Reviews

‘’Here in the rocky haunts of the islanders themselves are landscapes where ‘’the rocks are sharper than a coconut vendor’s cutlass, and the waters lash with a vengeance,’’ landscapes of swollen gullies and bush where monkeys can hide, where beauty and violence compete in scorpionfish and stingrays and captured, gutted shark. There are also the landscapes where lash fruit falls to the ground with the ease of summer ripening, where the clash of dominoes in the run shop provides the familiar auditory signal of men at play, and where preachers get the urge to go into the streets and warn of coming tribulations even as gunshots spatter.’’

The Whale House by Sharon Millar (Trinidad & Tobago): A beautiful, sad story about the immense pain of losing a child.

The Science of Salvation by Dwight Thompson (Jamaica): An ex-convict returns and wreaks havoc to a community plagued by gang wars in a haunting, tragic story.

Cheque Mate by Kevin Baldeosingh (Trinidad & Tobago): An affluent woman exacts her revenge on a man who wanted to buy her silence in an almost twisted game of power. Undoubtedly seductive this one…

The Thing We Call Love by Ivory Kelly (Belize): A ten-year-old girl witnesses the love troubles of her community.

A Good Friday by Barbara Jenkins (Trinidad & Tobago): Well, if that isn’t love at first sight…

All the Secret Things No One Ever Knows by Sharon Leach (Jamaica): This story is all kinds of twisted, disturbed and disturbing and haunting. I don’t agree with trigger warnings because we are all intelligent, grown-up readers but this one contains every possible trigger alert you can think of. I loved it.

‘’There’s no such thing as water under the bridge. Forgive and forget is just something pipe-dream losers, helpless victims, hang onto because they’re unable - or unwilling - to do anything else.’’

Amelia at Devil’s Bridge by Joanne C. Hillhouse (Antigua & Barbuda): The spirit of a dead girl screams in desperation in a story that will make you shiver.

Waywardness by Ezekel Alan (Jamaica): The story of a criminal with commentary on sexuality, identity, and violence. This one managed to make me uncomfortable.

And the Virgin’s Name Was Leah by Heather Barker (Barbados): A strange fusion of the Old and New Testament, of the Biblical era and our contemporary times, of Israel and Barbados produce a striking story about mental health, family and hope.

Mango Summer by Janice Lynn Mather (Bahamas): A small community is being plagued by the disappearance of young girls. Seen through the eyes of a girl’s younger sister, this is a haunting, cryptic tale in which the line between reality and myth is heavily blurred.

Berry by Kimmisha Thomas (Jamaica): A tender story of desperate love and the prejudices of a macho community.

The Monkey Trap by Kevin Jared Hosein (Trinidad & Tobago): I am sorry to say that this one was disgusting…

Father, Father by Garfield Ellis (Jamaica): In a bitter story, a boy remembers his father as he’s trying to cope with abuse.

‘’On an island nobody ever really, truly disappears without a trace. No, what we have here are bodies: a woman found in the bushes in All Saints, a tourist slain at Darkwood, a girl washed up at Devil’s Bridge…

They’re few and far between. That’s why they make the news because it always kind of shakes us up that there might be someone among us who could do such a thing.

But there are no places to ide bodies, nowhere where they won’t eventually reveal themselves.’’

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/

zoenosis's review

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4.0

Picked this up as was interested in reading more from Caribbean writers, and was so pleasantly surprised at the breadth and depth of this collection! So many different styles of story are represented here, and all so good. Standout favourites were Cheque Mate by Kevin Baldeosingh (so sexy!), the Whale House by Sharon Millar (I cried), The Monkey Trap, Father Father, Amelia at Devils Bridge, All the Secret Things No One Ever Knows... so basically loved the entire collection.

bahareads's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Pepperpot was mix of joy and heartbreak. Short stories continue to surprise me with how powerful how they can be. All the stories had different flavors of life in it, I was chilled to bone with some and brought to joyful heights by others. I enjoyed Kevin Baldeosingh's Cheque Mate , Ivory Kelly's This Thing We Call Love , Sharon Leach's All The Secret Things No One Ever Knows , Kimmisha Thomas' Berry and Garfield Ellis' Father, Father the most out of all the stories in the anthology. Some of the stories in Pepperpot had open endings which left the story feeling hollow. I will say all the stories in here didn't thrill me but left me wondering about the quality of the writing and storytelling. I will say overall though I think Pepperpot gave what it needed to give - a diverse anthology telling diffrent stories of the Caribbean.

morningstar1993's review against another edition

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3.0

My average rating was a 3. Some where amazing, a couple were horrible. Most were standard. This isn't my favorite collection but it definately was unique. It was neat to see the themes were an Island had multiple authors.

I left the authors name, the island which they come from and the star rating for each story. I also left trigger warnings on 2.

Part I
SHARON MILLAR The Whale House Trinidad & Tobago 3/5

DWIGHT THOMPSON The Science of Salvation Jamaica 3.5/5

KEVIN BALDEOSINGH Cheque Mate Trinidad & Tobago 2/5

IVORY KELLY This Thing We Call Love Belize 4/5 Quick note, I love how the dialogue was written. It was easier to get the vibe of the people with the speak having an obvious dialect vs almost robot.

Part II
BARBARA JENKINS A Good Friday Trinidad & Tobago 3/5

SHARON LEACH All the Secret Things No One Ever Knows Jamaica [trigger warning incest] 2.5/5

JOANNE C. HILLHOUSE Amelia at Devil’s Bridge Antigua & Barbuda 3/5

EZEKEL ALAN Waywardness Jamaica I DNF after two paragraphs. Wtf. "Straighter gay" and the Nazi comments. 0/5

HEATHER BARKER And the Virgin’s Name Was Leah Barbados. 1/5

JANICE LYNN MATHER Mango Summer Bahamas 2/5

KIMMISHA THOMAS Berry Jamaica 3/5

KEVIN JARED HOSEIN The Monkey Trap Trinidad & Tobago 2/5

Garfield Ellis Father, Father Jamaica 3/5

sannereadstheworld's review

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A great collection for anyone looking for new-to-them writers.
I especially love the stories Berry by Kimmisha Thomas and A Good Friday by Barbara Jenkins

Content Warnings

morningstar916's review against another edition

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3.0

bookofcinz's review against another edition

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3.0

As Olive Senior says in the preface The stories are for the most part serious but, like Caribbean life, often salted and spiced with humour and the sweetness of island expressions

I love Caribbean short stories and when I saw this collection I definitely felt led to read it. It boosted authors from all over the Caribbean, some I have never heard of, others I wanted to hear more from. The collection felt truly Caribbean and explored a lot of the themes I never get tired of reading about.

I have to say, majority of the stories in this collection felt incomplete or lacking but I thoroughly enjoyed Ivory Kelly's This Thing We Call Love and Sharon Leach's All The Secret Things No One Ever Knows .

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