Customer Reviews

Greenwichtown: A Novel

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"Greenwichtown" by Joyce Palmer is a Jamaican "Angela's Ashes." It is also blessed by female insight. Frank McCourt has his hero a boy coming to terms with poverty and religion and the drag of tradition, but his hero was very much a male with male virtues and vices. The "hero" in "Greenwichtown" is a woman who has to endure the same exterior forces of a society but also the physical and spiritual qualities of being a woman. A woman would have had a different role in Ireland and a man would have had a different life in Jamaica. Palmer stays true to reality and respects her character. This is sensitive and riveting.

I could not put this book down.. I became Fay, seeing, tasting and smelling things through her eyes.. I was torn when she was ripped from her mothers home and all that was familiar.. I greived her new life of hunger, poverty, and shame.. and her disappointment of bearing unwanted twins and having the man she loved abandon her to raise fatherless children.. But it is a story of hope and courage as she takes her one opportunity and turns her life on a new course. This book is so full of compassion, and it leaves you feeling so ashamed for ever complaining about a thing. This is an absolute must read...a page turner.. and something that lasts deep within your soul.

I just had to E-mail the author Joyce Palmer and tell her how much I enjoyed the book on so many levels. I had been to Jamaica several times and this book really brought the towns and people to life for me. I could imagine everything that happened to Faye and I felt her pain & despair and later on love & joy. It was a story of finding what was right & true and the unbreakable bond of Mother & child. I have recommended this book to several friends and they all came away with something different. Truly a wonderful story.

At time the bleakness of the characters' lives, the poverty, the hopelessness put me in a sorrowful mood. But at the same time, there was triumph as Fay a.k.a. Clara plodded through her miserable conditions in the ghettos of Kingston, Jamaica, a town called Greenwichtown.
We see how another culture in the Diaspora of Africa struggles with their way of life and families. Faye was given no choice in who would raise her. Her sister, Flo supposedly could provide a better life. Sometimes she did, sometimes she did not. When Flo had a man, life was, if not good, was bearable and there was money for food and school. Faye learned survival skills but she also had a heart to pull herself out of poverty and despair through education.
Unfortunately she learned the lessons of the heart by being betrayed by a boy she thought loved her. Was she not worthy of love? Would her dreams be deferred by the disease that seemed to plague every young girl in Greenwichtown?
Joyce Palmer has written a compelling, stunningly real view of our Sister's lives in the real Jamaica, not the one we see on the cruises and advertisements. You feel you are there with the patois and the descriptive locations. At times I felt I could see the dirt, feel the despair. I would highly recommend this book

This is a story about the women in Jamaica and how they survive. It is told through the eyes of Fay, who is a little girl living in the countryside when her older sister comes to take her to Kingston. Through her Fay's eyes, we see how the people in
Greenwichtown live and love and learn. The author tells the story without being maudlin on the one hand or bitter on the other. Once I picked up the book, I couldn't put it down. I read it without stopping. I finished the book, but I still keep thinking about Fay.

A wild, wild tale of a young girl living in Greenwichtown and has to endure voilence and ugliness on a daily basis until later on in the book were she leaves the country to look for work and try to support her family. And boy were they really poor. A lot of scenes are graphic and would have you in therepy if you had to witness the scenes the way Fay Myrtle had to. It was a nicely written novel but life in Greenwichtown I would wish on my worst enemy.

I was hooked from the very first page. Joyce Palmer describes life in the Jamaican country and in Greenwichtown with such vivid detail that I was transported vicariously to the world of Fay Myrtle. This book is not only touching in its frank description of life in a Jamaican ghetto; it also educates the reader on the effects of Jamaican politics and the caste system. The book is an easy read and used enough patois to be authentic without overwhelming readers who are not familiar with this language. Although there are numerous sad, dark, and shocking moments, hope prevails in the midst of hopelessness and the book will leave you smiling or crying, but definitely satisfied.

"I want to stop crying but I can't." Flo is the eldest of Fay's siblings. Flo left home at the age of 13. When Fay was about 4 years old, Flo returned one day telling her mom she wanted to take Fay to live with her. Their mother agreed because Flo was looked upon as being able to give Fay a better life. She wore gold earrings in her ear, shoes on her feet and decent clothing, something reserved only for the rich. Fay was excited about going but didn't want to leave momma.

Born Fay Myrtle, she grew up being called Clara once her sister Flo took her from her home with her mother and siblings. She tells Fay to call her momma. Desperate to please her man she prays Fay will keep her secret.

Greenwichtown is told in Clara's (Fay) strong voice. When you're reading her words she drags you into the inner-city streets of her shack called home. Fay has the innocence of her youth, but the spirit, wisdom and insight of a seasoned woman. The hard knocks that she endures only makes her stronger mentally. I really enjoyed growing up with Fay over a 16-year period.

Joyce Palmer had me laughing and crying along with Fay, Flo and their mother Miss Voy. I cannot say that this novel is for a certain sect of people for it is not. Everyone will get something from this book. One of my favorite quotes from Fay's teacher, which helped her take care of her business was this: "Only Education Can Change Your Situation."

This book is definitely a page-turner. I was in Jamaica, barefoot, walking by the street gossipers and talking patois, with every page I turned. Fay is no longer hungry, poor in pain or abused.

Reviewed by Missy

This is an incredibly realistic book. There can be heartbreaking poverty in that part of Kingston and some of its nearby communities. There were terrifying, and sometimes fatal, acts of violence during election years in the 70's. Hurricanes have shut down much of the island's functioning for months, especially in poorer areas. Women with little education must often depend on a man to support them, while others leave their children with relatives so they can work abroad and save money to send home. Fear of being branded a "mule" (infertile) is still common, and it's possible that a woman might think to "borrow" her younger sister from their unsuspecting mother to pass off as her own offspring...Inferior sex education, and no money for contraception, means too many teenage pregnancies. That public hospital in Kingston gets so overcrowded at times that there really are two women per bed. Churches are jammed and lively on Sundays, while plenty of people do seek help from obeah workers. Anyone who has thought of Jamaica as merely a beach tourist paradise would be amazed by the reality described in Greenwichtown. This includes the beauty of the mountains, the excitement in the marketplace, the colorful array of foods and the equally colorful expressions and patois. I was lucky enough to visit Jamaica a few times and the imagery in this book brought me right back there. The novel has a great mix of people, some very kind and some pretty bad. Flo lives purely by her instincts, doing whatever it takes to get money for food, sometimes exploding into abusive rage. Clara (Fay) has amazing inner strength to cope with the injustices done to her, the chronic poverty, and the deaths of those she loves. Her life doesn't turn out anything like she had planned, but is such an interesting journey that I just could not put down this book!

I just love this novel. I can't express it any other way. If you want a true understanding of the novel the way it was meant to be experienced - listen to it on an audio CD. The combination of Joyce Palmer words and Robin Miles' voice is indescribable.
Just wonderful!