Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida

I wanted to like this far more than I did.

There were moments I found beautiful and ideas I found profound, but the majority of my experience of reading this book was holding it with a furrowed brow and whispering "what are you doing?"

Some have described this as stream of consciousness, and it sort of is. A few places the narrator suggests this book is a collection of essays on her various hairstyles, but other than the one time she gets long braids with extensions, does she ever describe any hairstyle in particular? Much of the book is engaged with her mixed ancestry, and the different values (including about hair) in different branches of the family, but we are almost a third of the way through the book before she reveals which parts of the family are Portuguese and which Angolan, which white and which Black.

Loosely I would say this book is about the kaleidoscope of identity, and how we piece ourselves together with markers both outward and inward, bu hair and by memory, by accessories and by family history.

I expected something breezier and more personal. What I got was something much denser, and personal but in a very philosophical way.… (mere)

The fiction of That Hair is the semi-autobiographical story of the author Djaimilla Pereira de Almeida born in Luanda, Angola and growing up in Lisbon, Portugal. This book is much more like an essay and commentary than a novel. Perhaps, that is the book, and perhaps that is the translation. Unfortunately, it leaves me somewhat disconnected with a story with which I expect to feel a strong emotional reaction.

Read my complete review at rel="nofollow" target="_top">http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2020/04/that-hair.html

Reviewed for NetGalley.… (mere)