Booker prize winners seem to be hit and miss with me. I can absolutely see where the five star reviews of this come from, but I struggled to get any purchase with this. The latter half is certainly stronger than the first- the inclusion of more of Alfa’s memories really fleshed the book out, but I still didn’t find the depth I was looking for. I also just couldn’t get past the way in which Diop writes about female bodies. Willing to consider the translation might be partially responsible for some of the specific ickiness but I couldn’t stand it.