Ada's Realm by Sharon Dodua Otoo - Translated by Jon Cho-Polizzi - #bookreview #socialblast

 

During the longest night of the year, blood clung to my forehead and my baby died. Finally. He had whimpered in his final moments, and Naa Lamiley had caressed his cheek. How lovely, I had thought, that this would be his final memory. She lay just beside him, the child between us, and her head resting next to mine. Naa Lamiley's eyes shimmered as she assured me it would not be much longer now, "God willling". She whispered because all of our mothers were sleeping on the other side of the room, but Naa Lamiley's voice would have given out at any moment anyway. Together, we had cried and prayed at my baby's side the last three nights. I could barely hear her, and I understood her even less. While she caressed him, she had stared at me, as if surprised by my confusion...

***

WHERE IS ADA?

In a small village in West Africa, in what will one day become Ghana, Ada gives birth again, and again the baby does not live. As she grieves the loss of her child, Portuguese traders become the first white men to arrive in the village, an event that will bear terrible repercussions for Ada and her kin.

WHEN IS ADA?

Centuries later, Ada will become the mathematical genius Ada Lovelace; Ada, a prisoner forced into prostitution in a Nazi concentration camp; and Ada, a young, pregnant Ghanaian woman with a new British passport who arrives in Berlin in 2019 for a fresh start.

WHO IS ADA?

Ada is not one woman, but many, and she is all women - she revolves in orbits, looping from one century and from one place to the next. She experiences the hardship but also the joy of womanhood: she is a victim, she offers resistance, and she fights for her independence.

This long-awaited debut from Sharon Dodua Otoo paints an astonishing picture of femininity, resilience and struggle with deep empathy and humour, with vivid language and infinite imagination.

***

The actor, Paterson Joseph has described this book as "a time-travelling wonder of a read…” and I have to agree. There were many things that I enjoyed about this debut novel from Sharon Dodua Otoo.

The writing is beautiful with a lyricism that is poetic. There were times I stopped and re-read passages simply because they were so perfectly constructed.

It has a unique narration in that much of the story is told from the perspective of a series of inanimate objects, each of which is connected to Ada in different time periods; a broom, a UK passport, a door knocker as well as a series of other things.

Ada is meant to represent all women and the trials and tribulations that we all suffer. She is a reincarnation of herself through the centuries, and are all linked through time by a bracelet which appears in an exhibition during the modern age.

The narrative was not linear and I found this a little confusing at times. The novel is complex in its construction, and although I liked it I was a little perplexed by it at times.

However, as a debut novel I was impressed. It is true I had to work at understanding this book, and I suspect that different readers will take away alternative views of what it was about. I would love for you to read this and let me know your thoughts.

ISBN: 978 1529419016

Publisher: MacLehose Press

Formats:  e-book, audio and hardback

No. of Pages: 320 (hardback)

About the Author:

Born in London in 1972 to Ghanaian parents, SHARON DODUA OTOO is a political activist and novelist living in Berlin. After having published several newspaper articles and two novellas in English, she wrote a short story in German which was later awarded the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize (2016), one of Germany's most renowned literary awards. She is politically active with several civil rights organisations, including the Initiative Black People in Germany (ISD), a Black queer feminist organisation called ADEFRA, and Phoenix. Ada’s Realm is her first novel.

 

About the Translator:

Jon Cho-Polizzi is a freelance literary translator and Assistant Professor of German at the University of Michigan, with Korean and Italian-Jewish roots. He received a PhD in German and Medieval Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was managing editor for the online academic journal TRANSIT. His translations have appeared in the Jewish Museum Berlin, the Maxim Gorki Theater, taz, Jewish Currents, renk Magazin, Versopolis Poetry, and Der Spiegel, as well as in numerous anthologies. He lives and works between Ann Arbor, Northern California, and Berlin.

(ARC, author photo and bio. info. courtesy of the publisher)