My Grandmother's Erotic Folktales [Paperback]

Robert Antoni (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2002

Robert Antoni took the literary world by storm with his first novel, Divina Trace, which won the Commonwealth Writers Prize and is widely recognized as a landmark in Caribbean literature. His second novel, Blessed Is the Fruit, received extraordinary literary praise and was hailed by Robert Olen Butler as "an enduring work of art." My Grandmother's Erotic Folktales is a seductive collection of folktales retold by an exotic grandmother to her innocent young grandson. Set amid the lush landscape of the island of Corpus Christi during World War II, these erotic tales were originally meant to keep the U.S. servicemen who were stationed on the island out of the brothels -- and out of trouble. Now, in her ninety-seventh year, the widow tells these stories as a tapestry of interlocking and exaggerated memories -- all the more colorful for the retelling. "May infuse even the most jaded adult readers with a strangely rejuvenating delight." -- The Seattle Times "Sly as it is funny and revealing as it is bold." -- The Miami Herald "As surprising and luminous as a hidden tropical waterfall" -- The Washington Post

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Antoni offers up an incongruous blend of flavors in this lively collection of five short stories set in a boarding house for American soldiers near the seaside town of Corpus Cristi. The feisty old woman narrator, reminiscing to her grandson, Johnny, about her days as proprietress, recalls feeding her ravenous charges everything from a five-foot armadillo to a dozen buckets of fried chicken. The result is a stew of traditional Caribbean folktales and riffs on American pop culture, sometimes as tantalizing as the sweet, succulent mangoes an orphan girl devours in one of the book's cleverest stories, "How Crab-O Lost His Head" but sometimes as hard to digest as a stomach full of overripe fruit. Antoni's first novel, Divina Trace, won the Commonwealth Prize and revealed the author's penchant for writing in dialect, a device he employs here to both charming and exhausting effect. His grandmother peppers her monologue with Caribbean exclamations and colorful turns of phrase ("But this story was smelling blancyfoot to me yes"); her folktales are both erotic and scatological, a bluer version of Kipling's Just So Stories. They are contained within an elaborate narrative frame dramatizing the woman's struggle to run a "proper" boarding house during WWII while fending off a parade of shysters, corrupt policemen and prostitutes looking for American clients. Colonel Sanders tries to convince her to open a pizza restaurant; an impostor king claims to have discovered a trove of gold bricks on her land. While sometimes duped by snake-oil salesmen, Johnny's grandmother always manages to come out on top and get the last word. This is a frequently riotous read, though best taken in small doses.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The title implies that Antoni (Divina Trace, Blessed Is the Fruit) has written a collection of folktales. Yet while the Caribbean tales told by 97-year-old grandmother Maria Rosa to her grandson Johnny do indeed form the framework, this is a work of fiction set in the West Indies during World War II. It begins when British officials commandeer Maria Rosa's family cocoa plantation for an American army base, telling her that she will be paid for the land when the war ends. With the invasion of U.S. servicemen comes the usual company of prostitutes and attendant lowlifes. Grandmother Maria tells her story of growing up against this background, mixing local color and folktales definitely earthy and often erotic with events of the time. Reminiscent of Jamaica Kincaid's work in both setting and tone, this is recommended for public libraries. Katherine Kaigler-Koenig, Ellis Sch., Pittsburgh
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (May 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802139000
• ISBN-13: 978-0802139009
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,045,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't be fooled by the title! This is sensual NOT raunchy!, May 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: My Grandmother's Erotic Folktales (Hardcover)

Don't be fooled by the title. It's not raunchy. It's sensual. Two different things. This is a brilliant mix of storytelling, colors, smells, palm trees and imagination! The grandmother narrator...she's just wild! I loved her character. She wasn't some little polite old lady. She's loud, in your face, very sexually in tuned, funny, honest (sometimes), and witty. This is a really cool book and I'm glad I had the privilege to read this wonderful book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What's Fun For Antoni, Is Not . . . ., July 4, 2001

By 

IsolaBlue (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: My Grandmother's Erotic Folktales (Hardcover)

With none of the dignity and grace of BLESSED IS THE FRUIT (his second novel and one worthy of five stars), Antoni's long-awaited third book comes as a bit of a surprise and a disappointment. There is a certain escapism factor in MY GRANDMOTHER'S EROTIC FOLKTALES that doesn't so much offer readers an escape as it does illustrate the great need Antoni seems to have for one. It is easy to imagine the author closing himself into his writing room and writing away manically, blending his memories of West Indian life with a bizarre seasoning of childish and somewhat silly tales of sex. There is nothing erotic about MY GRANDMOTHER'S EROTIC FOLKTALES. They are more humorous than sensual, more burlesque than art, and more farcical than real. But then, that is often the case with folktales. The misleading part in Antoni's book is the word EROTIC.

As usual, Antoni's strength is dialect - perfectly rendered. One can imagine the 96-year-old woman telling her ribald tales. We can hear her accent and her laughter. We can see the grin on her old, wrinkled face. There is certainly an element of reality in this book and the tales play out on the page the way they might on a stage. Indeed, it is easy to imagine a musical adaptation of Antoni's latest work.

There is some interesting and shrewd political commentary going on under the surface of these tales as well and that - along with Antoni's style - save the book. The question is: will Antoni fans forgive him for having fun or will they be insulted at this indulgence of his while yearning for another masterpiece like BLESSED IS THE FRUIT?