Sravika's Books - Reviews and Other Trivia

Afterlives (2020) By Abdulrazak Gurnah (Nobel Prize Winner for Fiction) Genre : Historical Fiction, Drama, Colonization, Germany,  Africa. Rating : 5/5  This is my first book from this author and also covering the demography of Africa under German Colonization followed by British rule. Had some difficulty navigating through the terms initially but a little research eased the matters greatly.  Overall, Loved reading this book. :) Got to learn a lot of stuff about the schutztruppe of the Germans, askari of Africa and their practices, ruthlessness and unexposed/unfamiliar kindness of some of those Germans in control/power. This book has showed the positive side to the colonial occupation of German and British to Africa. Yes,the wars have resulted in lot of blood shed but here and there, there were kids,young boys who could vouch for the kindness of some german officers and lay their lives on line to pay back for it. :)  We see a couple of generations of Afri...

The Promise  By Damon Galgut  Rating : 5/5  Genres : Hilarity, Fiction, Africa  A White family and a black servant. The matron before death promises land to the servant which takes over three decades to attain fulfillment. Times have changed, people have changed but one thing remains the same. The promise made.  I dont know what i like the most in this book..the humor? - yes, it is damm witty and spilling with sarcasm at every turn. Or the seriousness and death, loss that is sprinkled under the light weight detached humor? - there is a natural death,a  murder, an accident and a suicide..he has covered all means of death possible and heaped them onto the heads of members of one family. One ungrateful family .. that clung to its property instead of honoring a promise its dame made to her servant on her death bed. Until the very end..when the only survivor of the family, an unusual woman/girl sacrifices all her ownings to appease a long serving and...