Half Blood Blues- Esi Edugyan

Image from Goodreads

I won this book from the publisher Serpentstail. It is also on the longlist for The Man Booker Prize.

Synopsis (from Amazon)

The aftermath of the fall of Paris, 1940. Hieronymous Falk, a rising star on the cabaret scene, was arrested in a cafe and never heard from again. He was twenty years old. He was a German citizen. And he was black. Fifty years later, Sid, Hiero’s bandmate and the only witness that day, is going back to Berlin. Persuaded by his old friend Chip, Sid discovers there’s more to the journey than he thought when Chip shares a mysterious letter, bringing to the surface secrets buried since Hiero’s fate was settled. Half Blood Blues weaves the horror of betrayal, the burden of loyalty and the possibility that, if you don’t tell your story, someone else might tell it for you. And they just might tell it wrong …

Review.

Can’t say that Half Blood Blues was really what I expected. I expected it to primarily be about the second world war and what it was like to be a black person living in a Nazi occupied country. The book of course did have an element of this in, and the setting of the war was important for the story, but really it was a book about a group of friends, and about music. At first I found the voice of  Sid (the narrator) really annoying but as I got used to it, and started getting into the story, it ceased to be a factor that really mattered to me. I did come to enjoy the book, mainly because I wanted to know what Sid did, but once I knew I was still interested in continuing to read.

I can’t say I really connected with the characters. I wanted everything to turn out right for Sid but only because I felt sorry for him.

I found the ending was a little abrupt too, especially as they rest of the novel looked to that pont, I just felt it could be expanded upon.

Would I recommend it? Yes I suppose so but I don’t think it’s really award winning material, just a decent read.

3/5

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