Claire O'Brien's Reviews > Three Strong Women

I really struggled with the sentence structure in this book - it may have been the translation, but I found I had to re-read sentences several times to understand them. I also found the story difficult to follow at times - I don't know if it was a form magical realism, but it wasn't magical enough for that I felt, but at times I wondered what had just happened. I was also disappointed that it was three separate stories that didn't interconnect very well, beyond a connection between France and Africa. I did like the way that the author undermined the common image of poor Africa and rich France, with some of the characters having more successful careers in Africa than in France, and her description of trying to sneak into Europe was harrowing, and in ways more should be written about it, but again the fact that I found it at times so difficult to follow, undermined the power of the story. I read it for my book club and none of the 14 members enjoyed it at all.