Review - Scatterlings by Rešoketšwe Manenzhe
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Scatterlings was a slow, but interesting read for me. This book is historical fiction set in South Africa in 1927, when the Immorality Act was passed. The story revolves around Abram and Alisa and their daughters, Dido and Emilia. Abram is of Dutch descent and Alisa is Black, the daughter of former slaves in the Caribbean who was raised by a white couple in England.
Obviously, the Immorality Act complicates Abram and Alisa’s lives. As Abram considers leaving the country with his family, Alisa commits a terrible act, doing something that she thinks will be best for her children.
This story is built around several different points of view. A large portion of the book is excerpts of Alisa’s journal, and that is how the reader learns her backstory. We see her struggles with mental illness and with feelings of displacement. And we see how her actions affect the lives of her husband and daughters.
The characters in this story are complex and deeply wrought.
I appreciate how the author gives the reader intricate people to drive the story forward.
The setting is also very well done. This book provides a very detailed sense of place, and the reader falls in love with South Africa along with the characters.
Ultimately I felt this novel was about finding belonging and coming home. Each character in the book deals with displacement in their own ways, and I love how the author weaved different cultural beliefs together to show how these characters find their own homes (physical and metaphorical).
Scatterlings came out on December 13. Check it out and let me know what you think of it!
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