From Publishers Weekly
A picaresque set on the fictional Caribbean island of San Carlos in 1942, Channer's rewarding and tense novella follows the journey of fishing village outcast Estrella Thompson, a precocious 14-year-old with a woman's body who seeks shoes, employment and acceptance in the capital city of Seville after being excommunicated from her village. Along the way, she meets sundry men, some of whom offer to help her and almost none of whom ought to be trusted. Estrella comes of age practically by the hour, learning what to expect of others, what to value in herself and how to make her own demands. Channer writes with an intriguing, lyrical blend of English and Caribbean patois and uses simple language and crisp imagery (a woman's face is "as plain and inexpressive as an egg"; beach sand is "so white that on the coolest days you had to squint to see it"). While Channer's earlier work engaged the psyche of Caribbean diaspora in less subtle narratives (
Waiting in Vain;
Satisfy My Soul), this novella—a moral fable, Russell Banks notes in his afterword—signals the arrival of a talent matured.
(May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
*Starred Review* Jamaican American writer Channer's previous works, including
Waiting in Vain (1998), are infused with the cultural complexity and imperialist tragedies of the Caribbean. So, too, is his latest, but here he writes with rare transparency, as though this story of a 14-year-old outcast welled up from the depths of the collective unconscious. In classic fairy-tale fashion, Estrella acquires mysterious powers that render her suspect: she has taught herself to read and discovered a far greater world than her tiny, just-getting-by fishing village on the fictional island of San Carlos. It's 1942, war is raging in distant places, and Estrella dreams of a more refined life. If only she had a pair of shoes. Cruelly ostracized, she embarks on an archetypal odyssey, outwitting human variations on demons and ogres, each a manifestation of some aspect of Caribbean heritage. Empathic and courageous, Estrella weighs the moral implications of each dangerous and erotic struggle for survival, achieving a profoundly intelligent coming-of-age as she puts grown men to shame. With an afterword by Russell Banks, this is a jewel of a book. Channer's language is dancing and juicy, his humor incisive, his vision penetrating, and his hero, nicknamed Pepper for her stinging retorts, is magnificent.
Donna SeamanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
