Barbados: The Star Side of Bird Hill

 

 

The Star Side of Bird Hill

by Naomi Jackson

 

  

 

If not for this blog, I would have never picked up this book, and that would have been a real shame since The Star Side of Bird Hill by Naomi Jackson turned out to be a gem of a story.  I'm definitely someone who judges a book by its cover, and that includes the title as well as the picture on the jacket.  For this book, I don't like either.  The title pairs words that don't normally go together, which means it didn't stick in my mind, spark my imagination, or attract me to pick up the book and take a closer look.  Turns out that the title makes perfect sense after you read the story, of course, as does the ugly cover picture of a Carnaval-like clown.  But because of my "so many books, so little time" mantra, the visual and auditory stimulants that the title and cover image provide are often what draws me to or repels me from selecting my next book to read.  Fortunately, I needed a Barbados book, and this one showed up as one that Amazon.com recommended just for me.  And it was fantastic.

 

The Star Side of Bird Hill is a coming of age story about two sister, Dionne and Phaedra, who are sent to live with their grandmother, Hyacinth, in their homeland of Barbados when their mother becomes ill.  Dionne is 16, at a time in her life where leaving Brooklyn for the small island community of Bird Hill is in no way appealing and completely counter to her life vision at that juncture.  She conveys her frustration and disappointment in the way adolescents often do, through rebellion, disrespect, and pushing Hyacinth's boundaries at every opportunity, but we also see a glimpse of her relief at being discharged from the adult responsibilities her mother's illness had foisted upon her.  She no longer has to find food, resolve crises, or act as a parent to Phaedra, who at 10, is more easy-going and open to her new life.  Phaedra's character is strength and grit and softness, all at the same time.  She wears her heart on her sleeve but stands up to anyone who might want to bruise it in any way.  NPR's review says "the book ... belongs to Phaedra," and I agree.  Because of Phaedra, you love Dionne despite her obnoxiousness, empathize with the girls' mother (who is an invisible character, never actually appearing in person), and wish you could sit down for a cup of coffee with Hyacinth to learn more about her life.

 

Jackson takes a long time to set up the novel, and during the first third or so of the book, I wondered if I would wind up judging the content as I had the cover.  But once the current setting is staged, Jackson takes us deeper into what went on in Brooklyn and also in Bird Hill many years previously, before the girls' mother left home.  That context informs the richness of what's happening in the moment with Dionne, Phaedra, and Hyacinth as they forge ahead with their changed relationships and their new sense of what must become normal.  There is tragedy at the end.  More tragedy than two young girls would likely cope with well, and in fact, Dionne struggles.  But Hyacinth and Phaedra are steady in their love and support, and Bird Hill proves to be the best possible backdrop for healing and for hope. 
 

 

 



Bahamas: The Far Side of the Sun

 

 

The Far Side of the Sun

by Kate Furnivall

 

 

 

What I enjoyed most about Kate Furnivall's novel, The Far Side of the Sun, was the historical background it offered on the island nation of The Bahamas, a country most of us think of only as a vacation spot but which has its own proud heritage.  Set in the 1940's, just as the world is on the brink of World War II, The Bahamas is on its own brink ... of independence as the native Bahamians begin to stand up against colonial rule and push back against laws and politics that keep the scales tilted in favor of the Brits who have come to think of the island as their own.  Dodie, an orphaned young woman who feels more Bahamian than British, and Ella, the intelligent but bored wife of a prestigious diplomat, cross paths when Dodie helps a mysterious, dying man upon whom she stumbles in a dark alleyway.  Her kindness is rewarded by her formerly peaceful life becoming fraught with danger and political intrigue.  When she crosses paths with Ella, whose secrets are well hidden behind her role as proper diplomatic wife, they spin together towards violence and the discovery of greed and deceit that tarnishes what they believe to be true of their lovely island home.

 

This is the third Kate Furnivall book I've read.  I loved her first novel, The Russian Concubine, but couldn't get through The Red Scarf and struggled with this one.  I don't think I'll read any of her others.  It's made me think about how I have an affinity for debut novels.  I wonder if it's because a first novel is likely the product of many years of creative thinking and daydreaming, careful planning, stretching and growing, and capitalizing on all of the writer's own human experience, channeled into the final product that is that very first published novel.  Those that come after, more often than not, are written and published faster, this time with the writer capitalizing on his or her previous success.  That makes for an altogether different sort of equation, doesn't it?  That's not to say, of course, that writers don't ever produce high quality second, third, fourth (and so on) novels.  But there is something I love about reading that first masterpiece.

 

 

 

 

There are a few literary prizes out there specifically for debut novels.  Two of my favorites are:

 

PEN/Heminway Award - I haven't read the 2015 award-winner, Elegy on Kinderklavier, by Arna Bontemps Hemenway, but the 2014 prize went to one of favorites, We Need New Names, by NoViolet Bulawayo.

 

The Center for Fiction - The 2015 winner was Land of Love and Drowning, by Tiphanie Yanique - this one has been on my "to be read" list for a while - might have to bump it up to the top!  Fourth of July Creek, by Smith Henderson, which I devoured and loved, made the shortlist, as did The Invention of Exile, by Vanessa Manko, which is on my bookshelf.

 

 

So after reading this book, I have decided that I that I need to amp up the quality of the books I'm selecting.  I know this blog doesn't have a large number of followers, and that's okay because I'm really writing this for myself and not because I have aspirations for making it big in the blogosphere.  But those of you who are reading along, I truly would be grateful for your help in finding books to read, especially for the smaller countries where there isn't much in the literary mainstream.  I'm keeping a master list of suggestions, so please feel free to send me a suggestion for a country that's way down the alphabetical order.  You can post here in the blog's comment box, or you can email me at theworldbybook@gmail.com.  Thanks in advance, and happy reading!