Lukonge Achilees’s memoir “The Dream From Dust” is an inspirational read. This book is a one of a kind take on memoirs as it instead focuses more on the external part of their childhood and we very rarely get to know how these things affect the author except for when they write about their reactions to these things. I feel like this helps the reader to relate more and to reflect on their own life. By seeing the way the author reacts to things only externally, we’re able to imagine how they would be feeling internally, which forces us to really think about the book and maybe insert personal experiences to see how we would feel in those situations. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book because it allowed me to have more of a connection to the book in a way.
I also loved the author’s writing style, especially the vocabulary and the exquisite use of language in a stylistic way which didn’t take away from the main flow of the book. It was as if the writing style was its own storyline that you needed to specifically pay attention to, to really see the beauty of it. Most, if not all of the sentences in the story I can imagine being inspirational quotes one day. It was interesting to see how I could tell he had the strongest bond with his mother because he spoke about her the most and we could see that she affected him the most. I loved it because I had never seen this done before, it was a part of the story I understood that was never put into words.
One thing in particular I didn’t like was the info dumping of the story and all the technical terms the reader seemed to be bombarded with from time to time. I found myself skimming through some parts to avoid becoming fatigued with all of the information. Some of it essentially seemed unnecessary, or at least it could have been broken up into smaller chunks to make it more digestible. I feel like it was just the middle of the book I was able to read and truly enjoy the most.
All in all, I enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it. I enjoyed how it highlighted the highs and lows, the joys and the sadnesses of the authors life and allowed me to get lessons from it. It enlightened me to the war that happened but also showed me that a war is never the only problem you have. There will always be familial issues and other things but the way that you react to it is what matters the most.
I would recommend this book to anyone over the age of thirteen with an interest in war and other cultures. I rate this book a 6.5/10, almost a 7.
Lukonge Achilees Education, Travel, and Health Blog 