The Children of Sisyphus (Longman Caribbean Writers Series) [Paperback]

Orlando Patterson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1986 | ISBN-10: 0582785715 | ISBN-13: 978-0582785717

A bleak portrayal of life on the Dungle—the rubbish heap where the very poorest squat—this beautifully poetic, existentialist novel turns an unwavering eye to life in the Jamaican ghetto. By interweaving the stories of Dinah, a prostitute who can never quite escape the circumstances of her life, and Brother Solomon, a respected Rastafarian leader who allows his followers to think that a ship is on its way to take them home to Ethiopia, this brutally poetic story creates intense and tragic characters who struggle to come to grips with the absurdity of life. As these downtrodden protagonists shed their illusions and expectations, they realize that there is no escape from meaninglessness, and eventually gain a special kind of dignity and stoic awareness about life and the universe.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Orlando Patterson is a professor of sociology at Harvard University and the author of various works of nonfiction as well as the novels An Absence of Ruins and Die the Long Day. His short stories and reviews have appeared in a variety of journals, and two of his short stories have been anthologized. He is the winner of the National Book Award for Non-Fiction for Freedom and the Making of Western Culture. He holds honorary degrees from several universities, including the University of Chicago, UCLA, and La Trobe University in Australia, and was awarded the Order of Distinction by the Government of Jamaica. He lives in Boston.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: Longman Group (1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0582785715
• ISBN-13: 978-0582785717
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #848,303 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A finely written classic of Caribbean literature., May 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Children of Sisyphus (Longman Caribbean Writers Series) (Paperback)

In the years following the first publication of Orlando Patterson's novel it has become a classic, to the extent that it is now required reading in Jamaican secondary schools. Set in the shantytown slums of Kingston in the late nineteen fifties, Patterson's charcterizations of the people at the very bottom of Jamiacan society have great power -- as reggae star Dennis Brown once sang, their story is "the half that's never been told". Following a group of Jamaica's poorest, most humble "sufferers" in their search for deliverance, the author brings to life a Jamaica that is a universe away from most American images of the Caribbean as a beautiful beach with a happy reggae soundtrack. As someone who has visited Jamaica many times, I loved this this book and highly recommend it to anyone who would enjoy an unusual novel from a different cultural perspective, and/or those who may be interested in Jamaican/Caribbean culture and the roots of the rastafarian/black identity movement.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concrete Dungle, April 16, 2003

By 

Geoffrey Philp (Miami, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Children of Sisyphus (Longman Caribbean Writers Series) (Paperback)

Orlando Patterson's Children of Sisyphus set the standard for social realism in Caribbean fiction. He does not romanticize the lives of the poor, nor does he damn them with neglect;rather, he gives their lives dignity.
This is the moral tightrope that all Third World writers face: the choice between compassion and brutal honesty. Patterson succeeds in this fine portrayal of the lives of the poor that is imbued with grace, despite their mean existence.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars its still on my mind, May 12, 2006

By 

Sitta Frohne "MamaSitta" (Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Children of Sisyphus (Longman Caribbean Writers Series) (Paperback)

I read this book first in 1987, just when it was published. It?s almost 20 years later now and the book still lingers on my mind. I have recommended it to many people since. My piece of book is a lot of loose pages......I wonder if it?s a print mistake, but on the website it says the price is 99,- (!)US $ for it? No matter, if you have 99 $ and this is the nowadays price fi it.....buy it! It?s worthwhile and sooooooooooooooooooooo touching......it still moves me from deep within.