Welcome to Litsy!

3.5 out of 5

Following the rule 'one for me, one for you' my first books shopping expedition for #HalloweenGoesPostal match was fun, therapeutic and successful. Few bookish gifts and goodies ... and the package will be ready.

Pao and I struggled through this book together. Despite spending so much time inside his head, I still don't 'get' him or his actions, though there were glimpses...

I did enjoy getting to know his friends and family, though some - Fay - felt so faint they were hardly there. Was that deliberate? It was Pao's eyes we were seeing the world through.

And 40+ years of Jamaican history, viewed from Kingston Chinatown, and tied into the story in an 👇

Starting Pao, probably for a #readharder challenge - debut novel or written by an immigrant or all points of view are people of colour. We'll see.

I expected this to be difficult to get into, but I'm there already! And I love this cover.

A well-written novel of multicultural Jamaica from the late 30s to the 1960s, told from the POV of a benevolent Chinese-Jamaican hoodlum. Except for two inexcusably violent acts, he's too good, too generous, too kind, ultimately, to be a believable character. Still, a really enjoyable read!

Pao's regular prostitute, Gloria, ain't all that happy to hear that he has gotten married; on this, one of his thrice-weekly visits, she ushers him into a room in her house and leaves him alone in there to stew in his own juices…

Just starting in on this novel on audio, by a Chinese-Jamaican writer. She narrates the audio and I'm hopelessly bewitched by the singsong Jamaican accent!

My June TBR list was looking a little too white/straight/male so I let my eye wander online and now my heart is racing at this find! Kerry Young is a Chinese-Jamaican (or is that Jamaican-Chinese?) novelist writing about her community and multicultural life in Jamaica. AWESOME!