Negative Positive
Title: Contrived
Review: It is difficult to write outside of one's own idiom, and this book demonstrates this clearly. The so called African passages are entirely contrived - the names, the cultural references, the characters and the ceremonies are totally devoid of any depth of feeling and context. The other parts naturally flow from this. Clearly,the context is alien to the writer, and a lot of the dialogue and the descriptions for the African American/New Orleans experience border on being downright offensive. References to Jigs, bush negroes etc are out of context and culturally irrelevant. A compelling story, but perhaps readers would be better served by reading a biography of Louis Armstrong.
Is the review positive or negative? 