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mcyewfly's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.5
Kincaid provides such a fully realized scene with every description she provides. At times it can feel overwhelming that she’s spent a paragraph explaining why her mother saying these specific two words warranted this detailed of a response. However, as anyone with a tumultuous relationship with their mother can attest, her circumstances grant her these explanations.
She covers a profound amount of ground, while maintaining its brevity and precision throughout. I absolutely adore how her paragraphs layer on detail on top of detail without a period in sight. It reminds me so much of how my own memories can feel like 1000s of paper cuts with every distinct smell or sight that I recall. The sense of place felt a bit off or less developed compared to the strength of the relationships and interactions, but I don’t think it’s an essential element. Also, the ending drops off really quickly, which given the subject matter is understandable, but it felt off for the reading experience wholly.
She covers a profound amount of ground, while maintaining its brevity and precision throughout. I absolutely adore how her paragraphs layer on detail on top of detail without a period in sight. It reminds me so much of how my own memories can feel like 1000s of paper cuts with every distinct smell or sight that I recall. The sense of place felt a bit off or less developed compared to the strength of the relationships and interactions, but I don’t think it’s an essential element. Also, the ending drops off really quickly, which given the subject matter is understandable, but it felt off for the reading experience wholly.
mi__ela's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
3.0
He lived in death. Perhaps everyone is living in death, I actually do believe that, but usually it can’t be seen; in his case it was a death I could see.
Kincaid's prose really evoked the atmosphere of the island of Antigua, her birthplace, and her struggle of accepting and processing her youngest brother's death.
The first half was good—a solid, stream-of-consciousness reflection, though it does get wordy and repetitive at times.
The second half though felt like it kept going around in circles; it was all over the place and it confused me more when it came to the timeline of before or after her brother's death.
Still, it shares several valuable lessons on grief, family, and dealing with trauma.
Unfortunately, I think this was a lost opportunity to write about her brother's life more, because at times it felt like this was more about their mother than her brother. She could have explored or explained the cultural disadvantages that led to Devon contracting AIDS and the people who were willing to help him live as long as possible, in a place where nobody wanted to be associated with them in any way.
raulbime's review against another edition
4.0
Looking back at my reading these past few months, a lot of the books I've read have dealt with death, illness, or grief, or all three in some way. Upon reflection, the simple reason for this, even though a few probably didn't get much thought when selected, is that I'm growing older and these realities are becoming more certain and there's some fear that I need to make sense of and books have been known to help with that.
So to this book which is my sixth by Kincaid and it has everything I love about her: pure honesty, the beauty of prose, a cadence accomplished by repetition, and a level of awareness of both self and that around self. It's still a tough read. Jamaica Kincaid's younger brother, Devon, died of AIDS and this book is a result of contemplating the grief and pain that loss brought.
Kincaid was already established and acclaimed when she had published this and before her brother died. As a child she had been a brilliant student but had been forced to abandon her studies and immigrate to the U.S.A. and work as an au-pair to help earn money for her family back in Antigua. Her ascension to the echelons of contemporary literature, where she's rightfully placed, resembles the fantastical and miraculous, and given the circumstances she must have endured, it is. So when she has to return home because of her brother's illness the gulf in their situations (Kincaid middle-class, American, accomplished, comfortable with a nice family of her own; Devon poor, fatally ill, suffering and dying, unaccomplished and unknown, without a family of his own and much to show for himself) confronts the circumstances she might have faced had she remained home and all the complicated emotions it brings, as well as the reality of her dying brother.
The complexity of human relationships, of situation, of life in general. Nothing is ever simple and Kincaid herself, nor her dead brother, nor her family, nor anyone for that matter, is simple. To turn all that grief and difficulty into something this beautiful is testament to her gift.
So to this book which is my sixth by Kincaid and it has everything I love about her: pure honesty, the beauty of prose, a cadence accomplished by repetition, and a level of awareness of both self and that around self. It's still a tough read. Jamaica Kincaid's younger brother, Devon, died of AIDS and this book is a result of contemplating the grief and pain that loss brought.
Kincaid was already established and acclaimed when she had published this and before her brother died. As a child she had been a brilliant student but had been forced to abandon her studies and immigrate to the U.S.A. and work as an au-pair to help earn money for her family back in Antigua. Her ascension to the echelons of contemporary literature, where she's rightfully placed, resembles the fantastical and miraculous, and given the circumstances she must have endured, it is. So when she has to return home because of her brother's illness the gulf in their situations (Kincaid middle-class, American, accomplished, comfortable with a nice family of her own; Devon poor, fatally ill, suffering and dying, unaccomplished and unknown, without a family of his own and much to show for himself) confronts the circumstances she might have faced had she remained home and all the complicated emotions it brings, as well as the reality of her dying brother.
The complexity of human relationships, of situation, of life in general. Nothing is ever simple and Kincaid herself, nor her dead brother, nor her family, nor anyone for that matter, is simple. To turn all that grief and difficulty into something this beautiful is testament to her gift.
zaraven's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Terminal illness
kyra_ann_writes's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.25