"Because I am the bastard child of Empire and I will have my day."
The novel, Fruit of the Lemon, stirs thoughts of Sankofa as one reads Levy's story of immigration and the confusion of identity. It is a West Indian to Caribbean movement. One looks to the past to understand the present and confront the future.
The confusion and anguish of the main character infects the reader and then Levy confronts Africa and identity through Jamaica. It is fraught with the turmoil of psychological abandonment as one's identity is cut off, amputated, and one looks for the lost limb. It has Caribbean rhythms. Levy has captured the humor that permeates Caribbean culture - the loose fabric of unwavering belief in self and the future - in family.
by Bacchus
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
A Mercy by Toni Morrison
Morrison sings the blues.
A Mercy has all the ingredients of the blues. It is filled with the jagged notes of tragedy - open and blood soaked wounds, the awareness of brutal separation and the disfigurement of slavery, the base and ugly underbelly of the jackal like quality of human nature breathing alongside the always simmering loneliness that dwells in the hearts of women. Morrison's words, like the blues, sooths the souls of those raped and brutalized; it is not music; it strips away all pretense that slavery was anything else but centuries of diseased vermin feasting on the flesh of trapped humans.
As the story unfolds, the reader must acknowledge the legacy of one's stolen culture, language, dreams, family and freedom. One must recognize the pedophile, the rapist, and the sadist. At the same time, like the volcano that keeps reshaping the earth, one is mesmerized by the unfailing and undaunted resistance of a people, of women, who refuse to let go of pride and the human dream of the right to be; the right to be free.
by Bacchus
A Mercy has all the ingredients of the blues. It is filled with the jagged notes of tragedy - open and blood soaked wounds, the awareness of brutal separation and the disfigurement of slavery, the base and ugly underbelly of the jackal like quality of human nature breathing alongside the always simmering loneliness that dwells in the hearts of women. Morrison's words, like the blues, sooths the souls of those raped and brutalized; it is not music; it strips away all pretense that slavery was anything else but centuries of diseased vermin feasting on the flesh of trapped humans.
As the story unfolds, the reader must acknowledge the legacy of one's stolen culture, language, dreams, family and freedom. One must recognize the pedophile, the rapist, and the sadist. At the same time, like the volcano that keeps reshaping the earth, one is mesmerized by the unfailing and undaunted resistance of a people, of women, who refuse to let go of pride and the human dream of the right to be; the right to be free.
by Bacchus
Chicago by Alaa Al Aswany
Chicago by Alaa Al Aswany is an important read and even more so now that we live in this state of perpetual fear of terrorism. He gives us insight into an immigrant experience that is overdue for the American. He shines light on the Islamic (African and middle eastern) culture, on the lives of men and women who are a part of this culture, and on humanity as many characters try to maneuver in a society where their religion and traditions are often misunderstood and misinterpreted.
It is an experience unique in many ways and, yet, very familiar and similar to all immigrant experiences. He highlights the many challenges faced as they confront difference and are seen as different. At the same time, the reader is drawn in by the threads of love and friendship that wind themselves throughout the story as the main characters go on with life and its challenges.
by Bacchus
It is an experience unique in many ways and, yet, very familiar and similar to all immigrant experiences. He highlights the many challenges faced as they confront difference and are seen as different. At the same time, the reader is drawn in by the threads of love and friendship that wind themselves throughout the story as the main characters go on with life and its challenges.
by Bacchus
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Small Island. You will laugh; you will smile; you will want to cry. Levy's talent makes one feel envy and jealousy as she takes you down life's pathways. One wonders how she manipulates the English language and casts her spell of Caribbean rhythms and articulations.
Wow! Levy. Levy reveals the multiple Caribbean characters in all of their glory. Along with the characters, the reader feels the burden of guilt when one finds oneself wanting more from life and realizing that world events have managed to create a kind of circus for many immigrants. The need for success, for a kind of freedom, for survival has ones dreams finding light in foreign countries and these are often the very countries that destroyed the dreams of home. The idea of the "mother country" is confronted.
The hideous reality of racism is bared when characters become fully aware of their "place" in countries that have, for years, been chiseled into their minds as protectors and lands of the free. In spite of this circus that Levy reveals, she is also able to stretch your lips in a smile and tickle your belly into laughter as the inane human behaviors that herald love and passion come rushing out of her pen.
by Bacchus
Wow! Levy. Levy reveals the multiple Caribbean characters in all of their glory. Along with the characters, the reader feels the burden of guilt when one finds oneself wanting more from life and realizing that world events have managed to create a kind of circus for many immigrants. The need for success, for a kind of freedom, for survival has ones dreams finding light in foreign countries and these are often the very countries that destroyed the dreams of home. The idea of the "mother country" is confronted.
The hideous reality of racism is bared when characters become fully aware of their "place" in countries that have, for years, been chiseled into their minds as protectors and lands of the free. In spite of this circus that Levy reveals, she is also able to stretch your lips in a smile and tickle your belly into laughter as the inane human behaviors that herald love and passion come rushing out of her pen.
by Bacchus
Friday, January 1, 2010
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Adichie's Half the Yellow Sun takes the reader on a personal journey through her country, Nigeria. She describes the reality of a country tainted by the values of colonial arrogance and imperialist sadism. The characters are of various socioeconomic backgrounds and they reflect the pride of culture, the clash of tradition against foreign values, and the issues of class.
The possibilities of the intellectual in an era of political turbulence is visited and at the same time these possibilities are challenged by the sheer force of power fueled by the anger of a people divided and conquered by unrelenting and unapologetic greed.
Adichie's creativity shows in the matches she makes between men and women, between black and white, rich and poor. As the reader studies these characters, she/he is given an understanding of the psychological consequences of war on many levels.
by Bacchus
The possibilities of the intellectual in an era of political turbulence is visited and at the same time these possibilities are challenged by the sheer force of power fueled by the anger of a people divided and conquered by unrelenting and unapologetic greed.
Adichie's creativity shows in the matches she makes between men and women, between black and white, rich and poor. As the reader studies these characters, she/he is given an understanding of the psychological consequences of war on many levels.
by Bacchus
Songs Yet Sung by James McBride
Magnificently rendered is the story of bravery - of a woman who dreamed dreams of future possibilities, of warnings, of freedom.
McBride, in Songs Yet Sung approaches his novel (his creative vision) through mystery and adventure. The heroine is young and beautiful, but estranged from the normal. He provides her with spiritual qualities that leaves the reader breathless, but positions the character as the personification of the road to freedom no matter what the cost. She presents danger yet seeks a deeper understanding. The world she lives in does not follow human logic. The reader is asked to question the ideas of responsibility , loyalty, sacrifice and also to face the love of freedom and to struggle with decisions of life and death.
by Bacchus
McBride, in Songs Yet Sung approaches his novel (his creative vision) through mystery and adventure. The heroine is young and beautiful, but estranged from the normal. He provides her with spiritual qualities that leaves the reader breathless, but positions the character as the personification of the road to freedom no matter what the cost. She presents danger yet seeks a deeper understanding. The world she lives in does not follow human logic. The reader is asked to question the ideas of responsibility , loyalty, sacrifice and also to face the love of freedom and to struggle with decisions of life and death.
by Bacchus
The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat
In the Dew Breaker, Danticat takes hold of your heart and your mind. She juxtaposes fiction against non-fiction.
Danticat makes the story very personal while she attracts the across borders echoes of the familiar - of love, of family, the pain of the immigrant, and the clash of cultures. She touches your heart and eases it open with a force of emotions that connects the reader to past and present relationships - to love and hate and their shared memories and to the complication of betrayal of home and country. Danticat uses simplicity of language to make clear a world raped and pillaged by colonialism and its various masters both foreign and local.
To read Danticat is to revisit a resiliant pride of a people, the Haitian people, who gave us the first successful fight for freedom; she gives us reason to rage against injustice and to stand on the side of reason.
by Bacchus
Danticat makes the story very personal while she attracts the across borders echoes of the familiar - of love, of family, the pain of the immigrant, and the clash of cultures. She touches your heart and eases it open with a force of emotions that connects the reader to past and present relationships - to love and hate and their shared memories and to the complication of betrayal of home and country. Danticat uses simplicity of language to make clear a world raped and pillaged by colonialism and its various masters both foreign and local.
To read Danticat is to revisit a resiliant pride of a people, the Haitian people, who gave us the first successful fight for freedom; she gives us reason to rage against injustice and to stand on the side of reason.
by Bacchus
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