Really good! I enjoyed the book a great deal. The wit, the management of experience and the
sense of knowing the world the writer has created is so assured and so engaging. I especially enjoyed the 'Hemingway' narrative which balanced the politics of relationships on the shore and
the "landscape" of the sea with tremendous skill.I also enjoyed finding allusions to things like Philoctete from OMEROS and that kind of thing. The Kus Kus pieces
are genuinely funny, and I find the quality of the plot construction and character shaping to be exceptionally good. What I like is the commitment to a distinct landscape and space. The story
of the girl who dives is so powerful and so moving. The sense of the place, the village, the sea, the people--writing in a small space that does not, for some reason, seem limited, is what makes
it clear to me that this writer is writing well. This is as good a collection of short stories as has been produced anywhere in the Caribbean. No question about it.
Kwame Dawes is an award-winning poet, Literary Critic,
Cultural Commentator and Professor of Literature the University of Louisana |
