Customer Reviews

It Begins with Tears (Caribbean Writers)

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Adisa has the amazing ability to escort you through the village of Kristoff, Jamiaca and make you "feel" everything that happens. You become a silent member of the village who sees everything that's natural and spritual. The sense of kinship and spirituality felt among the villagers and folklore characters is unbelievably rich. This is a book you'll want to read again and again!!!

I read this book twice and still could not get enough of it. Palmer creates a magical yet very real picture of her characters. I felt like I knew Monica, Beryl, Marva etc. As a young Jamaican woman I am always on the look out for good Caribbean writers. Ms. Palmer mi waiting fi anudder book nuh, mon!

Opal Palmer Adisa's It Begins With Tears is a magical tale about the inhabitants of Kristoff Village, Jamaica. In this, her first novel, Adisa has created a seamless world that connects the eternal and the ephemeral, where words bridge the gap between these seemingly disparate dimensions.

This is the story of the women who live in Krisoff Village. Monica a pretty woman, who use to be a hooker comes back to town, and all the married women are jealous of her, because the men can't seem to get enough of her. This book show's how jealousy, when it get's to the extinct of hurting someone can come back on you.

The author captured the essence of an authentic Jamaica in "It begins with tears". For me, it was an eye opener. As a Jamaican, much of the story was familiar - the language, the people, the beliefs, the emotions. I grew up on the outskirts of village life,so I was an outsider observing its magic and mystery. Memories of my childhood came back to me as I read Ms. Adisa's story. I remember the stories told, the superstitions that have stuck with me.....the howling of the dogs at the death of someone, the fear of "duppies", the use of herbs for medicinal purposes, the kinship of villagers at the time of a birth, death or tragedy. But several things in the story were quite foreign to me, the birthing ritual for example, the burial and the cleansing at the river. The author captured the intensity of emotions at each ritual...I can remember the forcefulness of people in the village wailing at the time of death. As a child, I have often exclaimed that the Devil was fighting with his wife when the sun and rain seemed to be in competition with each other. The author has cleverly used this to develop the core of the story. Authentic Jamaica is so steeped in spirituality, the legacy of our African roots, that it's befitting that the activities of the Devil, She-Devil and their cohorts should directly affect the lives of the Kristoff villagers. The author's style is colorful, just as the natural beauty of the island and the people are. I am pleased that the author used

British English in the story - our dialect is a product of the African slaves'attempt to communicate with the British slave owners. "It begins with tears" is rich with the folklore of a Jamaica in my grandmother's time - today, Jamaicans have traveled far and wide and returned with their horizons widened to the detriment of island traditions. The woman was an integral part in the prosperity of the village, she breathed life into it. The man was always gone..to work outside or out at "play". Villages such as Kristoff may still exist, but they are a dying breed. Thumbs up to female writers such as Opal Palmer Adisa and Louise Bennett for immortalizing our heritage!