Naomi Jackson (1)

It took me a few chapters to get into this, but once I was in, it didn't let me go. I've been fascinated for some time by literature set in or dealing with Caribbean and African communities and cultures -- I find the history of those regions, particularly the Caribbean, very interesting. This is the tale of two sisters who are spending the summer in Barbados with their grandmother, exiled there by their mother who "can no longer care for them." The narrative begins sort of in the middle of show more the story: the girls are simply there, and the background unfolds along the way. It's a compact story, with the trials and tribulations of being a teenage or pre-teen girl taking the forefront, and in that way the setting doesn't really matter, except that the expectations they must meet in Barbados are clearly much different than what they would have experienced if they had stayed in New York. The two girls adjust to their new way of life, expecting all the while to be returning after the summer to their home and their mother, but soon it becomes clear that things may not work out as they thought. Both girls have different ideas about what it would mean to stay with their grandmother, or to return to their mother, and the reappearance of their long-absent father only complicates things. He is a dramatic (if somewhat predictable) character who ultimately proves to be the catalyst for their final decision. This tight little tale came together nicely and ended just right. show less

Oh the joy of Caribbean women writers! Tiphanie Yanique (Anegada), Lauren Francis-Sharma (Trinidad), and now Naomi Jackson of Barbados. And Brooklyn. Husband and wife Avril and Errol move from the island to Brooklyn, away from Avril's mother Hyacinth, a midwife in the village of Bird Hill. After Dionne and Phaedra are born, Avril kicks Errol out and slides into a deepening depression after becoming a nurse to AIDS patients at the onset of the epidemic. She sends her girls - the resentful show more Dionne, a teenager, and the younger Phaedra - to their grandmother in Barbados for the summer. The girls have difficulties adjusting to island life but find consolation in Hyacinth and all their closeby neighbors.

The wisdom and flawed stubbornness of Hyacinth make her a character for the ages. But the most astonishing part of the narrative is the historical reach of Bird Hill's transformation from plantation to freedom.

The writing is as resplendent as the setting. Quotes: "It was hot outside, as if all the heat that had gathered during the day decided to stay the night"

"In Brooklyn, Barbados was a jewel that Bajans turned over in their minds, a candy whose sweetness they sucked on whenever the bitter cold and darkness of life in America became too much to bear."

"Sixty three years on this earth had taught Hyacinth that it wasn't so much the mistakes that people made but how flexible they were in their aftermath that made all the difference in how their lives turned out." show less

I was very surprised, considering how well this book was written, to find out it is this authors first novel. The journey from childhood to adulthood is never easy, and it is especially difficult for Phaedra, aged ten and Dionne aged sixteen, when they are sent from Brooklyn to Barbados to stay the summer with their grandmother. Promised, by their mother, who has been in a depression, that she would be sending for them when summer was over.

My favorite character was Hyacinth, their show more grandmother, who is a midwife and practitioner of Obeah. Would like to have read more about these two things but the story is not really about her so much as about the girls and the adjustments they must make. Things are so different at Bird Hill, that at first the girls flounder, filled with resentment at being sent away. Phaedra will be the first to adjust, a young girl who seems at times wise above her years. Dione, who had taken care of her mother and her younger sister, has trouble with the idea of someone telling her what to do, taking care of her. A tragic event in the middle of the novel will have the girls scrambling to come to terms with the new circumstance that they must now face.

Wonderful, depth filled characters. The folklore and food, as well as the celebrations and stories, give the reader a vivid glimpse of Bird Hill. Wonderful first book and will be looking for more from this talented author. show less

A very enjoyable read of a kind I almost never seek out. I admire Jackson for fearlessly adopting a nearly antiquated way of storytelling, at least in the realms of contemporary literary fiction--the novel is written with an omniscient voice, interspersed with lyrical passages of free indirect style, the kind of book Thomas Hardy might have written if he were a young woman of West indian origin writing in the 21st century. It's a brave and very effective choice that allowed the author to show more write exceedingly tender and beautiful passages of community gatherings and ways of life. The story took me right to the edge of two precipitously dangerous metaphorical cliffs, sentimentalism and melodrama, but never fell over. show less