Reviews

Thirteen Months of Sunrise by Rania Mamoun, Elisabeth Jaquette

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andra's review against another edition

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emotional reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

urania's review against another edition

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edges and one-room sorrow were fantastic, and the other stories were there too i guess

papelgren's review against another edition

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4.0

A deceptively simple set of stories that sneak up on you after you read on them. There is specificity here that leads a reader through Sudanese streets and poverty stricken classes of people. The universality of human experience and the magical realism Mamoun uses to tell her stories are what shine here.

jilianh's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

3.75

I ironically did not care for the short story the title is from, and was worried that I wouldn't feel engaged with the rest after reading it. However, I felt there were much stronger, more memorable pieces that came later. Some fell a bit more flat than others, but I appreciate that there was a distinct writing style and tone for each story. There is one which has different "camera angles" that I found myself actually picturing the scenes a lot more clearly as a short episode filmed the way it was described.

Overall some hits and misses as with many short story collections, definitely ended up enjoying it more than my first impression.

nataliejade9's review against another edition

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3.0

An interesting read. The first story was my favourite.
I felt each story could do with being a little longer and were sometimes lacking that punch that I was craving.

marisatn's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Interesting short story collection by a Sudanese writer.

saareman's review against another edition

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4.0

Shorts of Sudan
Review of the Comma Press english translation (2019) of the Arabic language original [b:13 شهراً من إشراق الشمس|45458572|13 شهراً من إشراق الشمس|رانيا مأمون|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1557060065l/45458572._SX50_.jpg|61724945] (2009)

I read Thirteen Months of Sunrise as part of the Translated Fiction Online Book Club (TFOBC) which had been organized by Comma Press and 5 other UK independent publishers for an initial 6 week period (March 26 to April 30, 2020) during this current world pandemic situation. The Book Club will continue under the new name of the Borderless Book Club based on the enthusiastic response to the initial outing.

Trivia and Link
You can listen to the Borderless Book Club audio interview and Q&A with Comma Press publisher Becca Parkinson and translator Lissie Jaquette on Soundcloud here.