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Liked It “I really enjoyed this view of another life and culture.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “i picked it cause i liked the illustrations.. but frankly, the content is quite worthless. NG!!” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
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“I really enjoyed this view of another life and culture.”
Super K wrote this review Saturday, April 9, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“i picked it cause i liked the illustrations.. but frankly, the content is quite worthless. NG!! ”
apps wrote this review Wednesday, March 31, 2010. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This book was about a 19 year old girl growing up in the 1970's in the Ivory Cost. This book had evrything a good book should have, drama, scandals, and secrets. It let me look at the world from the perspective of someone who lives halfway around the world from me. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read something different”
Aisha N wrote this review Friday, December 25, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A graphic novel about a teenage girl in Modern Africa. I loved that it told a fairly contemporary story about an average teenager. At times, I had trouble tracking the 3 girls and needed to use visual clues. I especially enjoyed her tips at the end where she showed how to tie a pagne and make peanut sauce. ”
Jill D wrote this review Saturday, July 18, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A rather pop portrayal of a hip-urban African city that was Abidjan, Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivoire now) back in the 70's. I liked it for it's universal teenagery themes of nightlife, love, and balancing future dreams. I also liked it because it finally shows a different side of Africa, one that I experienced in Benin in the Peace Corps, an Africa not in the Western news. They are caught in the middle between modernity and the traditional and it is like lived in most of the world, crazy and complex, but not this warped view of Africa we see in the West. ”
Jay D wrote this review Wednesday, July 15, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This unique graphic novel takes place in a working class neighborhood in Ivory Coast called Yopougon. The year is 1978 and Ivory Coast is a model of growth and stability. Aya is a girl with dreams, a stable and responsible bystander to the romantic antics of her two best friends, Bintou and Adjoua.
sheelysmom wrote this review Wednesday, January 28, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The plot is a bit like a sitcom, with couples getting together or not, cheating on each other, getting in trouble and having problems with their parents. Older teens would find much to relate to and probably appreciate seeing their own problems worked out on a completely different continent among completely different people and with, maybe, very similar consequences.
Despite the very post-adolescence nature of the plot, I think the book as a whole sheds a revealing light on a another side of African life than we usually read about. Wealthy businessmen, working class "peasants" and villagers interact in a society that is constantly changing. You get a great sense of the lilt of the language and the range of relationships between extended families. Traditional ways are meshing with modern desires - cars, especially, are a prized status symbol.
The back of the book has recipes, a how-to guide for dressing and booty-shaking like an African diva, as well as definitions of common terms in the book. All that information is cleverly illustrated and feels more like a letter from a friend than author's notes.
Aya is a portrait of one kind of African life, in all it's diversity and complexity, a fast and humorous book about the ups and downs of love and friendship. Worth trying. ”
“Graphic novel about a group of young people in Youpognon, Ivory Coast in the 1970s, originally French-language. Pretty domestic plot involving dating and young love. Fairly light, heartwarming stuff.
TheophileEscargot wrote this review Tuesday, November 25, 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Drawn in what I'm beginning to think is the French comic style (after The Rabbi's Cat for instance), with kind of rough, askew lines; which I'm gradually getting more used to. Nice bright pastel colours. Seems to work well here, with cute depictions of the youngster in glorious Seventies African dress.
Bit too domestic for my taste, so not sure I'll bother with subsequent volumes: there seem to be a couple more. But quite a decent read.”
