Books, BookBrowse and author Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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Sandy F. (Davis, CA)
The essence of being an African Woman
I was into this book about 75 pages when the author's story caught me and I couldn't stop reading. I cared about each character - and there are many - and the feel of being an African woman permeates this book. I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. This is not an easy read - and it is worth it. A rich and compelling story.
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Susan C. (Little Silver, NJ)
"A Girl is a Body of Water" Atmospheric and wordy
I would prefer to give this 3.5 stars because parts of "A Girl..." could use some heavy editing. I found the first part (200 pages) to be very slow. I actually put the book down for a few weeks. I picked it up again about a week ago and flew through the last part. I will attempt to recreate my favorite elements list:
Favorites;
1. The characters of Kirabo, Sio (yes he redeems himself in the end), Atim (Kirabo's friend from St. Theresa's), Nsuuta, Alikisa (Grandmother), all of the Aunts and Grandfather Miiro.
2. The final scene of Alikisa and Nsuuta - naked bathing in the rain - so beautiful and poignant and ties everything together.
3. The parts where Kirabo was at St. Theresa's - wished that she continued with University - perhaps another book
Less than favorites:
1. The stepmother Nnambi and her sister - felt contrived and overwrought - also did not understand certain decisions the sister made (won't get into that - plot spoiler).
2. Giibwa and Sio - was that even necessary - I understand why the friendship between Giibwa and Kirabo disintegrated but not sure why the other element was introduced - the friendship would have ended without that. Again, I don't want to spoil plots.
3. Kirabo's father's story Arc went on for a bit longer than necessary - sharper editing would have helped.
The overwhelming opinion of this book is that the last 350 pages where beautifully written and took me away to Uganda in the mid 1980s and beyond. That is no mean feat during these trying times so I applaud the author for accomplishing that feat. I look forward to her next book and perhaps she will continue the story of Kirabo.
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Patricia T. (Fallbrook, CA)
A Girl is a Body of Water
The family dynamics laid out in this book would be a challenge to the world's wisest and most experienced Agony Aunts. Set in Uganda in the time of Idi Amin, although this book is not about him, it is a coming of age story with a difference. Kirabo, our heroine, grows up being raised by her extended family in her ancestral village. She is loved and nurtured, but is always searching for the identity of her birth mother, which proves elusive. We follow her in this quest from village to the big city, to exclusive boarding school, university and back again. The roles and relationships of all the characters here are very complicated, the culture different, sometimes it requires a deal of concentration. But it is a wonderful read, and I would recommend it particularly for young readers, precisely because of the controlling cultural differences it would reveal to them.
The list of names was helpful, a list of the non-English words would be even more helpful. Mostly the context made meaning obvious, but not always. My only criticism would be that it dragged a little toward the end, but there was so much detail to get through, it would have been difficult to shorten without missing something important.
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