Ok reading friends. This is a non-fiction account of a West African Community at sea. In the end, I am not a fan of this book or this type of immersive journalism.
Badkhen is a journalist, war correspondent and author of some acclaim. Her writing is beautiful, and she really knows how to set a scene. Readers follow the ins and outs of a fishing community in Senegal, getting a very "slice of life" experience in the reading of this account. All of this is beautiful, and lovely. I could feel the sea, the rock and roll of the boats and waves, the joy and the anguish of the happenings in the village.
What I could not figure out was WHY exactly Badkhen chose this as a project. Badkhen is noted as personalizing the effects of globalization and climate change in this work, and I suppose that is true, there's a lot of observation of declining catch, and discussion of reasons why. In the end, I did feel like I got an interesting read about this W. African village, but very firmly from the perspective of a very perceptive middle aged white lady. Her observations are spot on, but at the same time, I didn't feel immersed in the village, I felt immersed in her perceptions of the village. In some ways this made it a very palatable book, as my perspective is very similar to hers, so her views and descriptions were easily understood by me, but I did feel like I never fully understood the minds of the fishermen, the first, second and third wives, or the children who careen about the village. I also got the odd sensation that her presence was mostly providing her with material, and what was she providing in return? I don't think of Badkhen as some sort of "taker" on purpose, but I also feel slightly uncomfortable with this perspective. I think though, in 2018 things felt different.
It is a unique book, with very good writing, and interesting vignettes, but I'm still not sure how I feel about this book overall.
STATS
First Published 2018
Pages: 304
Available as an Audio Book : YES
Trigger Warnings: infant death, death, medical situations, poverty
(this is not a full list, read responsibly)
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