Customer Reviews

Still Waters in Niger

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STILL WATERS IN NIGER is so masterfully conceived and written that I was reluctant to finish, reading more and more slowly as I came toward the end. This is a work that grows increasingly powerful and beautiful, especially in its final section and concluding three calls to prayer. The author transported me to Niger and enlarged my understanding of what is is to be a global citizen, a parent (and daughter), a mother, a woman, and (so searchingly) a person. I intend to survey recent issues of the Hudson and Yale Reviews where, according to the jacket, there are other works by Kathleen Hill. May she give us more writing and, soon, another book as fine as this!

I have been in Zinder for three years and in Niger for 12 years. In "Still Waters in Niger" the author Kathleen Hill puts me back there as it was, as it is, as it will be when I will go back there. Quite a writer... everything is so true in that "novel". Zinder is more real than life. And fiction brings you to reality.It is a documentary through poetry. This is due to the great talent of the author and also to her keen sense of observation. An gode maki. Barka da aiki!

Make no mistake about it: this book has beautifully lyrical prose. The writing is quite enchanting. But simply put, there is no plot. Nothing happens. The book's foundation is essentially on the relationship between a mother and her daughter. The daughter is a health worker living in Niger, West Africa, where she'd spent some of her childhood. The narrative alternates between the present and the mother's reminiscence of her daughter's and husband's years in Niger and Nigeria. Despite the heavy interior monologue, I never felt I had much insight into any of the character's psyches. I like character driven novels, but I didn't feel Ms. Hill's characterization was particular strong. Having lived in West Africa, I did appreciate some of the description; it was very heavily sensory, but you can't make a whole novel out of that. All in all, I was impressed by the prose, but the story was not very compelling. It was a struggle to finish.