Book Review: How Far We’ve Come by Joyce Efia Harmer

It’s hard to go too in-depth into what happens in How Far We’ve Come without spoiling major plot points, so rest assured this will be a spoiler-free zone. 

Obah can only dream of freedom, of a life that is her own. Enslaved on a Barbados plantation—a large property or piece of land dependent on the labor of enslaved people—she knows nothing of privilege and peace. Only, when there are talks of a rebellion in what they call the Big House, she begins to imagine what that liberty might look like.

In doing so, Obah meets Jacob. He seems strange, out of sorts, as if he’s not from her world. Even so, she puts her faith in him, despite concern of where that might lead. Sure enough, Jacob isn’t from her time at all. He’s from the twenty-first century—and he wants to take her back with him to give her a better life. To Obah, this is otherworldly, a dream come to life. But things aren’t always as they seem, and soon enough things start to fracture, and Obah realises that freedom isn’t as straight-forward as her escape has seemed. Sure, the future is different and better, but those wounds are still there and cannot be ignored and erased. And despite Jacob’s best wishes of bringing her to his time for a better life, time itself isn’t ours to bend—but what does that mean for Obah?

Overall, How Far We’ve Come was a gut-punch of emotion, full to the brim of poignant words and striking after-thoughts once the last page was turned. Joyce does an incredible job of creating distinctive voices and invoking major feelings with her words. Obah was so vivid in my mind. I loved how her character developed over the pages, and how big her heart was. I wasn’t all that sure of Jacob, who ended up growing on me, but his family weren’t favourites for me. I felt quite disconnected from the present-day timeline, enthralled more by the Barbados one where we were rooted as readers, and found the characters of Obah’s time my favourite to read about. Some of the twists were hard to believe or easy to guess, but it was nevertheless powerful—this book is sure to make such a large impact on people. I really think readers will love Obah, just as I did, and root for her belief in future happiness and emancipation from what she had to do to survive, and who she could be when it was over. A very great read indeed.