Welcome to Litsy!

Set in Jamaica, a young Rastafarian boy comes home from school crying after his teacher cut off his dreads. His grandmother may be blind but she can see that this event will have serious repercussions. The story goes back and forth in time, giving us a deeper understanding of this town and the divides that bind but also separate its inhabitants. Miller manages a lot in less than 300 pages. #24in2024

He read me Arthur Rimbaud's Le Bateau Ivre to awaken my freedom, read me Baudelaire to contain my pain, read me Apollinaire to dilute my distress, read me Leconte de Lisle to rouse in me exaltations he called automatic, read me Saint-John Perse to take stock of the world in the rambling seaspray, he read Faulkner to show me the dark disorders in the head-depths of men...

CHRISTMAS DOWN HERE
The opportunity was during one December when City went up in flames. A disagreement between blackmen and france-whites following a tale of some illegally parked bike. Shots were fired. The white man's shot hit. Other Martinicans drinking by the kiosk nearly stoned the white shooter...

Always amazed how many different perspectives on a book are possible! From "put more in the glossary" to "how had I not come across this novel before?"

The women had to face the rest of life, including the duty of finding food for a swarm of lit- tle ones, and all without a garden. Each mama, you hear me, had to sow in herself a small plot of cunning, and look after the harvest, ill luck or no. Perched by the window, my Esternome would shout, turning to Idoménée, The hills have come down to City, the hills have come down on City, a bloody madness ...

Can check one off my list!

In my defence, book club is early this month...

#readaroundtheworld #jamaica A near allegorical telling of the people‘s lives in a low down neighborhood of Kingston and their desire to fly free. The tale travels back and forth in time as we learn about Ma Taffy, her daughter by upbringing but not birth Gina and Gina‘s son Kaia. The author almost teases with young adult fare and then turns around and slaps us for falling for that. I learned a lot about Rastafarian and Bobo Shanti beliefs.

This author is very angry, and I felt chastised! First among various reasons for being a tourist! It should be required reading for anyone vacationing in the Caribbean, where the tourists have plenty and the locals do not. Take for instance, water. Tourists can swim in it, and then bathe in it, and drink as much as they like. But many islands have no water source so the locals have to conserve every last drop. From there, the author delves ⬇️

My next audiobook for #Antigua #readingtheAmericas @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB