My Brother [Hardcover]

Jamaica Kincaid (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 1997

Jamaica Kincaid's incantatory, poetic, and often shockingly frank recounting of her brother Devon Drew's life is also the story of her family on the island of Antigua, a constellation centered on the powerful, sometimes threatening figure of the writer's mother. Kincaid's unblinking record of a life that ed too early speaks volumes about the difficult truths at the heart of all families.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Compassion only occasionally lightens the grim tone of Jamaica Kincaid's searing account of her younger brother Devon's 1996 death from AIDS. As in novels such as Annie John, Kincaid is ruthlessly honest about her ambivalence toward the impoverished Caribbean nation from which she fled, her restrictive family, and the culture that imprisoned Devon. That honesty, which includes chilling detachment from her brother's suffering, is sometimes alienating. But art has its own justifications. The bitter clarity of Kincaid's prose and the tangled, undeniably human feelings it lucidly dissects are justification enough.

From Library Journal

Reading novelist Kincaid's prose is like learning all over again why one writes: to sift endlessly, reorder, and distill one's raw, cluttered experience so that what emerges is, quite simply, perfect. Kincaid has written most recently about her mother (The Autobiography of My Mother, LJ 1/96), and indeed is still writing about her mother, though obliquely, in this memoir of her youngest brother, who died at age 33 from AIDS. Kincaid did not know until after his death that he was homosexual; she had not seen him for 20 years before his illness. In gently insistent, incantatory prose, she recounts their forced reunion, the complicated feelings his illness evokes, the pity and anger she feels for a life senselessly squandered, and her coming to love him as he lay dying. Being back in her native Antigua, and especially near her mother, stirs powerful and painful memories, and in the end Kincaid's achievement is most valuable for how she has transformed her grief into a monument to beauty and permanence. A stunning work; for all collections.
-?Amy Boaz, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 197 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (October 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374216819
• ISBN-13: 978-0374216818
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,751,419 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jamaica Kincaid's works include, Mr Potter, The Autobiography of My Mother, and My Brother, a memoir. She lives in Bennington, Vermont.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Complicated Work, April 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: My Brother (Paperback)

I'm still thinking through the issues raised in "My Brother" -- and I suspect that it will be one of those books which, though it feels a bit hollow as I read it, will turn out to haunt me in the future. Only time will tell. The most remarkable thing about it, I think, is the way that Kincaid refuses to valorize any of the characters she describes. The incredible ire towards her mother is the only emotion that feels puzzling, given the lack of context for it -- I kept waiting for a revelation there that never came. With this exception, however, Kincaid seems committed to presenting a balanced portrayal: she does not heroize the dead, nor does she portray herself as particularly wise or noble in the face of death. It is this commitment to a human, complex portrayal that makes the description unique.

I just want to add that I am only posting this to counteract what appears to be a long list of high school book reports that make up most of the "reviewing" on this page. ...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars INTERESTING STYLE, April 17, 2001

By 

Gayla Collins (Sheridan, WYOMING USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Brother (Paperback)

This is a poignant book, written much like a journal. It is lyrical prose mourning the loss of Kincaid's brother from AIDS, and in a greater sense the loss of her childhood stolen by a demanding mother, ill father, and half-brothers who drained the family provisions. My eyes were opened to abject proverty that I, as an American, know so little about. Antigua is so improverished the hospital is just a holding place for death. Only through Jamaica's efforts, is her brother afforded any medications. The story is poignant and expressive. Perhaps, because it reads like a mourning journal, I never felt comfortable reading it, and was relieved to complete this short novel. Not my favorite book, but worth reading, not the least reason being education.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My Brother, a beautiful account, January 4, 2002

By 

Alice Foley (Rochester, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Brother (Paperback)

Jamaica Kinkaid's book My Brother, is an emothional, poetic, and surprisingly frank account of the life and death of her brother, Devon. Not only is this book about her brother, but it is also about the many hardships her family experienced in her birthplace of Antigua. Although there are many aspects about this book that may disturb readers, overall it is a wonderful book that keeps readers interested from beginning to end.
Living a normal life in Vermont with her husband and children. Jamaica receieves a phone call from a friend in Antigua. Her youngest brother had been diagnosed with the AIDS virus. Jamaica is forced to leave her home and help her mother and brother who are poor and cannot afford treatment for the AIDS.
While back in Antigua, Jamaica is met by memories from her past. Memories of her mother who she no longer spoke to, and memories of her Rastafarian brother who live a life filled with drugs and unprotected sex. These all led up to him ultimately getting the AIDS virus and facing death.
Jamaica returns to see her brother who she hadn't seen in over 20 years, only to find him ill. The author (Jamaica) gruesomely describes the pain and symptoms he experiences during this time, and his developed dependance on his mother. Jamaica writes, "He lived in death." (p.88). For he did not live besides the fact that he ate and breathed. Ultimately she knew he would eventually die.
The entire scond half of the book is based on a time after his death. Jamaic writes about her feelings toward her brother feelings toward the dead, and the affect her brother's death had on the people in his life. Jamaica writes beautifully about death. Her writing is poetic, and she makes many profound comments. She wrote My Brother as a way to cope with and understand his death. Even though she barely knew him or for that matter loved him.
Jamaica Kincaid writes beautifully, poeticly and thruthfully frank. It is a great book that makes you think about life and death. It is not a p[articularly easy read. The writer goes off on tangents which can be confusing. But that is because she wanted to fit in all details. Her frankness with the subject and use of dialect in her writing makes this book real. It's a good read and beautifully done.