Easy in the Islands (Contemporary American Fiction) [Paperback]

Bob Shacochis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 1986

A calypso bandleader, Lord Short Shoe, schemes with a sexy black singer to bilk an American out of his pride and his companion monkey. Two poor islanders stumble in a violent encounter that might just escalate into revolution. And an entire island bureaucracy casually confounds the attempts of a hotel owner to get his dead mother out of the freezer. Infused with the rhythms and the beat of the Caribbean, these vivid tales of paradise sought and paradise lost are as lush, steamy, and invigorating as the islands themselves.

* Winner of the National Book Award

Product Details

• Paperback: 213 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books / Crown; 1st edition (January 2, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140083014
• ISBN-13: 978-0140083019
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,999,038 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars As Easy as it Flows, July 12, 2000

By 

matthew bradley (Fairfield, Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Easy in the Islands (Contemporary American Fiction) (Paperback)

Diving head first into the collection of short stories that together embody the spirit and adventurous energy of the islands, I swam in the wonderfully clever landscape that Shacochis has painted for his readers. He writes with such ease, his characters seemingly existed before their stories were created. More than this, Shacochis does a dream-like job of taking the reader on an adventure, which is overall, the appeal of islands.

Each more independent than the last, the stories flow effortlesly into the reader's subconscious, relaxing the muscles, and wandering the islands in the reader's mind. It is as if the landscape itself acts as a continuously appearing character, simply asking the reader to open up to new and exciting experience.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys leaving their mind, if only for a brief while, to swallow down the purity of a presumed paradise. Don't hesitate on this one, turn off the television, and get on board for "Easy in the Islands". Who knows, you just might not want to leave once you get there. It is that easy!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most Accurate Book About Caribbean Culture, December 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Easy in the Islands (Contemporary American Fiction) (Paperback)

I can't believe this book is out of print, it is by far the most accurate book on the culture of the Caribbean. I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in St. Vincent in the Caribbean and I believe the author also served in the same area in the Peace Corps. With every short chapter, i was amazed at how he captured the essence of life in the region. I have bought this book for all my friends and family who asked me what it was like to live in the Caribbean, this book is a true treasure.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amusing and interesting short stories from the Caribbean..., August 1, 2006

By 

Stephen Armstrong (Hadley, Ma USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Easy in the Islands (Contemporary American Fiction) (Paperback)

My wife and I were asked to read this book of short stories before our first trip to the Caribbean. I thought it was amusing and interesting throughout. No wonder it won the National Book Award for First Fiction. With shades of American writing from the south, these short stories convey the dilemmas, humor, and enigmas of being a whole person mutated by time, place, temperature, sea, flowers, gender, and color. Wonderful stuff. You won't go wrong.