hanjang's review against another edition
5.0
The most eloquently written tough love I can recall ever reading. With unbelievable wit and style so lyrical that you sometimes forget you're being criticized, Kincaid rants on about the corruption, injustice, and other problems affecting her homeland of Antigua. No one--not the dishonest government officials, the seemingly helpless natives, or the tourists (descendants of slave-owning colonists)--are free from her frustration and ire. The type of enlightening essays that make readers uncomfortable by forcing them to see themselves in a way they'd rather not admit, but with the understanding that the situation is complex and there are no foreseeable solutions.
2treads's review against another edition
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
This was fire all the way through. Sharp, witty, with just the right amount of snarky critique that is necessary when one is relating the colonialistic patina with which island nations still operate under.
🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬
'Antigua is beautiful. Antigua is too beautiful. Sometimes, the beauty of it seems unreal. Sometimes, the beauty of it seems as if it were stage sets for a play.'
🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬
Kincaid strips away all illusions in a voice dripping wit and sharp critique with respect to her island, Antigua. As we travel along, from the airport to the hotel to the beaches, Kincaid with utmost honesty unveils the colonialistic history and present day imprints that still mark the landscape of her homeland.
🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬
The lifestyle of the corrupt, wily, and the not so fortunate is put to the reader. All the while, the implication of this social hierarchy is always present.
🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬
The characteristics that Kincaid flay open are so familiar and resonate clearly with one who is from the Caribbean and has heard or experiences what she so unabashedly relates in these essays. How the colonizers took until there was nothing left, leaving the colonized with scars so deep they are reflected in every piece of land, every building, behaviour, way of life, and thought.
🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬
Kincaid questions why even after independence, so many rules, roles, practices, and celebrations remain that are there almost certainly to serve as a balm or tribute to England.
🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬
🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬
'Antigua is beautiful. Antigua is too beautiful. Sometimes, the beauty of it seems unreal. Sometimes, the beauty of it seems as if it were stage sets for a play.'
🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬
Kincaid strips away all illusions in a voice dripping wit and sharp critique with respect to her island, Antigua. As we travel along, from the airport to the hotel to the beaches, Kincaid with utmost honesty unveils the colonialistic history and present day imprints that still mark the landscape of her homeland.
🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬
The lifestyle of the corrupt, wily, and the not so fortunate is put to the reader. All the while, the implication of this social hierarchy is always present.
🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬
The characteristics that Kincaid flay open are so familiar and resonate clearly with one who is from the Caribbean and has heard or experiences what she so unabashedly relates in these essays. How the colonizers took until there was nothing left, leaving the colonized with scars so deep they are reflected in every piece of land, every building, behaviour, way of life, and thought.
🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬
Kincaid questions why even after independence, so many rules, roles, practices, and celebrations remain that are there almost certainly to serve as a balm or tribute to England.
🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬
Content Warnings
Moderate: Slavery, Racism, and Colonisation
Minor: Murder
chanteld's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
I loved this.
readwithshaazia's review against another edition
5.0
Such a powerful story in such a little book. Kincaid rages and spits truths and it just breaks my heart.
claudyne's review against another edition
5.0
Jamaica Kincaid pulls no punches and forces you to see the Caribbean for more than just its pretty beaches. She exposes the disadvantages that native people face in order to create a paradise for White European/ American visitors.