Brown Girl in the Ring [Paperback]

Nalo Hopkinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1998

The rich and the privileged have fled the city, barricaded it behind roadblocks, and left it to crumble. The inner city has had to rediscover old ways -- farming, barter, herb lore. But now the monied need a harvest of bodies, and so they prey upon the helpless of the streets. With nowhere to turn, a young woman must open herself to ancient truths, eternal powers, the tragic mystery surrounding her mother and grandmother. She must bargain with gods, and give birth to new legends.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This is Nalo Hopkinson's debut novel, which came to attention when it won the Warner Aspect First Novel Contest. It tells the story of Ti-Jeanne, a young woman in a near-future Toronto that's been all but abandoned by the Canadian government. Anyone who can has retreated from the chaos of the city to the relative safety of the suburbs, and those left in "the burn" must fend for themselves. Ti-Jeanne is a new mother who's trying to come to grips with her as- yet-unnamed baby and also trying to end her relationship with her drug-addict boyfriend Tony. But a passion still burns between the young lovers, and when Tony runs afoul of Rudy, the local ganglord, Ti-Jeanne convinces her grandmother Gros-Jeanne to help out. Gros-Jeanne is a Voudoun priestess, and it's clear that Ti-Jeanne has inherited some of her gifts. Although Ti-Jeanne wants nothing to do with the spirit world, she soon finds herself caught up in a battle to the death with Rudy and the mother she thought she lost long ago. --Craig E. Engler

From Publishers Weekly

The musical rhythms of Caribbean voices and the earthy spirit-magic of obeah knit together this unusual fantasy, the first winner of Warner Aspect's First Novel Contest. Toronto in the next century is a "doughnut hole city," its core collapsed into ruinous slums after much of the population left to escape rising urban crime and violence. Those who remain in the Burn are survivors like Ti-Jeanne and her grandmother Mami, who trade herbal cures and spells for necessities, or predators like drug-lord Rudy and the "posse" of men, including Ti-Jeanne's ex-lover Tony, who sell "buff" for him. Outside the Burn, Catherine Uttley, the premier of Ontario, needs a heart transplant and a boost in her approval ratings. To accomplish both, she announces support for a return to voluntary human organ donation, allegedly to prevent the spread of Virus Epsilon, sometimes found in the porcine organs grown for transplant. The heart she needs will have to come from someone in the Burn, and Rudy saddles Tony with the job of finding a donor. Tony has no stomach for the job, however, and goes to Ti-Jeanne and Mami for help, bringing the unpredictable and powerful spirits of Caribbean obeah into play. Though the story sometimes turns too easily on coincidence, Hopkinson's writing is smooth and assured, and her characters lively and believable. She has created a vivid world of urban decay and startling, dangerous magic, where the human heart is both a physical and metaphorical key.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; First edition. edition (July 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446674338
• ISBN-13: 978-0446674331
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,661 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a novelist, editor, short story writer. I also teach, and I freelance sometimes as an arts consultant. Most of my books have been published by Warner Books, now known as Grand Central Books. If you like knowing about awards and such, my work has received the Warner Aspect First Novel award, the Sunburst Award for Canadian literature of the fantastic, the World Fantasy Award, the Gaylactic Spectrum Award, and Honourable Mention in Cuba's Casa de las Americas Prize for literature.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Octavia Butler's True Literary Offspring, March 9, 2003

By 

Nichole Long "Nichole" (Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brown Girl in the Ring (Paperback)

In Charles Saunders' essay titled "Why Blacks Should Read (And Write) Science Fiction," Nalo Hopkinson was pointed out by Saunders as being "Octavia Butler's true literary child." While Hopkinson "doesn't imitate Butler," he reminded us, she did "imitate the older writer's strenghts in plotting and characterization (Dark Matter, ed. by Sheree R. Thomas, 2000)." Saunders was right. What a debut. This first novel was enthralling. It was so good that up-and-coming fantasy novelist Nalo Hopkinson had managed to win both heady praise from Butler herself and a Warner Aspect First Novel Award.

Brown Girl in the Ring had everything. Smooth, yet urgent prose. Heart-stopping action. A thriving Caribbean-Vodoun culture in Canada. Soul-deadening urban decay. Vibrant Caribbean speech. Evil that makes your skin crawl. Using the power of the old ways of her ancestors, hero Ti-Jeanne must come of age in near-future Toronto by confronting the forces that threaten to overcome her neighborhood, her family, and her life. Even though I had read this book nearly 4 years ago, it is still in my head. It was and still is that good.

More that 3 decades ago, Octavia E. Butler revolutionized the heart of science-fantasy writing, setting tough new standards of excellence. With Brown Girl in the Ring, Nalo Hopkinson has met that challenge admirably. I know Butler must be proud.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What's a girl to do? Use magic, of course., February 18, 2002

By 

Kelly (Fantasy Literature) (Columbia, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Brown Girl in the Ring (Paperback)

I have no idea why the publishers are calling this science fiction. It's really more of a horror/fantasy blend; the only sci-fi element I can think of is the near-future setting. Which suits me just fine. ;)

The world of _Brown Girl_ is frighteningly plausible--it is the logical conclusion of our current suburban sprawl and consequent urban decay. Here, even the city government has fled to the suburbs, and no one is left in the inner city but the poor. There is no electricity, no sewer system. You can't get into the hospital unless you are wealthy. And Rudy, the diabolical crime boss of Toronto, is selling organs to these hospitals--and let's just say the donors are less than willing.

And in this city lives Ti-Jeanne (Little Jeanne), a new mother, staying with her wise grandmother, Gros-Jeanne (Big Jeanne). Gros-Jeanne wants to pass on her knowledge to Ti-Jeanne, but Ti-Jeanne only grudgingly learns herbal skills, and wants nothing to do with Gros-Jeanne's other talent--the practice of Afro-Caribbean magic. Then one night they hold a ritual to help Ti-Jeanne's deadbeat ex-boyfriend, and the spirits tell Ti-Jeanne that it is her destiny to stop Rudy's evil.

We are sucked in, as Ti-Jeanne's course becomes more irrevocable, as she comes to accept the orishas, and as her ex-boyfriend's fear and drug addiction drive him into worse and worse trouble. Ti-Jeanne's only hope lies in her wits and in half-remembered bits of magical lore. An engrossing read; however, don't buy this if you object to violence. There is a good bit of that.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hopkinson avoids gimicks, August 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Brown Girl in the Ring (Paperback)

Perhaps the best aspect of this book, for me at least, was that Hopkinson integrates the loa into her book without making them seem hokey. In other urban fantasy books I have read, it sometimes seems as if the author almost puts the notice "OK, I'm putting in the magic now." before any supernatural elements enter. Hopkinson, on the other hand, describes the supernatural, the spirits that Ti-Jeanne sees and interacts with, as an insider, as if they were as accepted a fact to the readers as microwave ovens or computers. It was very refreshing to see voudoun presented in this light. I'd highly recommend this book to any who are interested in Afro-Carribean culture and mythology. Even if you're not, I'd try to persuade you to read it, it's a bit rough at times, but overall excellent for a first novel.