Reviews

In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas

emmavardy2's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

A really important story about enslaved African Americans who found freedom in Canada. Also the relationships between white, black and native Americans. An important story but admit I found it quite hard to follow all the characters. 
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robynryle's review against another edition

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4.0

Fascinating look at the intertwined history of formerly enslaved people in Canada and indigenous people.

katielizroy's review against another edition

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3.0

Fascinating premise of Black/Indigenous relationships in the Detroit/Canada area. The stories independent were really interesting but too many characters, locations and timelines to keep track of made it confusing. By the last 100 pages, I just wanted to finish the book to get it done with because I was so confused and felt like I was missing something.

staycee_franklyn's review against another edition

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challenging emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

liz_danford's review against another edition

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challenging reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

browngirlreading's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

chlostrong's review against another edition

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challenging informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

lucaisapenguin's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I wanted to like this so much more than I did. I'm not sure if this style of storytelling just wasn't a good fit for me, or wasn't a good fit for the story Kai Thomas wanted to tell. I enjoyed it for the first half or so; the atmosphere was so vivid, and I was intrigued by the characters we were meeting in the "present day" storyline. But then it began to drag on too much, and we were focused on characters we hadn't actually met, and all the stories and timelines began to get too convoluted.

natbee's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Very well written.

aliciaprettybrowneyereader's review against another edition

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The writing was a style that I could get into easily.  I ran out of time before library book was due and book club meeting.