Review
Must. Eat. Cake. Now.
Yes, this book is no masterpiece. Doesn't mean it can't be enjoyable to read! It's a nice feel-good 'story', which mostly consists of a chronological line of anecdotes. Lots of happy endings, lots of cake and tea. One of those books to really snuggle up with under a blankie. While eating cake.
With the story being set in post-genocide Rwanda, it can't all be fluffy of course. Every happy ending is preceded by a horrible story involving sickness, murder and/or mutilation. It never gets to the point where things just get really uncomfortable though, because Parkin keeps it light enough. I'm sure there are people criticizing this book because of its lightness regarding heavy subjects, but I'm obviously not one of those. I still learned about the people of Rwanda and the genocide of 1994, just in a more unconventional way, making this a book you can read before going to bed as well without necessarily having nightmares about the topics afterwards.
To get more informed on the Rwandan genocide, I'm going to read books such as [b:A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali|141473|A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali|Gil Courtemanche|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320547535s/141473.jpg|1692164] by [a:Gil Courtemanche|81556|Gil Courtemanche|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1313502428p2/81556.jpg] and [b:We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families|11472|We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families|Philip Gourevitch|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1426151491s/11472.jpg|888905] by [a:Philip Gourevitch|7372|Philip Gourevitch|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1291874913p2/7372.jpg]. I won't be reading those before going to bed though. Or while eating cake.
Yes, this book is no masterpiece. Doesn't mean it can't be enjoyable to read! It's a nice feel-good 'story', which mostly consists of a chronological line of anecdotes. Lots of happy endings, lots of cake and tea. One of those books to really snuggle up with under a blankie. While eating cake.
With the story being set in post-genocide Rwanda, it can't all be fluffy of course. Every happy ending is preceded by a horrible story involving sickness, murder and/or mutilation. It never gets to the point where things just get really uncomfortable though, because Parkin keeps it light enough. I'm sure there are people criticizing this book because of its lightness regarding heavy subjects, but I'm obviously not one of those. I still learned about the people of Rwanda and the genocide of 1994, just in a more unconventional way, making this a book you can read before going to bed as well without necessarily having nightmares about the topics afterwards.
To get more informed on the Rwandan genocide, I'm going to read books such as [b:A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali|141473|A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali|Gil Courtemanche|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320547535s/141473.jpg|1692164] by [a:Gil Courtemanche|81556|Gil Courtemanche|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1313502428p2/81556.jpg] and [b:We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families|11472|We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families|Philip Gourevitch|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1426151491s/11472.jpg|888905] by [a:Philip Gourevitch|7372|Philip Gourevitch|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1291874913p2/7372.jpg]. I won't be reading those before going to bed though. Or while eating cake.
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