'A Way to Catch the Dust and Other Stories' by Jacob Ross
Published by Mango Publishing Price: £8.99 Reviewed by
Anabel Torres A
fter reading A Way To Catch The Dust, Ross's recent book of short stories, I must thank him for replacing my cliché by the memorable, multi-faceted picture of a pulsing life under the
Caribbean sun. I thank him, even, for rekindling the utopia of a unified Latin America. In his writing, I can savour the same feeling of togetherness I experience among my own exiles. As
different as a Caribbean island colonised by the British may be from a country in South America conquered by the Spanish, we have much in common. We share the same kinds of hunger, the same
dreams and awakenings. Our landscapes and kin ties, our religions and models of morality, our very use of the language, our poverty and the exuberance of our habitats form a common reef. We were
brought up under the aegis of our mother's singing and engulfed by the rhythm and music crowding our streets. We grew up skirting the same kinds of silences, apprehensions and taboos. Like every honest writer, Ross is a haunted being who chooses not to run from his ghosts; he just sets them down on paper in
his best possible fashion. Reading this book, however, I wonder what effects that pristine presence of his native Grenada may be having on the real Jacob Ross, the exile; these translucent
memories, this absence that inhabits him so totally and lovingly? Ross has remained enmeshed with his own flesh and blood, flooded by the ebbs and tides of his native landscapes, but his handling
of the subject matter is too vibrant and alive to be labelled nostalgic. How he manages to keep the distance at bay, though confronted daily by the reality of absence, is a gift to his readers:
what he has now placed in the palms of our hands are carefully crafted, rounded jewels. If his readers dispense with pondering on this blackhole – and I suppose it is none of our
business, really – what we come away with is the satisfaction of having read a book worth reading. Stories like "Walking for my Mother", "Deliverance", "Kus Kus: the
Laughing Tree" and "A Different Ocean" touch us with a timeless wisdom and wit. They give us, especially, confidence, both in the existence of moral dilemmas and in knowing that
human beings will always be able to tackle them. A Way to Catch the Dust
is also a very funny book. Ross' use of the Creole language, like in 'Chirren' or 'Ku-Kus: Woman of Letters', are perfect after dinner mints to the main course of his writing. And they are truly, truly full of humour. You will laugh out loud, unless you make a conscious effort not to.
Finally, I also thank Jacob Ross for something that, to me, is a small miracle, confirming my wavering faith in the
written word. Just as the horizon is that invisible but sharp line dividing heaven and earth - or heaven, sand and sea, in this case - Ross' texts give shape to the horizon merging poetry and
fiction. These memorable sketches, highlighted by a prodigal and highly personal universe, offer us new and exciting inner landscapes. To read A Way to Catch the Dust
is also to surrender, for once, and without any guilt, qualms or qualifications, to the sheer pleasure of being human. Anabel Torres. Amsterdam, December 21, 1999 - Torres is a Colombian poet and translator residing in the Netherlands.
|
