We Are All Birds of Uganda
Zayyan, HafsaAn aspiring young lawyer in present-day London, Sameer Saeed, is about to receive payback for all of his hard work and ambition. The world should be his oyster, but just as his grandfather Hasan experienced in Uganda culminating in expulsion in 1972 under Idi Amin's regime, British colonisation has a long reach and prejudice is dangerous and disruptive.
Moving between Uganda and London, Sameer and Hasan's dual narrative thoughtfully explores identity and belonging and the challenges of finding one's place in the world.
Pages
359
359
Year
2021
2021
Reviews
19-01-2024
Everyone enjoyed learning about Uganda and the racial tensions of how South Asians were treated in Uganda. We liked the style of writing with the letters as chapters. There were mixed feelings from our group in regards to the book's ending - some were very unhappy with how the author chose to end the story!
11-12-2023
Our group shared mixed reactions to this book. Some members thought it tried to deal with too many themes and some characters were not well developed. The descriptions of Uganda were very interesting and overall, the book was well worth reading.
30-10-2023
While we enjoyed the storyline and content, most of us struggled to keep track of the characters with the switch over to letters from the Grandfather - a clever concept, but it didn't quite work. We all found the ending abrupt, disturbing and unsatisfactory.
15-09-2023
Some members found this a difficult book to get into. A genogram of book characters may have helped here. We enjoyed a lively discussion generated by the questions. A thoughtful read, but an enjoyable one.
13-09-2023
Really enjoyed by all.
30-08-2023
Important themes are raised throughout the book. Mixed response from members.
16-08-2023
We all enjoyed the book very much and it engendered much discussion about racism, immigration , and what is 'home'. Highly rated.
31-07-2023
Those who finished it found it historically informative with themes of colonialism, racism, exploitation and capitalism. However the characters were not well developed and felt like cardboard cut outs. Led to great discussion as one of our group is an East African Asian from Kenya.
24-03-2023
We all loved it - great discussion.
09-02-2023
Most of our group enjoyed this book and would seek out the author in the future. A few readers struggled with the ending, but overall that did not detract from an entertaining and powerful story about identity.
23-09-2022
We enjoyed this book, despite the many adverbs. We learnt about this period of history.