Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Book Review: A Girl Named Disaster

Title: A Girl Named Disaster
Author: Nancy Farmer
Published By: Phoenix House, 1997

The story follows the journey of Nhamo (her name means "Disaster") as she runs from her village in Mozambique and forced marriage (or slavery) to the brother of the man killed by her father before she was born.

On the urging of her grandmother Nhamo flees from the village the night before she is to be delivered to her future husband and travels to Zimbabwe. We follow her through the hardships she faces on this long journey as she struggles to come to terms with leaving everything she knows, and learning to survive on her own.

I found it interesting and was usually disappointed when it was time for me to close the book and get off the train. It's not the genre I usually read, however I enjoyed it very much. There were interesting little facts scattered throughout the book, and the last 12 or so pages are dedicated to a glossary of terms, a brief summary of the history and peoples of Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and the belief system of the Shona (Nhamo's people).

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