This book surprised me. Though the first few chapters hooked me, I wasn't overly keen on Augusta as a character at first. I thought her too precocious for me to actually like her and root for her and want to keep reading about her. Luckily, my first impression didn't stick, and Augusta grew on me as a character as I read more.
The Other Half of Augusta Hope tells the story of both Augusta and Parfait, growing up on opposite sides of the world, and their quest to find a place to call home. Augusta grows up with a stifling family, never feeling like she fitted in, while Parfait grows up in a violent, war-torn country. I loved the different perspectives, and seeing them both grow as characters. I liked Augusta being different, and clever, and wanting a different kind of life from what society (and her family) expected of her.
One thing that did annoy me, however, and ended up making me rate this four stars rather than five, was the almost forced suspense, and the sense that the author was telling us rather than showing us. Things like 'Before my life exploded in my face' or 'That day'. The author tells us we need to expect something big to happen, and keeps telling us that something big will happen. And the event ends up being quite significant, but we don't know the full truth until the end of the book. It just seemed forced, when the story would have worked well without those phrases, in my opinion.
I also found quite a bit of mirroring in the early chapters - the end of a chapter talking about power sharing, and then the next chapter from the other character's point of view also talking about power sharing, for example. Or one chapter ending with 'stuffing falling out' and the next starting with it. I get that it was used to tie the two characters with shared experiences, but it felt unnecessary, like we were being told rather than shown, like it was being shoved in our faces.
Other than that, I found the writing to be quite enjoyable - I read through the second half of the book very quickly, and found less annoyances as the book progressed, like the author had found her voice and her flow. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I am looking forward to reading more by this author in the future.
The Other Half of Augusta Hope tells the story of both Augusta and Parfait, growing up on opposite sides of the world, and their quest to find a place to call home. Augusta grows up with a stifling family, never feeling like she fitted in, while Parfait grows up in a violent, war-torn country. I loved the different perspectives, and seeing them both grow as characters. I liked Augusta being different, and clever, and wanting a different kind of life from what society (and her family) expected of her.
One thing that did annoy me, however, and ended up making me rate this four stars rather than five, was the almost forced suspense, and the sense that the author was telling us rather than showing us. Things like 'Before my life exploded in my face' or 'That day'. The author tells us we need to expect something big to happen, and keeps telling us that something big will happen. And the event ends up being quite significant, but we don't know the full truth until the end of the book. It just seemed forced, when the story would have worked well without those phrases, in my opinion.
I also found quite a bit of mirroring in the early chapters - the end of a chapter talking about power sharing, and then the next chapter from the other character's point of view also talking about power sharing, for example. Or one chapter ending with 'stuffing falling out' and the next starting with it. I get that it was used to tie the two characters with shared experiences, but it felt unnecessary, like we were being told rather than shown, like it was being shoved in our faces.
Other than that, I found the writing to be quite enjoyable - I read through the second half of the book very quickly, and found less annoyances as the book progressed, like the author had found her voice and her flow. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I am looking forward to reading more by this author in the future.