YA Review: How Far We’ve Come

Title: How Far We’ve Come
Author: Joyce Efia Harmer
Edition:
Kindle ARC
Rating:
4/5

Cover of How Far We've Come by Joyce Efia Harmer

Obah is a slave on a Barbados plantation in 1834. Jacob is a descendant of a slave-owning family, determined to atone for the crimes of his ancestors. When Jacob finds a way to time travel to Obah’s plantation, he seizes his chance to give her a life of freedom in present-day Somerset. But Jacob has underestimated Obah’s experiences on the plantation and the culture shock she encounters in twenty-first century England, and Obah has discovers that the two teenagers are more closely connected than she realised.

It’s an interesting premise for a story. Obah is a perfect protagonist to take on the injustices of life on the plantation, and to recognise the problems of present-day society from her unique viewpoint. She’s intelligent and determined, but she knows how to keep herself safe and obey the rules that govern her life, both in Barbados and in the UK.

The supporting characters, and Obah’s relationships with them, give the book its page-turning pace. In Barbados she works in the kitchens, and directly for the wife of the owner. Her mother escaped from the plantation when Obah was young, and Obah has built her own family among the slaves. With them, she finds warmth and community while she navigates constant danger from the owner and his overseer, and the whims of the owner’s wife and daughter. The author doesn’t romanticise life on the plantation, and the reader is not spared the horrific experiences Obah and her found family share. There is no gratuitous detail, but the matter-of-fact reactions of the slaves to their punishments and hardships is more heartbreaking than any over-dramatised anger or confrontation. The unending injustice and cruelty is harrowing to read.

In England, Obah slowly learns to trust Jacob and his mother and sister. It takes time for her to understand that she is not expected to work or take care of them, and to understand the expectations of modern-day society on her. She sees injustices that they, as a wealthy white family, do not, and it is this that drives the twenty-first century sections of the story.

There are all sorts of issues with writing a novel like this. Avoiding the White Saviour trope, and the obvious difficulties both characters will experience as they are displaced from their homes, feels extremely important to making this story work in 2023. Both characters learn about themselves, their societies, and their prejudices, and come to see the power Obah has over her life, if she can work out how to use it. I’m not completely convinced that the author has fully avoided all the issues with the setup, but the story structure is neat and the characters engaging. It definitely gives the reader plenty to think about.

How Far We’ve Come is published in paperback today! Thank you to the publisher for the ARC copy.

Have you read How Far We’ve Come? What did you think of the story? Do you think the author handled the difficult theme well? Click through to the full blog to access the comments section, and share your thoughts! No spoilers, though – you can post those on GoodReads!

YA review: How Far We’ve Come cross-posted to GoodReads.


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YA Review: The Upper World

Title: The Upper World
Author: Femi Fadugba
Edition:
Kindle
Rating:
3/5

The Upper World is an intriguing time travel story that doesn’t quite stick its landing. The book combines ancient philosophy with hardcore maths and physics to explore the relationship between matter, energy, and perception. It takes the Socratic idea of the ‘Upper World’ – a place beyond our everyday experience where, if we can reach it, we can perceive time and space from the outside and find a deeper understanding of the workings of the universe. The characters use this knowledge to attempt to change the past, with unexpected consequences.

It is the characters who hooked me into the story. Esso is a believable teenager, navigating the gangs and complex loyalties of his South London comprehensive school alongside the expectations of his teachers and his West African mother. Fifteen years into the future, Rhia is juggling her unreliable home life in foster care with her ambition to become a professional football player. When she meets the maths and physics tutor her foster mother hired to help with her GCSEs, she finds herself diving into complex concepts – relativity, energy, and time travel. But why does Dr Esso think these ideas are important, and what, exactly, does he want from her?

The structure of the story builds the tension between the characters and the events they are trying to change. Esso’s present-day chapters alternate with Rhia’s future experiences. We know from early in the book that teenage Esso is heading for a dramatic, gang-related punishment, and as the story progresses he does everything he can to avoid disaster. In the future, Dr Esso’s interest in time travel starts to make sense, as Rhia begins to understand who she is, and her connection to her tutor’s past.

Rhia’s foster sister provides an effective sounding board for her theories, and the genuine friendship between the girls provides a contrast with teenage Esso’s companions – a group of boys who would rather taunt each other than show weakness. Esso’s relationship with his classmate Nadia allows him to demonstrate a softer side to his character, and her pivotal role in the story develops across both timelines. Both Esso and Rhia are sympathetic characters, and I found myself heartbroken alongside them when the plot twists and injustices kicked in.

While the climax of both stories is extremely well written, I wasn’t convinced by the plot leading up to the final moments. While I enjoyed the idea of weaving Einstein’s theories and the philosophy of Socrates and Plato into a YA time-travel narrative, the plot stretched the science and the philosophical ideas beyond breaking point, and this threw me out of the story.

I’m aware that I am not the target audience, and that I have read (and wrestled with the concepts of) a lot of time-travel stories. For YA readers with less exposure to maths, physics, science fiction, and the various fictional theories of time travel, The Upper World may well provide a gripping and satisfying read. If you don’t mind a bit of hand-waving and magical thinking with your real-world physics, this is an exciting story with clever twists, interesting ideas, sympathetic characters, and convincing real-world settings. If that sounds appealing, don’t let my review put you off!

The Upper World will be published on August 19th. Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Have you read The Upper World? What did you think of the story? Did the science keep you hooked? Click through to the full blog to access the comments section, and share your thoughts! No spoilers, though – you can post those on GoodReads!

Review cross-posted to GoodReads.


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