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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Life Under the Volcano, July 24, 2004
This review is from: Passing Through (Paperback)
Colin Channer's Passing Through is a brilliant episodic novel that traces the lives of several characters who live on the island of San Carlos and under the threat of a volcanic eruption. His characters grapple with faith and sexuality, commitment, and the pettiness that sometimes makes island life claustrophobic. The threat of mortality adds a poignancy and intensity to their lives and Channer sustains this central metaphor throughout the novel as a backdrop that adds meaning to the most mundane acts.
And then there are the beautifully wrought sentences, "But instead of discipline, she got instead of the lips, a smile whose backward peeling, like the fruit that holds the life sustaining pulp and nectar of a fruit, aroused an appetite, which in time to come would have a name."
Nearly every chapter in the book has sentences like this that makes one aware of Channer's craftsmanship and his keen ear for the cadences of language.
This is a book to be savored.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fictional Island Comes to Life with Superb Writing & Theme, October 20, 2004
This review is from: Passing Through (Paperback)
In Passing Through, Colin Channer's collection of interconnected stories set on the fictional Caribbean island of San Carlos, a divergent cast of characters are portrayed in matters of the heart, race, class, culture, and the frailties of the human spirit. At the apex of the storyline is St. William Rawle, whose witty epistles at the beginning of each story, is a window into the soul of the book.
The stories extend over a century beginning in early 1900s. In the High Priest of Love, Eddie Blackwell is an American priest with an interracial background of black and white parentage. He has gained the respect and trust of the locals while all along he is fighting the demons of his lust when he chucks it all and takes sail on a ship. There he encounters his underage lover, Eugenia, who is of mixed blood and able to pass for white and Rosalyn, a woman who is classified as a lady of pleasure and dark-skinned, who both vie for his affections and his soul. What happens on that ship is the catalyst for the ensuing storyline.
The Girl with the Golden Shoes is symbolic on so many levels. Estrella Thompson's dreams of books and learning literally drive her from her small, backward village onto a sojourning quest of self-awareness. Her travels take her to a village of East Indians, through a tribe of Caribe Indians, among Island blacks, Creole Spanish and Whites where she learns the hierarchy of racial superiority. Her quest for the shoes that will give her the respect and status she desperately seeks will also give her the backbone and tenacity to become the kind of woman that will chart her own course despite her African heritage. Relationships and love was a reoccurring theme and it was not always acceptable love by society's standard. Incest and lesbianism were handled with sensitivity and a poignant carefulness that explored the frustrations of women and men who are bound by tradition. In the title story, Passing Through, we meet Rebecca who is Arab and Cornelia, an American Black, among a myriad cast of other characters of various ethnicities and cultures who come together at a dinner party that becomes prophetic.
The witty Poetic Justice in present day San Marcos will have readers guessing just how much poetic license the author took with his characters, as they are strikingly familiar. Blacks of the Diaspora are featured as they are in Revolution (anthologized in After Hours edited by Robert Fleming) and throughout the book. As a matter of fact, the global nature and sense of place in this well-written book is as much a part of the author as was related at his book signing at Marcus Book Store in Oakland. Channer waxed philosophically about his writing process and how this book came to be. He was very adamant about his feelings regarding Black writers expanding their scope in writing about characters who are other than Black, as it is known that White writers feel very comfortable writing about us.
Superb and lyrical, this reviewer reread passages over and over, not because it was difficult but because I became lost in the fluid language and the eloquent handling of prose and wanted to read out loud. The whole time, characters, theme and setting are knitted and threaded together and seemingly meshed in a logical and satisfying ending. As in his last novel, Satisfy My Soul, this is a work of literary art that should be appreciated and promoted to crossover appeal. Channer's love of storytelling as well as his love of women shines through. I am already pining for his next offering.
Dera Williams
APOOO BookClub
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Channer has outdone himself this time!, September 28, 2005
This review is from: Passing Through (Paperback)
Having read all of Colin Channer's previous works (including his contributions to several compilations and anthologies), I was eager to begin reading "Passing through". As everyone knows, the better the work the artists produces, the higher the expectations on subsequent works -- thereby making the artist his/her worst enemy and stiffest competition.
Mr. Channer, however seemed undaunted by these considerations when he put pen to paper to create this masterpiece and it shows on every page! Clearly, raising the bar for himself and every other writer of fiction was a mere side effect of pouring himself into this work and holding nothing back from the reader, to my sheer delight!
I literally could not put it down -- and often read and re-read certain passages -- not only because of the graceful and poetic prose style, but because the plots were so seamlessly and intricately weaved into the fabric of the characters' development that it was difficult to believe that a fiction work this profound could even be crafted on purpose.
It was more like a literary cosmic accident that created an explosion of random words onto a page creating a thing of indescribable, magnificent beauty. (Seriously, it's quite apparent that each and every word was meticulously and intentionally selected with purposem care and intent, like a master chef selects each seasoning, ingredient and piece of cookware before starting a recipe).
Between these pages I read words that made me laugh out loud, frown up my face and shed tears uncontrollably.
The truest mark of a good story is a conflict of emotions at the end: sadness that the story has ended, satisfaction at its resolution and gratitude that I was blessed to experience these characters and their stories.
Estrella, St. William, Shookie and even Father Blackwell have left permanent impressions on my brain. Let there be no doubt that if I get any advance notice of Mr. Channer's next work hitting the presses, I will camp out at my nearest bookstore a week in advance to be sure I get the first copy when it is unloaded off the truck.
If you are a true fan of fine literature and seeking an author who has truly mastered the craft of writing fiction and is cut above the rest, then Passing Through by Colin Channer is one work you cannot afford to miss.
P.S. I have NEVER reviewed any book on Amazon before and I have read (and enjoyed) many.
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