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. ( )

A fairly evocative look back to the author's childhood in Guyana. The writing is poetic, descriptive, as she recalls the place, the people and the political climate for a girl on the brink of adulthood. And watching over all the events stands the Buxton Spice mango tree in the garden.Not massively memorable but quite well written. ( )

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. 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. ( )

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. ( )