Scan barcode
roshreviews's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
2.5
In a Nutshell: Loved the introductory note and the reason behind this anthology. Couldn’t figure out the point of most of the stories. Disappointed.
The introductory note mentions that this short story collection is written in honour of the ancestors who persevered despite the odds, and for those who continue to suffer injustices today. The idea is to read it in order to reconnect with the earth, with nature, with spirit. The stories are described as Havana Noir and are located in varied places in Canada and The Caribbean.
Great intro and intent! If only the implementation created the same feelings in me. Most of the stories in this debut collection left me feeling zilch. The endings weren’t satisfactory – they were either abrupt or weird. The plot development was quite haphazard, sometimes with no logical correlation between the start and the end. They weren’t even slice-of-life in style, which could have explained away a few of the issues.
Moreover, the blurb promised stories “permeated with the violence of colonial histories, personal and intimate, in settings where the veil between the living and the dead is obscured.” This led to very different expectations. The colonial history part of the claim is visible only in bits and pieces.
I couldn’t connect to most of the characters in the stories. It was almost as if we were viewing them from a frosted glass pane, so they were visible more as blurred shapes than as well-etched figures.
One more thing that affected my enjoyment was the use of dialectical English in almost every story. While I understand why dialectical English works better in creating an authentic reader experience, reading it all through the story (especially with the Caribbean spellings and slang) is a major pain in the posterior. Audiobooks can handle dialects better, but during actual reading, a lot of time can be wasted figuring out the actual word from the spelling variant used. In fact, one of the stories (‘How to Build a Saddis’) comes from a child’s pov, and hence, the entire story is written in childish spellings (or rather misspellings.) This story is an amazing writing feat, because it surely takes a creative writer to put across every word in the tale from a child’s mind-set. But reading it? Oh my! I didn’t understand half of what the child was saying.
Basically, I loved the intent behind this collection but couldn’t bring myself to enjoy the content.
As always, I rated the stories individually, and except for one story (‘Mr. Bull's Garden’) that touched the 4 star mark for its writing style and plot, the rest generated no memorable emotions.
The author has writing talent, no doubt about it, but this just wasn’t my kind of writing. Coming from a country with a history of colonisation, I was hoping for an impactful experience with this collection. Sadly, it was not to be. Maybe fans of more abstract or surrealist works will enjoy this collection better.
2.6 stars, based on the average of my ratings for the individual stories.
My thanks to Dundurn Press and NetGalley for the DRC of “Suite as Sugar”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
The introductory note mentions that this short story collection is written in honour of the ancestors who persevered despite the odds, and for those who continue to suffer injustices today. The idea is to read it in order to reconnect with the earth, with nature, with spirit. The stories are described as Havana Noir and are located in varied places in Canada and The Caribbean.
Great intro and intent! If only the implementation created the same feelings in me. Most of the stories in this debut collection left me feeling zilch. The endings weren’t satisfactory – they were either abrupt or weird. The plot development was quite haphazard, sometimes with no logical correlation between the start and the end. They weren’t even slice-of-life in style, which could have explained away a few of the issues.
Moreover, the blurb promised stories “permeated with the violence of colonial histories, personal and intimate, in settings where the veil between the living and the dead is obscured.” This led to very different expectations. The colonial history part of the claim is visible only in bits and pieces.
I couldn’t connect to most of the characters in the stories. It was almost as if we were viewing them from a frosted glass pane, so they were visible more as blurred shapes than as well-etched figures.
One more thing that affected my enjoyment was the use of dialectical English in almost every story. While I understand why dialectical English works better in creating an authentic reader experience, reading it all through the story (especially with the Caribbean spellings and slang) is a major pain in the posterior. Audiobooks can handle dialects better, but during actual reading, a lot of time can be wasted figuring out the actual word from the spelling variant used. In fact, one of the stories (‘How to Build a Saddis’) comes from a child’s pov, and hence, the entire story is written in childish spellings (or rather misspellings.) This story is an amazing writing feat, because it surely takes a creative writer to put across every word in the tale from a child’s mind-set. But reading it? Oh my! I didn’t understand half of what the child was saying.
Basically, I loved the intent behind this collection but couldn’t bring myself to enjoy the content.
As always, I rated the stories individually, and except for one story (‘Mr. Bull's Garden’) that touched the 4 star mark for its writing style and plot, the rest generated no memorable emotions.
The author has writing talent, no doubt about it, but this just wasn’t my kind of writing. Coming from a country with a history of colonisation, I was hoping for an impactful experience with this collection. Sadly, it was not to be. Maybe fans of more abstract or surrealist works will enjoy this collection better.
2.6 stars, based on the average of my ratings for the individual stories.
My thanks to Dundurn Press and NetGalley for the DRC of “Suite as Sugar”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
krisandburn's review against another edition
I simply did not get on with these stories. I read the first four and a half stories and they just did not give me enough and I did not enjoy them.
sharron_joy_reads's review against another edition
5.0
An incredible collection of short stories from a powerful female voice. Camille explores racism, modern colonialism, poverty, crime, violent toxicity and generational trauma.
It speaks of the incredible survival instincts of those who suffer injustice in the world. Set in Toronto, Barbados and Trinidad, these stories explore heavy themes but they do it with humour, not shying away from the hard subjects but doing it in a way that is easy to read and that flows naturally, they a little vignettes of magic. Highly recommend!
@sharronjoy69 on TikTok
It speaks of the incredible survival instincts of those who suffer injustice in the world. Set in Toronto, Barbados and Trinidad, these stories explore heavy themes but they do it with humour, not shying away from the hard subjects but doing it in a way that is easy to read and that flows naturally, they a little vignettes of magic. Highly recommend!
@sharronjoy69 on TikTok
read_nap_repeat's review against another edition
2.5
As with most short story collections, I enjoyed a couple of stories more than others. Overall, I liked the writing and would have preferred one story with well-rounded characters. Animal lovers should skip yellow dog blues
laurenrebeccanewson's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I went into this collection enjoying the first story, however I just couldn’t get along with any others. The dog narrative story was absolutely shocking but I’m not sure if it was in a good way because it was meant to be emotional or bad way because it is horrific
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the e arc
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the e arc
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Drug abuse
kirachandlerreads's review against another edition
2.0
Some of these stories were wonderful, well written and engrossing, heartfelt and maddening. But I didn't feel as though the strengths of the few made up for the weaknesses of the rest.
Thank you to net galley and the publishers for the arc.
Thank you to net galley and the publishers for the arc.
lostcupofstars's review against another edition
2.25
There were a few stories here I really connected with, but I found there were just too many that I didn't. A number of them dealt with heavy subject matter in a way that left me feeling depressed after reading. It was difficult to connect with any of the characters and I found the inconsistencies in the narrative voice really hard to keep up with.
I think this could have done with losing a few stories in order to flesh out some of the stronger ones.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Rape, Violence, and Murder