Natives of My Person by George Lamming
My review of Barbadian novelist George Lamming's complex allegory of colonial psychology.
The View From Belmont by Kevyn Alan Arthur
The View From Belmont raises interesting questions of race and gender amid the barbarousness of a slave-owning society. The dual narrative was a promising technique, but it didn't feel fully realised to me. I'd have liked more of 1990s Trinidad…
Book Review: Cambridge by Caryl Phillips
This dual narrative set in a 19th-century Caribbean island is an interesting exploration of a critical period, but the narratives feel unbalanced: we spend a lot of time immersed in the prejudices of the plantation owner's daughter, while the account…
Race & Class in Jamaican Fiction: Dog-Heart by Diana McCaulay
Dog-Heart tells the story of two Jamaicans from very different worlds. Sahara is a light-skinned “uptown” woman who runs a successful Kingston restaurant. Dexter is a poor, dark-skinned boy from the “ghetto” neighbourhood of Jacob’s Pen.
February 2022 Reading Roundup
Last month I read some excellent books, including Japanese literary fiction and some more Caribbean literature from local bookshops.
Pick of the Crop by Nailah Folami Imoja
The annual calypso competition is a big deal in Barbados, so when I saw a novel about it on a recent trip to a second-hand bookshop, I wanted to give it a try. It has a promising start, but the…
June 2021 Reading Roundup
In my last reading roundup, I was still emerging from winter. Now, it’s been 30+ degrees for weeks, and I can barely remember what a cloud looks like. The storks that had just appeared on the tops of the electricity…
Jacks Hill Road by Jennifer Grahame
We’ve all driven down one of those streets, haven’t we? One of those streets where the lawns are manicured, the pavements are clean and uncracked, and the houses are hidden away behind large gates. One of those streets where you…
The Politicians by Don Walther
Coruscating look at the world of politics. If you’ve ever looked at the politicians in your country and wondered why they’re all so bad, this novel goes a long way to explaining it. The book is set in a Caribbean…