BookBrowse Review
BookBrowse
A fascinating journey into Ugandan culture. The author uses her gifts for crafting narrative and language to examine the particulars of a patriarchal and storytelling culture and how Christianity impacts and challenges families and social structures (Claire M). It was quite an experience traveling to Uganda through this book, learning about this rich culture: family, village life, beliefs and the unrest and civil war in the 1980s. I loved the storytelling within the storytelling. It was like sitting around a fire and listening to your grandmother tell tales of long ago about why life is the way it is now. A very captivating story of a young girl coming of age: falling in love, attending school, experiencing pain. But through it all, she endures (Sonia F)...continued
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse First Impression Reviewers).
Media Reviews
New York Times
Makumbi's prose is irresistible and poignant, with remarkable wit, heart, and charm—poetic and nuanced, brilliant and sly, openhearted and cunning, balancing discordant truths in wise ruminations. A Girl is a Body of Water rewards the reader with one of the most outstanding heroines and the incredible honor of journey by her side.
Refinery29
At turns rapturous and devastating...Makumbi's writing uplifts and inspires, evoking the grand tradition of folklore and stories passed down, one woman to the next.
Sunday Times
A novel bursting with resilience and warmth...Mixing the mythic and the modern, happily ignoring formal neatness to encompass Uganda's miscellaneousness, it's an enthralling achievement.
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
In its depiction of both singular characters and a village community, this book is a jewel.
Library Journal
Makumbi is a mesmerizing storyteller, slowly pulling readers in with a captivating cast of multifaceted characters and a soupc¸on of magical realism guaranteed to appeal to fans of Isabel Allende, Julia Alvarez, or Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing.
Publishers Weekly
This beautifully rendered saga is a riveting deconstruction of social perceptions of women's abilities and roles.
Maaza Mengiste, The Shadow King
A Girl is a Body of Water is captivating, wise, humorous and tender: Makumbi has come back stronger than ever. This is a tale about Kirabo and her family, and her place in the world as she searches for her mother and a true sense of belonging. But most of all, this is a book about the stories that define us, and those we tell to redefine ourselves. A riveting read.
Namwali Serpell, The Old Drift
A Girl is a Body of Water is a wonder, as clear, vivid, moving, powerful, and captivatingly unpredictable as water itself–from the 'irate noises' of Nnankya's stream to the 'theatrical' rains of Nattetta with which Makumbi's women wash, delight, and sate themselves. With wry wisdom, great humor, and deep complexity, Makumbi has created a feminist coming-of-age classic for the ages, sure to join the company of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions, and Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet. Being surrounded by Makumbi's women—young and old—as they each struggle in different ways to clarify and achieve mwenkanonkano, feels like love, feels like learning–and best of all it often feels, as she puts it, 'like mischief'!
Sylvia Tamale
In her characteristically page-turning and engaging style, Makumbi lays bare the complex power dynamics of patriarchy, capitalism and neocolonialism, not through academic jargon but via that most effective tool of education--storytelling. An achingly beautiful tale.
Reader Reviews
Michael Jessica
A Girl is a Body of Water
This book is very intriguing and fascinating. It is about the story of a brave girl who wants to know her mother. It is indeed a tale for all girls.
Shaun D. (Woodridge, IL)
A Challenging but So Worthwhile Read
Maybe it's my choice of books lately but I haven't been anywhere near this challenged by a book, start to finish, in a very long time. My advice is to stick with it because it's hands-down one of The Best books I have ever read. This book challenged ... Read More
Claire M. (Sarasota, FL)
A Girl Is a Body of Water
A fascinating journey into an African culture, specifically Uganda, in which the author uses her gifts of storytelling and language to examine the particulars of a patriarchal and storytelling culture. The ways of speaking which move from Bantu and ... Read More
Chris H. (Wauwatosa, WI)
A Girl is a Body of Water
This is a wonderful book about a girl growing up in Uganda. It tells her story as she is raised in a small village by grandparents and others who teach her traditional ways. Her story continues as she begins to becomes school educated and is exposed ... Read More
...Read 15 More Reader Reviews
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