This book is entirely character driven, so I will express my thoughts about the characters that made an impact on me.

1. Anyanwu

I loved Anyanwu! While she made frustrating decisions at times, I have come to realize she wasn’t ever given the opportunity to really make any decisions. It was more like responses to threats. When she first left her original home to go with Doro, I was screaming at her not to go. But I’m sure she could sense his power/threat and realized she didn’t actually have a choice. In her mind she was doing it to save her family. And it disturbs me deeply that even up until the end of the book Doro never tells her that he did not honor that agreement and ended up stealing away her descendants anyway. And then she gets to the town and I feel like I blacked out that whole part because it’s just repeated abuse. But I think she really tried to hold onto the hope that Doro would eventually change. She believed that just because he had very very rare moments of not being abusive that that showed potential to change.

My favorite parts of the book were when she was able to break away and build for herself! And it was almost more horrendous to see Doro take what she finally escaped to build than when he just took and took and took at the town.

Anyanwu’s character definitely reflects the gender roles that are typically assigned to feminine individuals. She is a healer, family/community oriented, tolerant, forgiving, and self-sacrificing. She shoulders all the burden, as she’s explicitly expected to. She is posed as opposite but lesser to the more masculine character, even though I would argue that she is actually more and better in every way. I love that she is compassionate and curious. She selflessly puts herself at risk and in pain in the hopes of helping others. Doro never fully understands or appreciates just how knowledgeable and powerful she is. She is compelled to have children because she craves community. And she’s led by curiosity and love and hope.

The ending I was hoping for was unfortunately her demise. As of now that is the only ending I could envision that would be in Anyanwu’s favor for once.

I really hate how the responsibility to fix everything is pushed onto her and the person that is actively causing the harm is never forced to be held accountable and to make amends. I wanted more for her! I wanted her to live her life without fear of attack. And for her to live out her long life with her many many descendants who also have the opportunity to live a life that is their own.

Anyanwu’s characters remind me of the role nonprofits play in society. In the world of capitalism, nonprofits initially (for some anyway) start off with the desire to help others. But once it’s established there’s a lot of red tape with funding and bureaucracy bullying their way in and inevitably forcing nonprofits to harm the people they’re trying to help.

2. Isaac

Although Isaac treated the Anyanwu the kindest, he is also an abuser. He continually enables and supports the actions of Doro. Isaac even admits to Doro that he could run away, but he chooses to stay and support Doro. Not to disregard that Isaac is also being harmed by Doro, but he is ranked higher up in the power hierarchy so he still plays his part in enforcing Doro’s power too. And I don’t think he would ever change even though he can see and even voices when things are wrong. However, I am glad that Anyanwu had someone who genuinely cared about her during her long and disturbing time with Doro.

3. Doro

Doro is lonely so he tries to breed people that will live longer like him. He also believes that he has to kill and has no choice. I don’t know if I believe this. But even if it is true, he enjoys killing and when he does not enjoy it he feels it is frivolous. When he finds Anyanwu you would think he’d be happy because he has finally met someone that won’t die as quickly. He could be less lonely. And instead of growing and nurturing that relationship, he beats it into submission. Doro himself cannot have children with special abilities, so he inbreeds others with special abilities. But he doesn’t allow anyone to obtain so many abilities that they can cause harm to him. And what he can’t provide himself, he will take. I think he believes that his motivation is his loneliness, but I think he just likes the feeling of control and manipulation. I’m sure there are more aspects of his character that can be further analyzed, but I cannot bring myself to feel enough sympathy to do that. My finally thoughts on him are that I hate when people who cause harm are finally forced to face all that they’ve done. And instead of taking accountability, they cry. And since they don’t usually cry that should be taken as a sign of accountability. And then they move on with their life making very little change.

All in all, this book was horrifying, disturbing, and disgusting. But it was also brilliantly written and forced me to look at society in a different way, in a clearer way. Which is probably why the story is so disturbing. Each character and situation had a purpose and meaning that reflects society and its systems. There are probably so many things I missed or didn’t allow to soak in fully. But I will never be able to bring myself to read this again. I feel like I had a lot clearer and stronger thoughts while reading it but somehow they’ve now all gone fuzzy.

My questions:

• Why does Doro set up his colonies in the US, especially as Black man? Maybe because some Indigenous communities revere and cherish their community members with special abilities, while in the communities in the US they are ostracized. So maybe Doro thinks they’re more vulnerable and easy to manipulate. Maybe he’s able to thrive in a society of colonization because it most similarly reflects his own ideology of eugenics and capitalism.
• Why is Doro even doing all this? I don’t think he actually wants to create someone who can live as long as him because he will see them as a threat. He’d only want someone to live as long as him if they didn’t have any powers. But people without powers he doesn’t deem worthy? This is why I don’t think he has a reason. He just likes to control and manipulate?
• Why does Anyanwu decide to keep living? I understand she’s in an abusive relationship and it’s not simple or easy to just leave, in any form. Did she accept Doro crying as an apology?

Also, last reflection that’s unrelated to the book, but I don’t think I would have been able to read this book a year ago. I would not have been able to get past the horrifying events and understand the deeper meaning/brilliance of the writing. I feel like I’m growing as a reader :)