Jamaica Kincaid Books

Jamaica Kincaid describes, in her terrific Introduction, her beginnings as a writer in New York in the '70's. She made a few great friends, and one brought her to the attention of William Shawn, beloved and legendary editor of the 'New Yorker.' He invited to submit short pieces. That magazine, which Kincaid points out was "a magazine that has since gone out of business, though there exists now a magazine by that name," was her home for over ten years. Kincaid's brief acid note and comment introduces an unignorable subtext: there existed a deeply valued and memorable world, now gone.

These pieces were Kincaid's apprenticeship in writing. They are a pleasure to read.

All were unsigned (giving writers a freedom she valued) when they first appeared in the magazine. Here they are arranged chronologically. If you are new to Jamaica Kincaid's mind and writing, they are a great introduction. If you are familiar with her amazing novels (or gardening essays for that matter) they are fresh, many are very funny, and all are examples, in varying ways, of how to write.

Great book.

This book is a collection of her earlier anonymous columns for 'The New Yorker.' They were written in 70's and early 80's, so the subjects are old. For instance, Sting (and the Police) and Boy George (and Culture Club) were gaining popularity in the book. But she already established her crisp and dynamic and music-like prose style. It's my pleasure to read her candid and sometimes sarcastic comments about snobs. It's my pleasure to read her stories about her native country, Antigua, and her parents. She wrote the stories as her friend's stories (remember that those were anonymous columns), but they were of her own prose style.

I read all of her books, and I don't like much her previous book, 'My Garden,' but I enjoyed 'Talk Stories.'

Kincaid's writing style is deceptively simple. There is more to Lucy than the adolescent malcontent, and layers of meaning thrive beneath every lyrical line. The cyclical nature of the story resists typical linear development - there IS character growth and plot development. 'Lucy' will be a boring read if you're a lazy reader: look deeper.

Lucy, by Jamiaca Kincaid, was one of the most boring books that I have ever been subjected to. It made me want to cry, and not from tears. Rather, it was from the boredom and wasting away of life that I experienced while reading. Lucy is a depressed and somber character that fails to find happiness, because she is not searching for it. Depressing. I know.

One thing you should know before picking up this book is that the main character, Lucy, is an extremely f**ked up kid who, overall, is wholly unlikeable. That being said however, the book does have its strong points. Lucy is a girl from the West Indies who comes to North America as an au pair. Her journey through the book not only shows us some of the prejudices she must endure, but more ironically shows the extremes of her own prejudices.
I found a lot of the book to be seemingly hopeless and exasperating, but it is also an eye opener in the realm of the subjugated. There is also something of a ray of hope at the book's finish.
Lastly, this book is very much manifested from some of the author's own experiences as a native of Antigua and it would really do a reader good to read Jamaica Kincaid's easily readable yet extremely angry essay, "On Seeing England for the First Time," before delving into this book.
"Lucy" is short and worth the time it takes to finish as I believe the story is more defined by what is furtively omitted (yet alluded to) than what is actually displayed in black and white.

After reading "Annie John," I was excited to read another book by Jamaica Kincaid for a class on Immigration. Jamaica Kincaid's style is soothing and simplisticly poetic. I loved reading "Lucy" for this same style I saw in "Annie John." Kincaid is amazing because she is not afraid to explore the taboo or the sexual nature of adolescence in the full glory of its complexity. Reading "Lucy" leaves the reader feeling empowered and somewhat lucid, while enticing them to remember the secrets of their own young experimentational development.

I wanted to love Jamaica Kincaid -- I really did. I first picked up Lucy expecting to love it because I had heard such wonderful things about Kincaid.

What a pathetic disappointment.

The novel drones on with no purpose and little plot. The writing is on the level of a pre-teen novel. In fact, had I read this when I was 13, it would have been incredible. Unfortunately, I'm not 13 anymore.

The overarching flaw in Lucy is that the reader has absolutely no reason to care about the title character. She hates her new home -- for no reason. She hates her old home -- for no reason. She hates everyone she meets -- for no reason. At least once in every section she mentions how she either hates something or how something doesn't meet her approval -- however, we are never given a reason for her disdain or her high standards. In fact, we are given the opposite -- we are continually reminded of how ignorant Lucy is by her incessant complaining and idiotic comments.

The character is supposed to be powerful and honest and courageous. In reality she is self-absorbed, ignorant, and dull.

I really did want to like this book. Unfortunately, it's the kind of novel that will be praised by people who don't know any better -- who praise books simply because Oprah liked them.

If you've got nothing better to read when you go to the beach one day, it's fine -- just don't expect to be impressed or empowered by it. It's nothing more than a dimestore rag.

I got this book because it is one of the required books I need for my college class. When I began reading the book, I didn't like nor dislike the book because it is a strange book comparing to many books I have read so far in college and through out my life. This book consists of many ordinary stories such as our everyday life. For instance, "I am trying to read. The book is lying in my lap. I look around me, trying to find something on which to focus my eyes." Some of the stories are extraordinary or strange if you would want to consider them. For instance, "Now I am a girl, but one day I will marry a woman-a red-skin woman with black bramblebush hair and brown eyes, who wears skirts that are so big I can easily bury my head in them." or "I stood up on the edge of the basin and felt myself move. But what self? For I had no feet, or hands, or head, or heart-having once been there, were now stripped away, as if I had been dipped again and again, over and over, in a large vat filled with some precious elements and were now reduced to something I yet had no name for. I had no name for the thing I had become, so new was it to me, except that I did not exist in pain or pleasure, east or west or north or south, or up or down, or past or present or future, or real or not real." This book is a beautiful poem but from reading the book, it didn't teach me much but it does somewhat inspire me to write my own book. (If this what you call a book, I can write one also.)

Kincaid's stories have a distinct voice and accent, which perpetuate the subversion of standard rules prescribed by centres of authority. She appropriates that authority, by indulging in a style of writing which is unique (the two page sentences) and the inversion of punctuation and syntax canons. Her plotless stories describe a state of being which is fractured, which has no beginning or an end, which is struggling to come to terms with its marginalized existence in terms of race, color, gender and economic status. Being an immigrant in USA, the nameless character's struggle for self-definition, identity, and a truncated and oppressed past transfigure powerfully in this collection. The sense of dislocation encountered in her journey to America, the traveling from the Carribean to a new country, a new culture and discourse in which she must chart her own path towards self-discovery, enlightenment out her 'blackness', the assertion of her 'girl'hood, can only be relocated in vague forms 'at the bottom of the river'.

Effectively disruptive, beautiful, introspective and soulful. Read this book if you are colored or an immigrant. Read this book even if your aren't colored or an immigrant. You'll love it.

Jamaica Kincaid's AT THE BOTTOM OF THE RIVER is a study of voice and language that first brought the author recognition beyond the pages of literary journals. These ten stories, all but the last extremely short, are set in an intense Caribbean landscape where a girl comes of age in the shadow of her mother; they are hallucinatory, tense, and indirect, leaving much for the reader to interpret. For example, the first story, "Girl", is a monologue spoken by the mother giving advice ("this is how you set a table for dinner") interspersed with comments degrading the daughter. The two italicized, one-sentence responses from the daughter speak volumes about this complicated relationship. "What I Have Been Doing Lately" is a dream-like narrative that lists what the narrator is (probably not) doing and, in the process, illustrates the emotional state of someone so sad that she just wants to lie in bed. "At the Bottom of the River", the final, longest, and most traditional of the stories, implies the past and future of the narrator through visions seen "at the bottom of the river."

Kincaid's style combines the effect of the simple but perfect word with the lilt of Caribbean rhythms. On the surface, these stories are not difficult to read, but they can be challenging to understand for the reader accustomed to more traditional methods of storytelling. The collection is about as short as a book can get, and so the stories can be read in one sitting, back to back, although their absorption can take much longer.

At the Bottom of the River is a lovely rendition of a writer's mind, leisure, vision, appeal, hope, awareness and understanding. This project surpasses what the common reader readies for in the telling of a good story. Each sentence in this work is a story. I will write it again: Each sentence is a story with perfect images, "The branches were dead; a fly hung dead on the branches, its fragile body fluttering in the wind as if it were remnants of a beautiful gown." Ms. Kincaid's style throughout At the Bottom might put one in the mind of Gertrude Stein. The repetition. Certainly, however, Ms. Kincaid's project is her own, very distinctive genius. It takes us to a place that lacks anything hackneyed and it is shaped with qualities that peck at our curiousity. The book works in first person and third person never conveniently laying the story out as a consecutive. But there are characters; there is a central character to follow. The movement is chopped with these extraordinary, brilliant images beyond description and most every sentence leaves on the tongue the question of "who did that?" or "why?": "Someone is making a basket, someone is making a girl a dress or a boy a shirt, someone is making her husband a soup with cassava so that he can take it to the cane field tomorrow, someone is making his wife a beautiful mahogany chest, someone is sprinkling a colorless powder outside a closed door so that someone else's child will be stillborn." And so you get these incredible juxtapositions along side wholesome chops of fascinating imagery. We move through childhood, through relationships, through friendships, through parents and through self. And there is even dialogue for the reader who whines that there is no plot.

Ms. Kincaid writes this piece in a style that is deeply dense and in a way we are able to see, on the pages, a character's mind, discovery, understanding and wonder (no part of nature is left unturned). We are even privy to questions and philosophy and resignations about life and death. In this piece Ms. Kincaid gives new meaning to "the universal eye".

At the Bottom of the River is brilliant, genius! A must read!

'At the Bottom of the River' is a lyrical collection of some of Jamaica Kincaid's most provocative writing. Although occasionally confounding in her use of abstract images and construction of abstruse and ethereal narratives, Kincaid's stories nevertheless contain breathtaking lyricism and innovative lines of poetic prose; her words seem to reverberate from the very recesses of metamorphic meaning.

This collection begins innocently enough with one of Kincaid's most impacting writings, Girl. Girl is one of the most severe but accurate depictions of the volatile intensity between mother and daughter. Fueled by a combination of love, fear, and partial loathing, a mother doles out a mantra of life lessons with equal parts concern and venom: "When buying cotton to make yourself a nice blouse, be sure that it doesn't have gum on it, because that way it won't hold up well after a wash. ... Always eat your food in such a way that it won't turn someone else's stomach; on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the (...) you are so bent on becoming." The essays that follow are sinewy with sexual, violent, and spiritual themes.

Kincaid's strength lies in her rage. One senses it above all in her amazing control over words, which, while extremely satisfying on the level of literary technique, also comes across as a refusal to be vulnerable and a reply to anyone who would try to keep her down.

Like a journal, 'At the Bottom of the River' matures in content as it proceeds. Kincaid's prose-poetry initially appears whimsical (she describes some pebbles as "not pebbly enough") and that's the mystique of her writing, how it almost capriciously masks cerebral contemplations on living, dying, and the struggle in-between.

Overall, the gardeners who wrote about their favorite plants were more interesting to read than most of the other authors. The selection that dealt with ringworm was especially out of place (what on earth did THAT have to do with plants?). The essay on plant collecting was great, though, and Tony Avent's short essay on hostas almost makes me like them. Almost. And you have to like a book that has an essay on Meconopsis. I liked exactly 50% of this book.

I was very pleased with this book, which is why I went out and bought the other Jamaica Kincaid gardening related book.

This would be a lovely gift for a keen gardener, particularly in winter, when one can only dream about the garden. The essays were mainly interesting and informative - some were funny and poignant. The ones that wrote about their actual favourite plant were the best - the ones that went off on 'frolics of their own' just didnt cut it, but these were few, and probably added for unecessary 'colour' and 'arty-fartyness'! The paeony and meconopsis ones are my favourites.

Every gardener has a favorite plant and is anxious to share plants and stories with others. Some of these essays are filled with technical information, others are lyrical musings on the esthetic of plants. Either way, this is a book to cuddle up with and to cherish. It's also a perfect special occasion gift for other gardeners.

How many of us as people in general can relate to being an adorable, obedient, loveable child; then turning into a deceitful, sneaky, and mischievious teenager? Jamacia Kincaid does a beautiful job of depicting this in her novel "Annie John" through her unique writing style. Never, have I read another author's book and felt the same as I did after reading "Annie John". The character Annie John starts off in the story as an adorable child who has a wonderful relaioship with her mother. This particular relationship is almost described as a fairy tale between the two. As time goes on, Annie's mother seemed to intentionally put up a wall between Annie and herself,(perhaps so she wouldn't have to deal with the pain of letting her go). Like many of her novels, British oppression over Antigua was an unannounced element to the novel. For example, she makes reference to how many of her teachers at her school happen to be of British nationality as many of the characters are. After reading this powerful story, one can certainly conclude that this book uniquely describes the dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship and British oppression by letting the reader literally feel the happiness and sorrow at the same time.

How many of us as people in general can relate to being an adorable, obedient, loveable child; then turning into a deceitful, sneaky, and mischievious teenager? Jamacia Kincaid does a beautiful job of depicting this in her novel "Annie John" through her unique writing style. Never, have I read another author's book and felt the same as I did after reading "Annie John". The character Annie John starts off in the story as an adorable child who has a wonderful relaioship with her mother. This particular relationship is almost described as a fairy tale between the two. As time goes on, Annie's mother seemed to intentionally put up a wall between Annie and herself,(perhaps so she wouldn't have to deal with the pain of letting her go). Like many of her novels, British oppression over Antigua was an unannounced element to the novel. For example, she makes reference to how many of her teachers at her school happen to be of British nationality as many of the characters are. After reading this powerful story, one can certainly conclude that this book uniquely describes the dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship and British oppression by letting the reader literally feel the happiness and sorrow at the same time.

This coming of age story is sensitive and tranquil. It doesn't shout but is sound. Poetic writing. Worth a detour.

This novel has the same beautiful, flowing, sparkling language as LUCY, which I loved. The sentences are a joy to read (they reminded me a little of Thom Jones, with their relentless, driving, dialogue-free qualities). This is essentially a slice-of-life story about Annie's teenage years in the West Indies that ends with her leaving for England. Annie is an interesting and complex character and I admired the unquestioning way in which we are told about her falling in love (crush?) with Gwen and the Red Girl. There is a wonderfully female sensibility in this book, the kind that is confident enough to portray women in all their complexity, as bad and as good, as able to wish well and able to rejoice in other's pain. However, the mother-daughter relationship did not convince me. I felt as if the writer knew more about this relationship than the reader was being told and so when I came to the sentence `I no longer loved my mother,' I did not believe it because I had seen to reason for this. The mother changes as the daughter gets older and, even making room for normal teenage angst, there were parts of the narrative that seemed determined to have the mother and daughter estranged even if it was not organic to the rest of the narrative. Of course, this happens in real life all the time but the demands of fiction are different - the reader should not be expected to make assumptions from `real life.' Still, Jamaica Kincaid is a brilliant writer. Her language is superb and her story-telling, even if not best demonstrated here, is remarkable.

At first, I was a bit wary about wanting to read this text as "Lucy" had not been one of my favorites. "Annie John" however, for being such a slim novel, was packed with the issues that result from teen angst in combination with the ever problematic relationship of a mother and daughter.
Annie and her mother start off with a wonderfully intimate relationship that Annie likens to "paradise" only to see it crumble as Annie matures into a sexual being, becoming TOO MUCH like her mother. It is at this time that Annie goes looking outside the home to replace the mother she now calls "serpent." Once expelled from paradise, Annie does what she can to spite her mother by thieving and hanging out with girls her mother disapproves of.
Like "Lucy," "Annie John" seems to have an evil side to her. She is angry and flawed as well as self-loathing and arrogant. In other words, she is turmoil personified. Her dark side is one reason I found this book so readable, but perhaps the most compelling thing about the novel is the mother/daughter relationship. Perhaps no one has figured out why such relationships are seemingly always fraught with intense animosity and competition, but Kincaid certainly relates the horrific reality of the fact quite convincingly.
While this story certainly contains no idealistic or happy ending, it is rich in psychology and what can only be deemed as troubling personal experience on the part of the author.
I recommend this one to any woman (or man)who ever experienced the fine line of love and hate with her own mother once upon a time.

This book reads like poetry. Ms Kincaid describes simple acts (such as doing laundry) with detail and with the perspective of a young girl. I tend to read an author's complete works. I have done so with Amy Tan and Paule Marshall. I was aware of Jamaica Kincaid but had never read her until Amy Tan named "Annie John" and "Lolita" as the 2 books which influenced her the most.
Ms Kincaid includes the small stuff which add up and leave the reader with the smell of Antiguan food cooking, and girls attending school wearing English-style uniforms.
This is a book that I will read and read again. I hope you enjoy it.

I had to read Annie John for my English class and I can say that it is probablly one of the worst books I have read yet. Not only are the characters difficult to relate to, but the book is extremely dull and written as a comeing of age story. Basically, the book starts out with Annie, the protagonist a girl growing up in Antigua remembering how much her mother loved her when she was a young girl. Then, in the next few chapters, Annie describes herself as a 12 year old girl going to school and having an overpowering love for her friend Gwen. She has behavior problems and does some things that her mother seems shamed about and she further distances from her mother. The next couple chapters, she is an akward 15 yr. old in classes with older girls who are more developed then she is as she puts it and she dislikes this. At this time, her thoughts that her mother doesn't like her have escalated into her hating her mother and her thinking that her mother returns these same feelings. She doesn't love Gwen anymore and feels lonely. Finally, when she is 17 she leaves home and goes to train to become a nurse and oddly actually will miss her mother even though throughout the book (for the most part) she has shown strong resentment and hatred towards her mother....Anyway, this book was so extremelly horrible and I hope you don't ever read it. If you decide to read it or are forced to I pity you, because this book is trash and I don't see why anyone would publish it...BIG MISTAKE on their part.

"My Brother" by Jamaica Kincaid is one of the most unusual books I have ever read. It is moving, inspiring, depressing, emotional yet confusing all at the same time. The book is about a sister's journey as she helps her brother fight against AIDS to stay alive. It gives many explicit details that are disturbing. She paints a picture that can only be told by the one who experienced it first hand. In addition to the morbid mood of the book, the author has too many thoughts that she tries to fit into just one sentence. This form of writing can be hard to follow and actually trying to follow the storyline can be a distraction from the main focus of the book.
Jamaica Kincaid's novel is depressing and morbid in numerous ways. The setting of "My Brother" is mainly taking place in Antigua. There are no hospitals with the proper medications. In addition to the setting, the author's family affairs are an example of depression. Her family was extremely dysfunctional and unsociable. They had conflicts over meaningless situations and never resolved them. This family needed a psychiatrist to assist them with their many conflicts. Another example of depression in "My Brother" is the entire theme of a brother with no loving family and friends who is dying of AIDS, due to his own carelessness. On page 99-100, it shows how Jamaica's family is not affected in the least that Devon has just died. The one last main theme of depression is the relationship between Devon, the man with AIDS, and his mother. They never got along, which was very sad because Devon was dying and his mother didn't seem to care. She didn't do anything to try to help save him. It was Jamaica's help that gave her brother many extra days, perhaps years, of life.
"My Brother" was also a very confusing book. Reading it takes the complete focus of the one who is reading it in order to actually follow the story line. Many of the sentences are three or four thoughts combined into just one sentence. The book has a great number of sentences that are nearly half a page long. For example, on page 101 and 131, one of the sentences is nearly three quarters of the page. There are a great deal of commas, semi colons, and a few parenthesis in these sentences. With all of those elements, reading and actually comprehending the book can be very tough. Also, the author constantly bounces back from the present time to past experiences, which greatly contributes to the confusion.
My final opinion of this book is that it is very inspirational and moving. If one is close to someone with AIDS, they would find this book very enjoyable and interesting. Jamaica mentions many times that she doesn't love, never has loved and never will love her brother, yet she still goes way beyond her duties to care for her brother. After reading "My Brother" there are many instances where Jamaica is much like a true hero. By supporting her brother, Jamaica became a hero to herself and to Devon. The book is inspiring because it encourages anyone who reads the book to love their family and not take them for granted. "My Brother" is a moving book because throughout it, one learns of the struggles the entire family went through. Devon's critical conditions, however, did not bring the family any closer together. An example of a struggle the author told of was a time when her mother disapproved of something one of her other children did, and she began to throw stones at him. Her son then threw his mother to the ground and broke her neck (pg. 189). That experience the author described really stuck out because it sounded so unreasonable.
"My Brother" is a novel that one would not consider to be easy reading, not just because the style of writing was confusing, but because it was not a happy story. After reading this book, one would feel bad for Jamaica's family, yet inspired by her words. The book was hard reading, mainly because it was done in an unusual type of writing. It was also very depressing and had a definite morbid feel to it, yet it was extremely inspirational. It encourages those who read it to love your family while they're still there for you.

I first read Jamaica Kincaid's work in "Talk Stories", and I loved it.

I discovered this book (My Brother) when reading the book "Writing as a Way of Healing" by Louise DeSalvo. I was curious about Jamaica's life and her writing style intrigued me.

Through her writing, Jamaica brings beauty to even the most difficult of life's experiences. She writes, "That sun, that sun. On the last day of our visit its rays seemed as pointed and unfriendly as an enemy's well-aimed spear."(p.73)

Her writing is honest and balanced between expressing the hard aspects and the kindness within her family life. This book is mostly about her brother dying of AIDS, a very difficult subject matter to read. I also enjoyed reading about how she became a writer, and what it means to her to be a writer.

This book also tells about life in Antigua, which I was especially interested in learning about. The next book I will read by Jamaica is "A Small Place", to learn more about life in Antigua.

Jamaica Kincaid tells the story of her ill brother and his encounters with the virus HIV. The story has the title of My Brother by Jamaica Kincaid. The story is essentially written to save Jamaica's own life. Whenever there is a tragic happening in her family, she writes about to let her feelings out and she also tries to exclude herself from her family. She moves away from Antigua once she became old enough to do so. Jamaica goes through sever years without connection to her mother and her siblings. Jamaica struggles to find feelings for her sick and dying brother as he spends his last days in an old run down hospital in Antigua. Jamaica is only able to let her own feelings out in a comfortable manner to Dr. Prince Ramsey. Jamaica is unable to communicate with her own mother. This is due to Jamaica's feeling that her mother was only a mother at certain times. Jamaica is driven on the idea that her mother only wants to care for her children if they were sick or in need of caring. Any time other than that, Jamaica thinks she had a poor mother. Jamaica is pleased however with few things her mother did. When Jamaica was only fifteen years old, she was forced to look after her younger brother who was only age two. She decided to read her books all day long and decided that looking after her younger brother was not a number one priority. Jamaica realized at the end of her reading that her mother would be home soon so she tried to clean up the things she thought her mother would realize first. One of these things was her brothers diaper but Jamaica did not have enough time to change so once her mother found this out, she took all of Jamaica's books, took them outside, doused them with kerosene, and burned them all, every last book. Jamaica recalls this event as driving her to become a written to make up for all for all of the books that she had lost at a young age.
Throughout the book Jamaica conveys her struggle to find love for her dying brother, Devon Drew. She never was close at all to her younger brother and as her brother became more sick, Jamaica knew she need to do something to redeem her self for all of the years she was absent in the presence of her brother. On page 72, Jamaica and her mother have a conversation about bringing her brother the medicine that prolonged his life several months more. Her mother said to her that god would bless her richly for providing her brother with the medicine, AZT. Jamaica was not sure if what her mother said was true but she was really not concerned with gods or being richly blessed. Jamaica was constantly thinking about how her brother was sick and how much Antiguan society shunned HIV positive people. Even though her brother was feeling better from the AZT, Jamaica knew that eventually her brother would die. On January 19th, 1996, at the age of thirty-three, Devon Drew died.
At certain times throughout the story, Jamaica thinks that it is perhaps better if her brother would just die, but when Devon was no more, Jamaica did not know what to feel. At certain points throughout the story, Jamaica feels that Devon is becoming a burden to her, making fly from her home in Vermont to Antigua, every time her brother needed more AZT. On page 87 she states that it seemed that his dying was a good thing, she was relieved when her brother finally did die. She says " when that moment came, the moment I knew he was no longer alive, I didn't know what to think, I didn't know how to feel" I think that this sentence conveys the struggle Jamaica has internally about her brothers illness and about how she felt about him when he was alive. During the story Jamaica also remembers the death of her father. She got word of his death right around Christmas time and she felt increasingly depressed. On page 119 Jamaica says " In the letter telling me that my father is (that is, the man who was not really my father but whom played I thought of as my father, and the man who had filled that role in my life) had died, my mother said his death left them impoverished, that she had been unable to pay for his burial, and the only charitable of others allowed him to have an ordinary burial, not an extraordinary burial of a pauper, with its anonymous grave and which no proper mourners attend". Throughout the second half of the book, Jamaica demonstrates her increasing anger toward her father and her brother. She becomes very angered at the thought of anyone dying and she keeps feeling that she really did not care about the loss of her father, only how to try and make up for the lost time with her brother, who in retrospect never really seemed to love Jamaica as a sister, just perhaps someone who provided him life with more AZT. Jamaica has difficulty dealing with all of the tragic experiences that has happened to her family, that is why one could feel that Jamaica isolated herself from her family. She feels that at certain times throughout the book she feels that perhaps she is to blame for being in the absence of her ill brother.
One could feel that Jamaica Kincaid does represent a hero but in defined terms. At times the only reason she is able to provide her brother with AZT is because she has had a better life than the rest of her family and she also has more money than the rest of her family. She tries her hardest to find love for her brother, even though she really cannot relate to any of his problems. She buys him temporary relief with the AZT medicine, but she knows that is not enough to make up for all of the lost years she had been without her brother. One might not necessarily think that Jamaica wanted to reconnect with her brother and the rest of her family, one might think that she just wanted to see him again before he died. While visiting her brother the experiences Jamaica had with her mother did make her more stressed out and more prone to mental and physical breakdowns. One could say that Jamaica did triumph all of the death and stress that was associated with her mother and the rest of her family.
One cold imagine that this story is heartfelt at times and a very good read. Some parts of the story were somewhat confusing when Jamaica puts things like my father (not my father but my brother's father) in parentheses. It seems as though she does want a mother and father but at times is seems as though Jamaica knows that maybe they do not want to be parents to her. This book is touching on several levels and anyone who has family members who are sick can relate to this book. This book was moving and really from the heart (of Jamaica Kincaid). One could feel that this book could be given to almost anyone and that person would be moved emotionally as well as physically. This book tells the story of hardship and death a young girl inspired to write her feelings in order to save her own life. Jamaica was inspired by the acts of her mother burning the few items she truly loved in live. Her books. She is familiar with the act of saving herself, so when she found out her brother was sick and dying. She started to write she knew that was the only was to understand his sickness, and she also began to write so she would not die with him. This book was amazing and is truly one of the best works of all times. It deals with emotion and real life situations. One feels that anyone who wants to learn the story of a girl who overcame the impoverished life of her family and the way Jamaica tried to save her own brother even when she could not relate to him, and she did with grace and inner strength that is unprecedented and amazing. She tried to keep a smile on her face and have a strong heart through it all.

I'd only ever read a short short story of Jamaica Kincaid's (that I wasn't too impressed by) before picking up this memoir. I enjoyed her memoir thoroughly. Wonderfully crafted and skillfully written, this rendition of her memories surrounding the life and death of her brother in Antigua, Jamaica, are emotionally moving, to say the least. I'm not giving much away by revealing that her brother dies of AIDS, something that is revealed in the first few pages, so I'm okay to say that this story of a sister and family's grappling with the immiment death manages to handle the AIDS story with beauty, poise, and compelling writing.

She highlights the stigma that surrounded anyone who contracted the disease. Were they a drug user? A philanderer? A homosexual? What kind of lifestyle does that person live that allowed them to contract such a deadly disease? Those are the questions people in Jamaica, and elsewhere, thought and asked themselves at the time, and even today. The sick were labelled, ostricized, deemed outcast, and refused help. A sad plight, indeed.

Simply put, Kincaid has a simple way with language that turns up on the page as alluring, seductive, and entertaining.

-- Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens

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. ...

this Book takes you on a journey for knowledge and understanding. it speaks to gaining something that is powerful that will be a stepping stone for better days and times ahead. this Book deals with expierences and coming to terms with life and how it has been dealt and the choices that you have to make.alot of issues and challenges are met head on and dealt with. very strong and well written book.

Unlike the slow and bland Annie John, Auto is
Kincaid's best work! This book made me a fan
of her writing. She also FINALLY won the
much-deserved National Book Award.

The only reason why the book didn't receive
more accolades is probably because of some
of the taboo subjects that are touched on
like abortion. I enjoyed this book very much,
though it is a little slow at times.

You really feel for the main character, and her
horrible excuse of a family, especially her father,
with whom she has a complicated relationship. This
book is deep and depressing at times but well-written
and thought-provoking about life on the islands.

Autobiography of My Mother is a powerful, mesmerizing, and other-worldy tale of Xuela, a woman of Dominica, West Indies, who is a worthy subject for Kincaid's musical cadences and rapturous prose. Boy, can this woman write - and she infuses all her prose with the lilting voices of her compatriots. There's no way to read her work aloud without finding yourself lapsing into the patois, sing-songy style of speech that comes thru so clearly in her writing. This book is a painful tale, the recounting of a difficult life without much love shown to the girl as she grows from motherless infant to strong and bitter young woman who aborts her pregnancy and remains defiant the rest of her life. Raised motherless herself, she determines never to mother others. Taken on a metaphorical level, the woman's story could be the story of Dominica, torn by suffering, racism, power, and the unbreakable bonds that bind them together.
Powerful writing on so, so many levels.

My feelings are very mixed about this book. There is no doubt that Kincaid has the ability to weave together beautiful and thoughtful moments. However, I had a difficult time staying interested in the book.

I understand the book to be written in the style of the characters history, experiences and misfortunes . A child raised without love, who grows into a woman without the ability to love. Life without love becomes a life filled with philosophical insight on human behavior, love and death.

Overall, the main character's inability to rise above an emotional flat line kept me disconnected, which prevents me from recommending this book with too much enthusiasm. I didn't feel that the character's description of the events matched her bleak emotional landscape.

Jamaica Kincaid's work always provokes sentiment for me. As a fellow Caribbean native, she describes some deep darks truths about people. . .truths that are consistent only among Caribs as they are influenced by thier social and cultural norms.In this novel, the mother's character, at parts, seemed much like my own mother: Having a dream of a better existence, but having it crushed by a woman whose dreams have also been diminished. And thus, a vicious cycle within a society of women who never seem to truly live; instead, only exist to raise other crushed little girls to yield even more unfulfilled woman.

Don't look for any made-up or whimsical fantasies here. You will find yourself precisely where little secrets lie. . .in places you will only visit by way of Kincaid's chariot.

If you expect a well-reasoned and persuasive essay, look elsewhere. At best, this is the mindless rantings of somebody who's been through a lot and really needs to vent. The only thing she was able to persuade me by the end of the book was that I was an evil person.
The book is divided into several chapters. The format is fairly simple: in every chapter, Jamaica Kincaid hates on a different group of people. In the first chapter, she rants about tourists. In the second chapter, she rants about British people. If she focused on one group of people, her argument might make sense, but when she focuses on them all it becomes clear that she just hates everybody. Because she writes the entire book in second person, every insult is directed straight at the reader. I left the book feeling extremely guilty, while at the same time not exactly sure what I had done wrong.

I had to read this book for a Multicultural Literature class at my Uni, and, far from being informative, all it did was fill with me a contempt of my own. I am not a racist by any means, but when confronted with such a bitter, snide voice as the one Kincaid displays, I find myself unconsciously getting defensive. When she says, "you are a tourist; you are ugly," I find myself saying, "Fine, I'll keep my money and let you trade with seashells and beads." Kincaid is a master of the self-fulfilling prophecy: she says Antiguans are so oppressed and so downtrodden and so angry, and rather than doing anything to help it, she's exacerbating it by using such a bitter, over-the-top voice.

Other reviewers have stated that the vision of Antigua portrayed is a warped and extremely limited one, biased by Kincaid's apparent small mindedness, and I must confess that I'm glad to hear that. To think that the entire island is solely occupied by bitter people who imagine themselves to be ex-slaves would make me steer clear of the area any time I go on vacation.

Because, yes, I am a tourist. And no, being a tourist does not automatically make anyone ugly, despite what Kincaid's bitter rant might say.

Antigua, an awe-inspiring vacation spot for Europeans and North Americans, takes on a different aura when discussed by native Jamaica Kincaid. Ms. Kincaid describes how the Antiguans feel about the tourists who visit: ugly people. Ugly because they invaded, then brought slaves to work for them so they could become rich while ignoring the needs of those who made them wealthy. Ugly because of what they've done to the island and the people who live there. Jamaica talks about the corrupt government and the hand that North Americans, British, Syrians and Lebanese play in that corruption. She describes how England paved the roads the Queen of England would travel when she visited, but left everything else in poor condition. Ms. Kincaid also mentions the drug dealers that the government ignores and those who build ugly condos for the wealthy and rent business space to the government who should be building their own space.

In a very few pages, Jamaica Kincaid says what a lot of former slaves would like to say but are perhaps too politically correct to utter. She does the job for us. Ms. Kincaid does not mince her words when it comes to what the British Empire did to the people of Antigua and the world for that matter. Frequently, I found myself wanting to stand up and cheer as I read her words of disgust and anger. While Ms. Kincaid is specifically speaking of Antigua, her words describe the slave trade and the destruction and poverty left in the wake of it no matter what country. It is well worth reading - more than once.

Reviewed by alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

Published in 1988 Kincaid's "A Small Place" is an unflinchingly angry portrayal of post-colonial, post-slavery life on the island of Antigua. To put it simply: Kincaid is as mad as hell, and she's not going to take it anymore. If you're white and can shelve your defensiveness for a moment this book is actually really enjoyable, it's written in first person and directed at "you," the British colonizer and/or the fat white tourist. Kincaid's sense of humor is wonderfully dark, and there are a lot of moments of humor if you keep an open mind. Still, at the heart of the matter is the story of Antigua's decay, left to rot by the British colonizers, with a population that doesn't vote openly corrupt officials out of office. She openly points out the irony of the celebration of emancipation alongside the valorization of the Hotel Training School, which teaches the residents of the island to be servants. In the end Kincaid concludes that no one is to blame, that after slavery the masters are no longer evil and the slaves are no longer "noble," but that everyone is merely human. She problematizes the matter, but offers no solutions, which might irritate those concrete sequentials among us. Also, she refers to Columbus, and the explorers in general, so adored in American culture, as "human rubbish" on multiple occasions. You might not agree with Kincaid, but this is one topic someone should be angry about, and her unapologetic narrative is about as honest as you can get.

A major failing of this essay, which claims to be non-fiction, is Kincaid's sole reliance on her own memories of Antigua. As an eye-witness, Kincaid has the chance to provide a unique perspective on the issues of slavery, corruption, tourism, colonialism, and SIDS (small island developing states). Yet, she ruins this chance, in my opinion, with her complete disregard of any perspective other than her own.

A Small Place presents a biased and incomplete account of many of the issues facing Antigua and other islands in the Caribbean. Some of Kincaid's criticisms are certainly valid; however, others have been blown completely out of proportion. If one really wishes to know the history of Antigua and to understand the lingering consequences of colonialism, I suggest looking elsewhere.

What this book lacks in factual information, it does not make up for with a strong emotional appeal. Kincaid's story line is incomplete and unengaging. She repeatedly wanders from topic to topic and back again, giving no sense of what is most important or relevant. Additionally, whatever sympathy she may gain from the Western reader is repeatedly lost with her hateful generalizations.

I am sorry that I have to write such a negative review of this book. I believe that it is important for people in the West to understand the plight of developing countries, especially SIDS. However, I do not believe that A Small Place is at all helpful in promoting this dialogue.

It is important to understand the past. And I can sympathize with Kincaid's intense hatred of those who have and continue to oppress "her people". However, I think this text is short-sighted in its desire for change. After repeatedly criticizing tourists for their greed and laziness, does she really expect them to want to understand Antiguan society? I see the hatred and dualism expressed in A Small Place as a major obstacle in achieving a better tomorrow.

I'm sorry. I haven't even completed the book. And,in fact, I may not complete it. There's too much to read to subject myself to such negativity. So, the search for stories for this book was for "rare pieces that weren't 'aggressively positive'; or that 'underline my sense of my displacement.'
Give me a break!
This is travel writing! "A Walk in the Woods" still stands out as my all-time favorite piece of travel writing. Please don't misunderstand - I read copious amounts of non-fiction, and sadly, the majority of that writing isn't positive - it's more investigative, historical material or the author has an ax to grind - as in Al Franken's latest book.
But, what's wrong with picking up something to read that will provide a sense of joy or enlighenment? I don't care to read about how brutal Haiti's existence has been - I get quite enough of reality thru the Jim Lehrer Newshour.
Don't waste your money if you're hoping for something light - that's for sure.

This year's editor Jamaica Kincaid has done an excellent job of choosing essays that, more than chronicle exotic journeys, speak about the perplexities of the human condition as her selections are often scabrous, sardonic, and emphasize the dangers and follies that roil beneath the surface of a travel itinerary. Here are some highlights:

1. "War Wounds" by Tom Bissell. A son and father, a Vietnam vet, travel through the father's war trajectory forty years later as Bissell explores what it means to be the son of a "war wounded" father.

2. "My Florida" by William E. Blundell. Famous for his book The Art of Feature Writing, Blundell has written my favorite essay in the collection. This is a gem of style, pungent, sarcastic, and wise. Blundell describes Florida as a place of grotesque indulgence for those geriatrics who decided to retire into a life of philistinism, tackiness, and decadence. A hilarious essay that would make Mark Twain proud.

3. "A Really Big Lunch" by Jim Harrison. Novelist Jim Harrison proves to also be a rather unapologetic gourmand who describes with hilarity his glutton quests with fellow sensualists. Almost as funny as "My Florida."

4. "My Kindergarten" by Peter Hessler. Set in rural China, this is a sad but inspiring essay about a peasant family struggling to overcome a mentally-handicapped family member and a child with a near deadly blood disease. Hessler shows how peasants, held in contempt, and urban citizens, given proper medical care, are treated differently by the government.

5. "My Thai Girlfriends" by Tom Ireland. An American living in Thailand, Ireland can't convince anyone that he is not a tomcat American embarking on a salacious quest in spite of his demure lifestyle.

6. "If It Doesn't Kill You First" by Murad Kalam. A recent convert to Islam and novelist, Kalam chronicles his pilgrimage to Mecca and shows his struggle to navigate through excruciating ritual, fanatics, and Muslims who, like him, are sincere but scared living in a post 9/11 world.

7. "Into the Land of Bin Laden" by Robert Young Pelton. The author shows how difficult it is to track Bin Laden in the no-man's land region of Taliban sympathizers and tribalists who afford great loyalty to the el Qaeda leader. He goes deep in the mountains of the Pakistan border and risks his life to tell his tale.

I was very excited to get this book, because I was under the impression that I was going to get to read some amazing writing. Well, it must be so amazing that it's over my head, because I was bored to tears. "A Really Big Lunch" is probably the most boring story I have ever read. The author spends his entire article detailing a gigantic feast he indulges in down to the tiniest detail. Unless you're a foodie or gourmand, it would have been better as photography. "My Thai Girlfriends" is about an American lecher sitting around doing nothing in Thailand, and it only makes me sorry that Thailand had to suffer through the author's presence. The only funny and/or interesting story in the book is "Trying to Like India." I don't think I've ever laughed as hard as I did reading that one. But one story doesn't make up for the fact that the rest of the book is garbage. Skip this one.

Travel has become so much easier that it has made travel writing harder. Travel writers used to feed the imagination by tales of exotic places the reader could only dream of seeing, reached after long and arduous journeys. Simon Winchester's piece about Ascension Island and Ben Ryder Howe on the Darien Gap are the closest to being in that old-fashioned genre in this book. These days we can jet to Timbuctu or Samarkand and stay at the Holiday Inn.
To make up for the lack of difficulty getting there, some places are so dangerous that accounts of them provide vicarious excitement. Madison Smart Bell in Haiti and Robert Young Felton on the NorthWest Frontier are in this category. A lesser degree of this is to make the destination sound so unpleasant that we feel good not being there. Seth Stevenson does this brilliantly about India. He should negotiate with the Indian Tourist Board to get bribed to keep quiet. Others to make you happy you stayed home are Peter Hessler (helping a sick child in China) and Murad Kalam on the Haj.
Another gimmick is to stretch the definition of "travel writing". William Blundell, Ian Frazier, William Least Heat Moon, Pam Houston and John McPhee do not leave the United States. Bucky McMahon doesn't get anywhere. Frazier describes a trip from Montclair, New Jersey to Weehawken, New Jersey. No doubt this will intrigue Montclair residents who want to know what Weehawken is like. McPhee is wonderful at explaining complicated technology, and that's what he mostly does in his long piece about barges in the Mid-West. I always find reading McPhee rather hard work.