3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Metegee, April 25, 2004
This review is from: Metegee: The History and Culture of Guyana (Paperback)
In a nutshell, Metegee is a treasure chest of Guyana's who, why, when, where, what and how. Abrams covers Guyana in all aspects of our history and culture. On a scale of one to ten, Metegee is a big, fat ten. A must have for every Guyanese or anyone else who may wish to know as much of Guyana as they possibly can.
Roxanne De Cruiz-Shung(...)
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Metegee, May 11, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Metegee: The History and Culture of Guyana (Paperback)
Required reading by all Guyanese Children, and by the children of Guyanese resident abroad.
Ovid paints a factual, accurate, enthralling, entertaining and enlightening picture of Guyana, our Eldorado.
An easy book to read, well researched and written.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Plane spoken and informative, December 10, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Metegee: The History and Culture of Guyana (Paperback)
Metegee is a metaphor for the people of Guyana, and for this book by Ovid Abrams, both are a mix. Mr Abrams has a very lucid and plane spoken style, and his collection has much to offer. I did find it enjoyable and informative, and would certainly recommend it.
I do take issue with a few things Mr Abrams said.
(1)Secondary education was readily available in Georgetown, and was not so costly as to be exclusive. It was also better, or at the very least as good as anything I've seen in both Canada and the US.
(2) I don't think that the British ever considered the "indentured" Portuguese their equals. The Portuguese came mostly from the little island of Madeira, either because of famine or political instability, I don't really know, however I do know that both commerce and agriculture were well developed there, and I'm sure that when they came their intention was to work out their contract and go into bussiness for themselves. This is what they did, and they prospered.
(3) As far as Obeah is concerned I never knew it as a religion, but rather as something akin to witchcraft. In fact in the late forties there was a famous case in which three people were tried and hanged, because they had sacrificed a young child in an Obeah ceremony.
Evidently Mr Abrams is very keen on language and folklore, and that's fine, but there's too much. I didn't find the proverbs and saying so interesting, and many of the customs, beliefs, superstitions I wasn't familiar with. I do wish he had spent more time saying something about other ethnic groups like the Portuguese and Chinese. I also wish he had said something about the cattle ranchers in the Rupunnuni District.
Lastly though I know there was nothing altruistic about it,it should have been mentioned that but for Dutch engineering, Georgetown and the entire Atlantic coast would have been uninhabitable. Further though British colonialism was thoroughly detestable, it is worth noting as Mr Abrams points out that the exchange rate on the BG$ was 2 per US$ in 1960, and that after the Jagan-Burnhasm nightmare it stood at 140 BG$ per US $.
The book badly needs editing, but that is a minor distraction
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