Oonya Kempadoo

Kempadoo is a true poet, and although BUXTON SPICE is billed as a novel, it is really more a collection of dances in which the poetics of language play a great part. With more and more literature appearing that does not follow the tight storylines of old, perhaps it is time for us to come up with another word to describe books such as Kempadoo's that are not-quite-novel, not-quite poetry, and not-quite-short-stories. Never mind that we don't have an official category for Kempadoo's fiction. show more It is strong enough and musical enough to dance on its own power. A series of short collage pieces show us a series of small moments that become suddenly huge in the life of a girl child in Guyana in the 70s. It is about early and uncomfortable awareness of race, sex, age, disability, and of the unpredictibility of politics. Kempadoo writes beautifully and naturally of sex. This is a strong point of hers, and it serves her well. The sex actually creates a sort of tension on which all of her stories ride. Oonya Kempadoo is young and she's talented. What she has done in BUXTON SPICE with language can most certainly be done again with a different theme. One can only wonder what Kempadoo will write about next. Will it be Guyana or England or . . .something entirely from her imagination? This is an author to watch. And, in the meantime, to read. show less

It took me weeks to read this. I have such mixed feelings about it. The language/writing was really lovely in a lot of passages. Wonderful descriptions. I could definitely see using a lot of passages in class for a variety of reasons. But as a whole... it just seemed like there was too much going on, and thus not enough focus on one story to make it really matter in the way that it should. I really wanted to and thought I would love this book, but sadly, that was not the case.

An interesting coming-of-age novel set in Guyana in the 1970s. I'm not sure I warmed up entirely to any of the characters and I'm not sure this works as a bildungsroman - 'm not sure the protagonist makes it to adulthood in the book. But despite my disconnection and my technical beefs, the story was interesting as a vivid portrait of the very intense place that Guyana was during that era.

Sassy, tart, frightening. Superbly written. I heard the voices, felt the heat, ached from the tragedy born out of the struggles of poverty, race, faith....all those same old stories, played out starkly in one fleeting time.