September 14, 2016

Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun by Sarah Ladipo Manyika | Book Review

Morayo is an elderly woman living in San Francisco, California. She lives alone with her multitude of books in a prized apartment with a choice view of the city. She has never had children and she has no family member geographically close enough to be there for her when she needs it. She used to be a Professor of English and she also used to be married to an ambassador. Using flashbacks and the narration of other characters in Morayo's life, Manyika gives us a great perspective of the life Morayo now lives. Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun is a portrait of a woman who's living out the last years of her life the best way she can.

I honestly couldn't wait to be done with this novel. Honestly. The knowledge that it had just 118 pages kept me going because I knew I could do it if I just kept at it. I like Sarah Ladipo Manyika. I enjoyed and reviewed her first novel In Dependence and I even interviewed her for this blog in the post 12 Questions for Sarah Ladipo Manyika back in 2009. Morayo's story is boring. It has no spark. I understand that it's a story about an elderly woman but I wanted it to be much more than this. It's all good though. I'll still be in line for Manyika's next novel.

[Image via Amazon]

11 comments:

  1. Awww osondu!!! You are not really lucky with your books picking nowadays...
    I hope you read one that you really enjoy soon.

    I will be removing this book from my TBR list.

    Thanks.
    by the way I really enjoyed In Dependence

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    1. LOL Mary! I know right?! But thankfully I just finished "Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi and "Behold the Dreamers" by Imbolo Mbue and I LOVED THEM SOO MUCH! It's killing me that I won't be posting about them till October and November but yeah, watch out for those ones. :) Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. Yeah... when I read the blurb of this book, I knew I wouldn't enjoy it. Seems very uneventful. I know some other readers who quite liked it though. Everyone and their tastes I guess hahaa.

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    1. The thing is I didn't read the blurb. Sometimes there are authors that you'll just purchase their books and this is one of them for me. I have faith sha that her next offering will be good :). And yeah, everyone and their tastes. I READ HOMEGOING & Behold the Dreamers ooo! Finished Behold the Dreamers last night! My God!!! It's killing me that I can't review them till October and November!!!

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    2. I look forward to reading your thoughts on Homegoing! I've been hearing soooo many good things about Mbue's novel, but I haven't purchased it yet. Is it that good? I had a feeling it would be a cliche immigrant tale... I guess not?

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    3. It's really good in my opinion but I know what you mean. Maybe when I review it you can see if it's still worth your time. :)

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  3. I have been in the same situation as you with short books. Sometimes they're just going to be boring and not worth our time, but I find it best to just power through and finish off the story. If anything, just to get closer to my Goodreads reading goal. x) lol

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    1. Haha yeahh "just to get closer to my reading goal". Yeah, I have my usual reading list for the year and then I add on any book of interest published that calendar year. So I had to read this for sure lol.

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  4. Wait, you have a pre-planned reading list for the year? Like, you plan out what books you're reading and actually adhere to the list?? I could never do that! lol I'm not disciplined enough for that. :P

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  5. I am glad that its not just me who found this book to be quite bland, at best. Had it not been such a short read, I most likely would have put it down midway.

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    1. Yeahhh, that was my experience. Thanks for stopping by!

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