NNO Book Club: Everfair

This is the in-person event. There is also an online version of this event scheduled for 6:30 pm this same date.
As a book club, we try and seek out a wide range of voices in what we read. This is a new author for us but not our first wander into Steam punk – though this setting is decidedly different than the “Wild West” we visited with “Karen Memory” in July 2021. I am excited to learn more about the Belgian Congo as we explore Everfair by Nisi Shawl.
***Book summary from Goodreads***
Everfair, the brilliant Neo-Victorian alternate-history novel from acclaimed short-story writer Nisi Shawl, potently explores the question of what might have come of Belgium's disastrous colonization of the Congo if the native populations had adopted steam technology as their own.
In Shawl's eloquently explored vision, told by a multiplicity of voices that have historically been silenced—Africans, Europeans, East Asians, and African Americans in complex relationships with one another—Fabian socialists from Great Britian join forces with African American missionaries to purchase land from the Belgian Congo's "owner," King Leopold II. This land, named Everfair, is set aside as a safe haven, an imaginary Utopia for native populations of the Congo as well as former slaves returning from America and other places where African natives and their descendants were being mistreated. The work of keeping this land their own is near impossible, and tragedy is unavoidable. Yet the citizens of Everfair are determined, and even try their hand at the rewarding tasks of governance, invention...and romance.
Everfair is not only a beautiful book, but an inspiring and educational one that will give the reader new insight into an often ignored period of history. Shawl's speculative masterpiece thereby reframes the notorious atrocities of Leopold's reign into a marvelous and exciting exploration of the possibilities inherent in a turn of history.
***This month's restaurant selection***
The original location was great – but too small for book club. This month we are checking out Babushka’s Hyde Park location. Same great food – lots more room. Babushka’s embraces a wide range of Russian, Ukrainian, Georgian, and other Eastern European/former SSR cuisines – and it is all amazing.
Note on Location/Parking: Platt Street is one-way here and Babushka’s is on the left side of the road so you may need to go past it and loop around the block. There is a rather small lot next to the restaurant but you will see signage for a much larger parking area behind the business next door, nestled right next to the Selmon.
***Not sure about book club or never been to one before? ***
Read the book (or some of the book). Come to the Meetup. Eat yummy food and chat with folks about what you thought about the book. REPEAT!
***Not sure where to get the book? ***
All books we select have a decent number of copies (at least 3-4 across all formats) at both the Hillsborough and Pinellas County Library. And, of course, you can always buy a copy.
***Didn’t finish/hated this book?***
Come to the Meetup anyway! If you didn't finish - just be aware, there will be spoilers. If you hated it, come and rant! In my experience, the books that generate the best conversations and the books we really love are rarely the same books.