A very wild but intricate love story. Just like in her other works, Evaristo plays with history a lot - this time she incorporates an abundance of ghosts into her narrative. Since the plot is so dense, I was afraid that the ghost aspect will be overwhelming, but it was, on the contrary, quite refreshing, and often delivered some light and laughter. A definite recommendation.

An early work by this staggeringly good author. Has her amazing, exuberant joy in language and the assured mix of prose and poetry, lyricism and exceeding down-to-earthness, but it isn't handled with the assurance of her later work, which...she won the Booker, it would be pretty unreasonable to expect that from everything someone ever wrote. It's an interesting read, with intriguing characters, and deeply grounded in Black history in Europe, but the plot's a bit thin and the themes a bit heavy h...

My spoiler review:Under the motto "they can't all be gems" comes this rather disappointing "Soul Tourists" by Bernardine Evaristo. Coincidentally, another book that begins with someone's death (I really know how to pick them these days ...) but this time written in a gritty reality instead of a fluffy young adult style (one chapter is even literally a copy of the coroner's report).Almost indecipherable dialogues contribute to a dark and slow reading experience. But shortly after that, the realit...

It took me a while to get into this. The constant shifts in style, formatting, and perspectives were confusing at first. I did get into the swing of it. I enjoyed the playful way in which she uncovered parts of European history. I wasn't particularly bought into the two main characters, and found both a bit annoying, but I enjoyed the journey.

not too sure about this one... Evaristo is a very clever, talented and witty writer and im really looking forward to getting to Girl Woman Other. but i dunno if this one was wasted on me a bit.. i feel like a lot of it went over my head. i got a bit lost in the past and present + the experimental style so maybe it’s just me being dense. also the characters are supposed to be like, mismatched but i still didn’t really get why they felt connected to each other

I...have no idea what I just read.

Though Evaristo's prose is stunningly poetic, the narrative lost my enthousiasm halfway through. I did, however, deeply appreciate what to me was the main theme: the questioning of what European culture/value/heritage really means, and its inextricable interconnectedness with Africa and colonialism.

Some of the worst fiction I've read in a long time. A mix of forms and narratives make it hard to stay involved with the story and the unbelievable, contrived protagonists.

I LOVE Bernardine Evaristo and her writing style. This is the last book of hers that I had left to read and it saddens me to say that I didn’t love it as much as her other books. Stanley is grieving the death of his father and is wondering if there is more to life than his nine-to-five banking job. He meets Jessie, a singer-cum-comedienne and she manages to persuade him to quit his job and go on a European road trip with her. These two are polar opposites and go on a journey that weaves in and

4.5 rounded up because it deserves it. Stanley is an analyst in London in the eighties with a dying father and he isn’t too sure about his own identity. At least he thinks he is, probably, and then he isn’t so sure. He certainly isn’t happy as such, oh and he’s kind of pretentious. Then he meets the older Jessie who lives life in the moment but has her own regrets which she isn’t about to talk about. They start heading for Australia mostly camping out from country to country, in Matilda (the jee...

Unlike anything I've read before. Got me hooked, though.

Love her other books but couldn’t actually finish this one where the structure was all over the place.

Another in my occasional project to catch up with Evaristo's back catalogue - this one has elements of both The Emperor's Babe and Mr. Loverman. It is a twisted mixture of rom-com and road trip - taking a mismatched couple on a journey across Europe in an old car. One of the main protagonists, Stanley, meets a series of historical ghosts, all of whom were believed or rumoured to have some black ancestry. This element reminded me of another book I read last year, Lost Property, indeed the journey...

Soul Tourists is a road trip story with a twist. Well, with a few twists. Not only does Bernardine Evaristo depart from the typical storyline of road trips, she also plays with form. This is a book that combines prose, verse and scripts. I love the way she mixes forms in her books - The Emperor's Babe, for example, is written in vivid verse. Bernardine Evaristo's writing style is the most distinctive and interesting I've read in a long time.Stanley Williams has just lost his father, who spent hi...

I found this book rather difficult. The changes in prose style and the introduction of ghosts was difficult to manoeuvre but as the book progressed this got easier. Although often Evaristo chooses an unusual style of writing, I found this exceedingly difficult given the distinct lack of explanation given. The two main characters are unsympathetic and uninteresting at best, however the vehicle they provide for learning about black history in Europe is useful. These are the most interesting parts

I really liked Girl, Woman, Other, so decided to try another by the same author. If I'm honest, I didn't like this one as much. The central character is Sydney, a black Londoner whose father - with whom he has had a difficult relationship dies at the start of the novel. Sydney then meets Jesse, a freewheeling spirit who persuades him to leave his steady job and go with her and her aging car on a road trip - all the way to Australia. As they travel, we see their relationship develop, blossom, str...

Road trip S When I’m inside her, shall we say, tropical lushness, I feel so… male J When he’s inside me, I want to pull up the drawbridge and bolt it S Wanted comfort (100%). Wanted contrast (100%). Wanted to come (100%) J Come with me, Stanley, dear. Wake up to wide open fields and driving on a road that leads up and away into the heavens S She opens her eyes and a tear escapes, which she quickly wipes away J He’s grinning like a teenager what’s just lost his virginity S We’ve found each other,...

Evaristo's writing style is phenomenal, particularly in how she applies it to the characters personality, changing from prose to poetry to a fractured monologue. However, this book is not her best work. The character of Jessie was, in my opinion, completely insufferable and irritating in her manner, coming across as selfish and showing no growth in character throughout the book. The idea of the Stanley's meeting of historical figures throughout the book is interesting and fits with the narrative...

Personally this is my least favourite of the work I've read by Evaristo (Girl, Woman, Other; Blonde Roots; Mr Loverman; The Emperor's Babe) but it's still a firecracker in its own right. I didn't love either Stanley or Jessie but I do feel Evaristo really brought them to life, and it's the bringing to life that's her job, not creating likeable characters. The premise and the various settings lent a dynamism to the story, and I actually enjoyed the structural shifts in dialogue and prose (though

This was so much fun, a journey through geography and history, experienced via body and spirit, reminding us that we are all connected and that our lives are dense intricate palimpsests, tapestries of everyone we have ever met, either through word or body. Written with a joyously light touch and a great affection for her characters. Deeply lovely