Customer Reviews

The Pagoda

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is a serious story of desperate connections, the kind of unconventional connections or couplings that happen between people when a life has been hard or traumatic. The challenge here is for the reader to stretch a little and trust the author to tell a difficult and compelling story, a story definitely beyond our usual mainstream, quick-fix way of thinking. Yes, Lowe has a distant and remote way of loving those around him, but he cares about his world, past and present, and it is the twisted and difficult integrating of those worlds that Patricia Powell attempts here. For this reader, her story is a huge success. This psychologically intense story might not be light enough for the beach, but for a stormy weekend inside, it's perfect.

This powerful and evocative novel uses the metaphors of hiding and disguise to explore themes of trauma, uprootedness and loss. Against the riveting backdrop of a turn-of-the-century Jamaica wracked by political and racial upheaval, the main character, Lowe, struggles mightily with the legacy of a cache of secrets that have left him lonely and emotionally straitjacketed. The story, like Lowe, unfolds like a lotus flower, revealing layer upon layer of buried hopes, fears and memories as it tracks Lowe's lurching progress toward his elusive twin goals: to express love and to be seen. Ultimately, Powell captures the unquenchable will of the human spirit to reach toward wholeness and connection. The prose is spectacular - as dense and tactile as the island's tropical heat.

I picked up this book because the author is local (Boston), it is set in an intriguing context (Chinese community in Jamaica), and the main character deals with gender identity issues. I found the gradual revealing of character stories & history unnecessarily and painfully slow. Some of the writing was disjointed and repetitive (both particular words and phrases) and the constant teasing of the unknown parts of the folks in the book became almost grating. Once stories were revealed, I found I liked none of the main characters--including Lowe the "hero". He had huge walls keeping others out and seemed utterly unsatisfied with his life; I was unconvinced by his sudden passion for the pagoda of the title. I felt pulled into the disconnection, lack of relationships between people, and the general hopelessness the author seems to feel about the possibility of building community among people of different backgrounds. There are some glimmers of hope toward the end regarding forgiveness and possibilities of love, but they are indeed only glimmers and remain mostly in this reader's imagination rather than the text. I had not known of the Chinese community in Jamaica and know little more having finished this story. I bought the book as a possible gift for a friend, read it first, and doubt I will actually give it--it is not an uplifting book at all. Hate to give a local woman a bad review, but there it is.

I'm just going to start off by saying that the only reason I bought this book is because I need it for a class which I am forced to take. I found it for the cheapest price out there (Amazon for the win) and my copy is used. It got here in time, and seems to be in good condition. I haven't read it yet, but I'll edit this and add what I think of this book after I am done with it.

The Pagoda, like almost any book, has something to offer, but in my opinion it's not much. It seemed as though the author's main goal with this book was to describe every object or situation to the thousandth degree, so that absolutely no word was left unused, and this got old fast. I don't think there's one page in this book which doesn't have an unnecessary description about this, that, or the other. In all, the actual story of this book was probably no more than 30 pages, if that, while the rest of the pages were filled with (mostly) needless details, the purpose for which seemed to be the author's desire to wow readers with her extraordinary ability to describe any given thing/situation to death.

On the positive side, the book does offer some interesting information/perspectives on gender, class, and race issues during 19th-century (colonized) Jamaica. I just wish there had been more of that and less "filler."

This book takes Patricia Powell's extraordinarily sensual writing to a new level. I felt myself carried away in the stream of dreamlike possibilities this book launched within me! Brava, Ms. Powell for your courage and vision!

This book was just plain awful. The writing was repetitive and the book was difficult to understand. There was also too much flowery prose - the constant description drew away from the potentially interesting plot. Furthermore, the main character was not likeable to me. He was selfish, self-absorbed and did not have a desire to connect with others. He was too withdrawn into his own pain and whined too much. Though his life was a hard one - it certainly wasn't as hard as those of his Chinese compatriots who labored on the tobacco plantations. His constant philosophying and dissatisfaction greatly irritated me. Also, Lowe takes credit for the pagoda which others built. He actually does not do anything of use throughout the book. I do not recommend that this book be read by others.

I consider this novel to be well-written. The plot is exceptionally original.

The novel revolves around characters who have been so wounded and so traumized they are unable to truly communicate and connect with one another.

Some well kept secrets began to unravel, and lives began to change, following the night the main character, Lowe, a Chinese man's small shop is burned down and with it the death of a mysterious man named Cecil.

Being Jamaican,the idea of this novel about Chinese indentured workers fascinated me,and the look at village life held my interest,but the novel itself was so badly edited,wordy with no reason,and the characters Low the main one, so cold I could not warm to this mishmash novel,the minor characters were thrown in it seems to add interest,but their presence was not worth the long read either.This is truly not representative of Jamaica,the characters seemed created for shock value,and as for thefalsemustache,please give me the name of the glue that kept it on for so long in the smoldering heat. Give us a break.

I could not finish the novel it was so painfully poor. The author seems to revel in flowery but wholly needless descriptive writing. Also, the number of historical inaccuracies is whopping. I received the book as a gift, and I am not sure what I did to deserve this.