Scan barcode
chanteld's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Abortion
caribbeangirlreading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual content, Blood, and Abortion
Moderate: Death of parent and Classism
Minor: Death, Infertility, Racism, Sexism, and Colonisation
ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
“And what do I ask? What is the question I can ask? I own nothing, I am not a man. I ask, What makes the world turn against me and all who look like me? I own nothing, I survey nothing, when I ask this question; the luxury of an answer that will fill volumes does not stretch out before me. When I ask this question, my voice is filled with despair… The population of Roseau, that is, the ones who looked like me, had long ago been reduced to shadows; the forever foreign, the margins, had long ago lost any connection to wholeness, to an inner life of our own invention…”
“…a master cannot be a friend. And who would want such a thing, master and friend at once? A man would want that. It is a man who would ask, What makes the world turn, and then would find in his own reply fields of gravity, imaginary lines, tilts and axes, reason and logic, and, quite brazenly, a theory of justice.”
“To say that we had seen this boy float out to meet a woman surrounded by fruit, and then vanish in the swollen waters in the mouth of the river, was to say that we lived in a darkness from which we could not be redeemed. I then and now had and have no use for redemption.”
“…and no matter how swept away I would become by anyone or anything, in the end I allowed nothing to replace my own being in my own mind.”
- everything else by Jamaica Kincaid—reading her work in order of publication has been extremely rewarding
- SULA by Toni Morrison—TBR
- ON A WOMAN’S MADNESS by Astrid Roemer
- “of colour” by Katherine Agyemaa Agard—TBR
- A REGARDED SELF: CARIBBEAN WOMANHOOD AND THE ETHICS OF DISORDERLY BEING by Kaiama L. Glover—TBR
- BLACK LOOKS: RACE AND REPRESENTATION by bell hooks—TBR
- THE ANNOTATED MRS DALLOWAY by Virginia Woolf, edited by Merve Emre—bc Kincaid in AUTOBIOGRAPHY: “… to condemn yourself is to forgive yourself…” 👀 & stream of consciousness, sociocultural critique
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Abortion
2treads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The ways in which the people, place, experiences drew reactions of glee, disgust, and commiseration from.me, made me think of similar stories within my own community and, by extension, my country.
I can see how the unfolding of events and the prose might throw some people off, but this way of relationships stories is so common in my country, where a subject mentioned in a memory or retelling launches the legs of a directly connected story or branches into something new yet similar.
Moderate: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Abortion, and Death of parent
Minor: Infertility
holasisoymaca's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Siempre me resultó muy difícil reseñar autobiografías y este libro no es la excepción. Situada en la isla de Dominica, la historia de Xuela (la protagonista) comienza con su nacimiento y el fallecimiento de su madre durante el parto. Es a partir de esta primer gran pérdida que Xuela construye su identidad:
"Y este sentido de pérdida y beneficio me hizo mirar hacia atrás y hacia adelante: en mi origen estaba la mujer a la que nunca le había visto la cara, pero en mi final no había nadda, nada entre la oscura habitación del mundo y yo."
Su madre una "carib", su padre un policía avaricioso, hijo de un colonizador escocés. Desde pequeña, Xuela no sólo aprende a vivir una vida sin amor, sino que a partir de las historias de sus padres también comienza a entender que su identidad también está atravesada por su género, etnia y clase social, pues en ese momento la isla estaba colonizada por los británicos. Sin embargo, aunque sabe que el mundo esta dividido entre los vencedores y los vencidos, no deja que nadie la defina. Quiere manejar ella misma su propio destino.
La escritura es dolorosa y bellísima en partes iguales. La construcción de Xuela es brillante, sus reflexiones y el relato de su vida diaria me parecen fundamentales para poder comprender los impactos que tuvo la colonización europea en África, Latinoamérica y el Caribe. ¿Quiénes cuentan la historia y cuántas visiones existen sobre el mismo acontecimiento? ¿Qué discurso(s) logra(n) la hegemonía? ¿Cómo eso afecta en la construcción colectiva de la identidad? ¿Es igual en los hombres y las mujeres? Son algunas preguntas en las que no pude parar de pensar mientras leía este libro.
Una lectura clave para reflexionar sobre el antirracismo, la maternidad, el deseo y la identidad. Muero por volver a leer a Jamaica.
Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Abortion, and Colonisation
careinthelibrary's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Racism, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Colonisation
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Abortion, and Pregnancy
cygnetbabe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
thebacklistborrower's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Abortion
nicoleisalwaysreading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, and Colonisation
bookdragon217's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I started this one on my vacation to Costa Rica and I have been thinking about it ever since. The Autobiography of My Mother by Jamaica Kinkaid is haunting, introspective and thought provoking. The writing cuts deep to the core. As a reader you are challenged to contemplate on the writer's innermost thoughts and process the historical context that has contributed to some of her beliefs and shapes this story.
Kinkaid's portrayal of Xuela, the protagonist, as flawed but not devoid of deep introspection and questioning was my favorite aspect of this character study. It starts off as a story about grief. Xuela's mother dies during childbirth so she never gets to meet or bind with her. However, the grief of love that develops stays with her & shapes her relationships with people & ties her closely to her island's history with colonization. Even Xuela questions her grief all the time because she doesn't understand how she can feel such great loss over someone she never met. She questions what love is and what it feels like. It makes her an observer of life at times, rather than a participant. This very grief also makes her have fierce autonomy over her own body, shapes her feminism, & keeps her from getting too close to anyone.
Kindkaid masterfully tackles these main themes:
🌴 lasting impacts of colonization in the Caribbean
🌴 autonomy over sex & female bodies & ability to birth
🌴 the exploration of the meaning of love
🌴 grief from the womb, absent parents, lack of love
🌴 how absence of love shapes people
🌴 mixed identities and power
🌴 older men preying on young girls
🌴 how grief makes you an observer
Ultimately the writing keeps you hooked. It was keeps you moving forward through the darkness of this book. Kinkaid makes excellent choices in how she tells this story & it is one that you have to experience personally in order to fully understand how powerful it is. Every line is intentional & makes you question what you think you know.
Moderate: Sexism, Grief, and Abortion