The Boy Who Spat in Sargrenti’s Eye

My life revolves around food and books. I read more than I cook and I would read anything (I hate book snobs). Over the years I’ve taken a liking to contemporary romance because they always, well almost always have a happy ending. Earlier this year I decided to read mostly black authors because I noticed that almost everything I was consuming was written by white people. Goodreads lists/ genres are dominated by white authors and unless you deliberately look for Black/POC authors, chances are the only literature you will consume will be  those written by the former which is not really a problem in itself because some of my favorite authors are white. It’s an issue only because it feels like you have to dig deeper to find the Black/POC authors whereas the others are right in your face. 

I am not a book blogger. I don’t have the time to do that nor the vocabulary for it honestly but I’ve decided to start sharing my favorite books. If you want a proper book blog that is all about books, here is a favorite of mine; https://africanbookaddict.com. Another one is this ; https://instagram.com/bookpress?igshid=jgb8c4f5ew2n. They are the amazing and have awesome recommendations.

First up; The Boy Who Spat in Sargrenti’s Eye by Manu Herbstein

I was gifted this book by a wonderful human on twitter and I just spent two days reading it. To be very honest I’ve been kind of avoiding it because I knew how it would make me feel based on past experience with books of similar themes.

Like a lot of books about the slave trade, it leaves you very angry, resentful and mostly sad. It makes you wonder how humans could be so cruel to their fellow humans in this manner. I’m talking specifically about the British and the unimaginable pain and ruin they brought to Africa, particularly West Africa. And even though Kofi Gyan in this case is a fictional character, they are so many people like him and Ababio whose are forever lost in the ruins and all that death. We will really never know what happened to them. So many families have lost such integral parts of their history because the British thought that they were so great that surely every other country should be like theirs. I am incredibly upset that even now, so much of our history is sitting in British museums. Sitting on shelves and being studied by the same people who wreaked havoc on us and stole from us. Mummies are being exhumed to be “studied” whilst their dead kings and queens rest peacefully in their graves. Even in death, they are afforded more respect. It’s like the pilferage and disrespect of Africa didn’t end. They just adapted to the times. I am incredibly upset but I am grateful also that there are books like this. We should never forget.

Ama also by Manu Herbstein won’t make you feel any better but it is a must read book.