2013 Books in Review #17: Children of the New World

Children of the New World was the July selection for the Literature and War Reading Challenge hosted by Beauty is a Sleeping Cat.

The book is set out in a series of chapters each from a slightly different character perspective, rather than one overall main character. It is set during the Algerian war, their independence from French colonization. The characters are linked within a small community, some by marriage or blood, others by work or love or friendship or the law.

I really wanted to love this book. It is written by a leading authoress, who is considered to be one of the best in her field. She is notably anti patriarchal, and writes with a feminist slant. I found the book had gaps that made it hard for me to follow and because I didn't know a lot about the French-Algerian conflict my loss was magnified to the detriment of my loving the book.

Overall I'd like to go back and read more of her works. This has been said to be one of her weaker works and so I am wondering if the structural issues I had with the text would be gone in a different work.

Children of the New World was my 59th book of the year, and my 6th book read for the Literature and War reading challenge.