Alkaid

I only really knew this book for shining a light on the meat industry, so I was surprised when it focused on an immigrant family. This was actually my second (and full) attempt at reading this book. I stopped last time a few chapters after the wedding. I'm kinda glad I gave it another shot, but damn, was it a dense read.

It was an engaging tragedy, though the constant struggles and deaths did start to wear on me. Things really slowed down near the latter half, which was also when Sinclair reminded you that this was a post slavery society, and just had to sprinkle in some anti-Black racism (Japanese women got a dash of it, too), which was frustrating cause there was some overlap between how poor and immigrant whites are treated in this country.

So much wasted potential! But anyway, the book gets really heavy into pro-socialism (makes sense, considering the book was originally serialized in a socialist magazine), but by then I just wanted it to be over.

On the fence about giving it a star rating, but ultimately found this book better for beginners. I was hoping to find some good tips, but I was already familiar with them. I already use Anki and other apps, though I don't have any good physical dictionaries on hand. No current editions, anyway.

I'm surprised how much I enjoyed this, despite Ax being my least favorite character. I didn't love the blatant sexism from him and the male Andalites, but there were some fun moments in this book.

And some interesting almost-war-crimes.

I didn't know much about this book going into it, but heard about it on a podcast I like (Ghosted by Roz Hernandez). I honestly wasn't expecting so much history, a subject I love. Some names were unfamiliar to me (like the Quaker), so I had fun learning about them. Almost finished the book in one sitting; it was hard to step away.

Highly recommend this to folx who aren't as well versed in Black history, though Darnell's story is just as enthralling. And I felt so frustrated for him, learning about his struggles.