I´m too sexy for this book

Sleazy English Edition.

Rosewater by Tade Thompson

First of all, thank god because we are constantly aware of where the penises are and their status. And that is the quirky side I found in the book. It… is… SO… homoerotic. But of the unsettling kind: the macho way. It is all uh! My tight body! My penis. Where is his penis? Oh, a female passing: yeah, erection. I have to say that I am divided between fascination of the plot and setting of the book and repulsion from the sleazy perspective that guides us through the book.

The amazing part, oh yeah. The setting is utterly interesting, being placed in Nigeria, detaches itself from the fistful popular scenarios with a very vivid rendition (for me, as an outsider) of the characters life and particularities. Add to the mix the alien contact, government agencies, life after that first contact and the effects on people: healing, corpses being brought back to life, reconfigurations and the sensitives, people with psychic powers. And the mechanics of all these are fascinating, it is not that they read minds as we could imagine it, but that there is an alien element in the environment and embed in the bodies that forms an organic network in which thoughts and minds can connect, an internet of the mind via fungus. Amazing well-developed stuff, hands down.

I found the author intriguing. There are strong, very interesting characters, women, gays, but their perspective is minimal and the interesting women most of the time are wanting to, shagging our main or being the vehicle of his desire. He is a sleazy guy, described very correctly as sexist, greedy, materialistic and is his perspective what we got. Are we being played? Ok, taking my tinfoil hat off, I still wonder.

Maybe I am too sensible or my patience has been eroded with age. And here it is the troublesome side. Our main, Kaaro, is very consistent through the book, he even has some kind of growth while maintaining his cynicism, sleaziness and detached involvement, but I found his character off. He doesn’t like people and is rude, but has a very thin skin and ends always happily being dotted on. Doesn’t like bullies and violence, but flourish in them, like them. He dislikes so much the government work, but gets the pay, has initiative and pride at how good he is at it, even having an emergency plan to escape, but never using it and remains, and at the same time, confessing he loves it. He gets a chunk of life knowledge through… plot and remains painfully childish. He is hypocrite all right, even acknowledges some bits through the plot, but it doesn’t really match.

Some may be discouraged by the jumping narrative between past and present, I really don’t mind it, but the pace is affected when this rigid consistency makes it less meaningful and blurs the circumstances between jumps.

In the end, I don’t know, I would want to know what happens and what more interesting things are in the next books, but I am not sure if I can stomach our guide and this particular perspective.

Fun fact. Somewhere in the book, a character says that you can assess a community in how they treat woman. Are we being played? (Puts tinfoil hat on)