Reviews with content warning for Grief - Popisho

Popisho takes place in a Caribbean-inspired fantastical island world. On the island of Popisho, individuals are born with powers called cors--medicinal cors, cooking cors, etc. We follow a number of characters as the plot unfolds, including a famous & talented chef, a healer, politicians, prostitutes and lovers. We get to know them through their personal histories as the days grow closer and closer (and stranger!) to the royal wedding. The island is full fantastical elements. Butterflies are enjoyed as one would a glass of wine, while moths are ingested to achieve an addictive high. Themes of joy, loss, grief, love, abuse, and addiction are interwoven through the story in a masterful way with beautiful prose.

The writing is beautiful and lyrical in a way that Ross’s descriptions all but form the tastes on your tongue, the scents that waft past your nose, and the emotions that build up in your chest. The whole world of Popisho that Ross built with vivid and vibrant imagery kept me wanting more--to follow the next character perspective, to see how relationships and individuals developed or connected… I really enjoyed getting lost in the dreamy world building.

For Ross’s writing alone, I would recommend Popisho. Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the eARC of Popisho.

Content Warnings

booksnailmail's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

In the midst of an already chaotic year, this book came into my life (thanks @netgalley and @fsgbooks) - and I just had a TIME with it!!

Popisho is an island, and a world. It is a concept and a feeling. It is the thread between every protagonist of the novel, and it is a political statement. In Popisho, people have cors - god-given gifts of healing, cooking, and catching lies. Cors are their folly and their reason to live - with their life’s purpose arranged from childhood, the people of Popisho are left instead to finagle with drama and destiny.

To open, we meet Xavier, a maceanus who has the gift of cooking exactly the right thing per person...when the time comes. His wife Nya has surrendered herself to the sea, but throughout the novel we are left trilling between whether it was an accident, suicide, or homicide. Xav has been commissioned to cook for the governor’s daughter Sonteine, out of turn of his ability. Meanwhile, Anise has discovered a cheating husband and Romanza has been disowned. In between all this, Ross zooms out to the political climate of Popisho - which is in tumult.

The first hints of upcoming chaos on Popisho are when mysterious yellow graffiti emerges - they interrogate Popishans (sp?) with the know-how of Big Brother and the heart of a revolutionary. Then, at exactly 12 noon, the “pum pum” of every woman falls out - some are bouncing in the streets, stolen by peeping Toms, or secured into locked drawers until they can be re-attached. That’s right, when all women find their vulvas spontaneously detached, the government passes an edict that all sexual intercourse must halt for 24 hours until a solution is reached. *GASP*

This 24 hours turns into a witching hour - we get the feeling of a storm stirring as warm western winds meet the eastern ones. Popisho is on edge. Yet, with spry storytelling and boundless imagination, Ross tackles heavy subjects like addiction, grief, and broken hearts with a lens of joy. It brought curiosity and playfulness into my life, frosted with unapologetic feminism, and rich mythology baked from scratch.

As amazing as these characters seem, this book has earned a forever spot on my bookshelf for one other reason - Leone Ross has a cors herself. She spreads words onto the page with artistic genius. She is a composer of the page. Her word choice is eccentric, but she creates cadence and character in fonts. I’m telling you people - this book is a best-kept secret at the moment. There is nothing else like it.

Content Warnings

More...