The Door of No Return - Kwame Alexander

Author: Kwame Alexander

Genre: Middle-grade Novel-in-verse

Rating: 4.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: I don’t have enough words to describe the beauty of this book. A middle-grade novel in verse, but will suit adult readers too. Deeply impactful, and highly disturbing and simply astounding. First of a planned trilogy.

Story Synopsis:

Asante Kingdom (modern-day Ghana), 1860.

Eleven year old Kofi Offin, named for the Offin river than flows through his village, frolicking in the waters with his best friend Ebo. Of course, his life isn’t perfect. He is forced to learn English under his “improved” teacher Mr. Goodluck Phillip. He is bullied by his cousin. And he nurses a secret crush on Ama and sees no way of letting her know.

Offin’s family has warned him about not staying in the river after dusk for fear of monsters. And one day, the monsters do arrive, with their white skins and noisy guns. And Offin’s life becomes a living hell.

The story is written in verse from Offin’s first person point of view.

As the author’s note mentions right at the start, this is a historical fiction inspired by actual events, with the story based on the lives of the Asante people, native to the region of West Africa today known as Ghana. The story is somewhat reminiscent of Alex Haley’s ‘Roots’, though this is aimed at a younger audience.

There are so many things I simply adored about this book.

👌 Offin – our young protagonist who is clever and mischievous and brave and so much more! He is the heart of the story.

👌 The secondary characters – visible to us only within the limited viewpoint of young Offin and yet so well-sketched! You don’t just notice them, but you feel one with them because of the writing style. A special mention of Nana Mosi, Offin’s grandpa, who delights with his stories and his riddles.

👌 The narrative voice sounds exactly like that of an eleven year old. Brilliant writing, this!

👌 The use of the setting – what a vivid description of Kwanta! The location came alive through the poet’s words.

👌 The description of the indigenous Kwanta culture and how the unity was being torn apart not just by internal rivalries but also by the Westerners.

👌 The various African sayings peppered throughout the narrative.

👌 The importance of staying true to your culture and traditions and passing on this knowledge down the generations.

👌 The strong statement against colonialisation, visible through the ideology that Mr. Phillips conveys to his students when he insists on their speaking in English. Also evident in his praise of the “Mr. Wonderfuls”.

👌 The title, “The Door of No Return”, that is both metaphorical and literal and suits the story so well.

👌 The novel-in-verse format, that serves this story so well. With multiple chapters, each comprising a story-like introduction and multiple “poems”, the content is quick and impactful.

At the same time, the entire story isn’t easy-going. The first half thrilled me; the second half dragged me into the depths of despair. Offin’s experiences in the final quarter are so harrowing that I needed to take regular breaks to compose my emotions.

If you are sensitive and hence easily affected by portrayal of human misery, please please please think twice before picking this up. It is quite gut-wrenching in the final quarter. This is technically middle grade fiction, aimed at the 10 - 13 years age group. However, I don’t know how the younger ones in this age segment will react to the content in the second half; it is very disturbing even for an adult. Parents/guardians, proceed with care.

This was my first experience actually reading a novel-in-verse, a format I have attempted earlier only through audiobooks. It took me a bit of time to get attuned to the unusual writing pattern. (To my prose-loving eyes, half my Kindle screen looked empty! 😄) However, pretty soon, the words began to fly past with amazing ease. As an avid audiobook listener, I prefer the audio version for novels-in-verse, but I have a gut feeling that this one will be better read than heard; the timeline is too complicated for audio.

I must confess, there’s no poetic bone in my body, so I read the content more as prose rather than as something with poetic merit. Even so, I saw more than enough “poems” where the onomatopoeic effects and the threading of the words created magic. I am sure those who enjoy contemporary poetry will appreciate the structure even more.

I found the ending quite abrupt, though it is not exactly a cliffhanger. An online search revealed that this is the first of a planned trilogy, something I didn’t know while requesting the book and isn’t mentioned on Netgalley or Goodreads. So I will not hold the ending against it, while still hoping that someone marks this as part of a planned series so that readers know what they are getting and that it’s somewhat incomplete.

I stay away from poetic writing, but I am pretty sure that any future works by author-poet Kwame Alexander, will be part of my TBR. Looking forward to the next instalment of this powerful tale. Strongly recommended, as long as you heed the warning about the content.

4.75 stars. (The clipped ending is the only thing stopping me from going all out with 5 stars.)

My thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Door of No Return”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.