This one was a mixed bag for me. I had absolutely no knowledge of the history of the Congo prior to reading this book. Learning about the historical events (though somewhat altered to adhere to a fictional story) was quite intriguing for me. As far as the reading goes, it took me a little work to get into the story. Each section is written in chapters from the point of view of five different characters (a mother and her four daughters). I found it especially hard to read the chapters written by one of the daughters as she has what I will refer to as quirks in her personality that heavily effect the writing. I tended to lose my focus during these chapters and found that they were often the places where I put the book down for a while. Once I was able to get into the story (and some what ignore Adah's odd writing) the pages went fairly quickly and I was able to form an attachment to some of the characters.