I took me a very long time to get through this book. The writing is good, no problems there. In fact, for a random book off the library shelf based on the cover, it is remarkably good. It was hard to read because of the subject. Right away you know the book is working towards some terrible event and I did not want that event to come (turns out by the time it does come, it is so anticipated that it was not shocking not as graphic or long as I feared). There is another storyline about a corrupt cop that is so hopeless and disheartening that it is hard to read it. While the three main characters in the first storyline are all nice enough, I was not drawn to any of them, did not love anyone, was rather indifferent. Makes it easy to ignore a book in favour of other books or activities. I kept with it because I appreciate reading about a place I know very little about (Nairobi, Kenya) but I could not push this book on anyone else. ( )

After a traumatic event in her childhood, Leena left Kenya for university in England, and returning to her homeland is proving difficult, until an old friend resurfaces and shows her that to feel safe, one must not avoid dangers, but rather face fears head-on. This is a surprising, uncomfortable, and absolutely heartbreaking story about Kenya and its people. It presents an image of Nairobi that will make you feel as if you've been there yourself and all the characters, both the ones you love and those you hate, are urging you to care about them, which you will, deeply. ( )

The tension that exists between Africans who have been colonized and Southeast Asians who followed Europeans to those lands is rarely discussed; Iman Verjee's novel approaches the issue with touching openness and insight. By telling the story through several perspectives and masterful use of timing, she methodically unwraps the complex relationships among native Kenyans and Indian-Kenyans. The characters, especially Jeffery and Leena, are well-developed and give the reader a sense of the fine moral/social lines that communities draw between each other in order to bolster social stratification and mistaken ideas about supremacy. It was painful reading some of the stereotypes characters believed about others, but Verjee's novel offers an opportunity for dialogue about the nastiness that lies just below our people's facades. ( )

Who Will Catch Us As We Fall is a masterfully written novel where the standout character is Nairobi itself. Verjee's prose is spare yet poetic, and each interwoven character is deftly portrayed, complex, flawed and sympathetic. I did think the ending was a bit weak and neat, and I would have appreciated more of a continuance of some of the plot threads. Verjee lays everything out with a fairly slow pace, but each character and storyline are given incredible depth and weight. I look forward to following Verjee and her unique and compelling perspective, and her clear and beautiful writing. ( )

Verjee’s narrative is straightforward, yet rich and compelling. It tells the heartbreaking tale of a beautiful city, Nairobi, fraught with rampant racial bias, poverty and unethical practices - especially by those who should be protecting it's people and communities. This is not a story about solutions, it is about hope, a hope that its people can see beyond the dirt, poverty and corruption and realize the beauty in its land and diverse blend of people. The moral is in the story itself without the need for moralizing. It hits the reader hard as one contemplates the formidable injustices. This is a powerful novel filled with multidimensional characters whose lives were developed from the experience of one who was born and raised in Nairobi. It is a commendable work of literature.

Post note: The above review is based on an ARC edition. In this review I left out my opinion of the author's first and last chapters, which is not favorable. They lack the depth and character of the intervening 400 approximate pages. I do not know whether these parts were edited for the final printing. They were weak enough to warrant mentioning, yet not enough to effect the novel's overall value and rating. ( )