Reviews

a collection of short stories that made me ponder. Jamaica Kincaid starts off with a banger. Girl had me in a grip. It was my favourite story out of the entire collection. Kincaid's writing style is straightforward but also so vague at times. I had to reread some of the stories a few times to grasp what was going on and what was being said. I enjoyed the mother-daughter theme. I love when authors explore complex and complicated family dynamics. What makes it even more enjoyable is when an author pulls from their own story as Kincaid has done. There is a lyrical quality to her writing and an "island" like undertone to it all.

"Placing her arms around me, she drew my head closer and closer to her bosom, until finally I suffocated. I lay on her bosom, breathless, for a time uncountable, until one day, for a reason she has kept to her self, she shook me out and stood me under a tree and I started to breathe again."

dinahrachel's review against another edition

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dark hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

5.0

thatothernigeriangirl's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I really enjoyed the first story ‘Girl’ and ‘What I’ve Been Doing Lately’. I liked how the latter comes back in full circle and the former really details the struggles of womanhood in the way a mother gives her daughter instructions on how to behave — in relation to men.
Asides from those two, I couldn’t really wrap my head around the style or themes of the other stories.

ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

“What is my nature, then? For in isolation I am all purpose and industry and determination and prudence, as if I were the single survivor of a species whose evolutionary history can be traced to the most ancient of ancients; in isolation I ruthlessly plow the deep silences, seeking my opportunities like a miner seeking veins of treasure.” — from “Blackness”

TITLE—At the Bottom of the River

AUTHOR—Jamaica Kincaid

PUBLISHED—1983 (this edition 2022)

PUBLISHER—Farrar, Straus & Giroux (US), Picador (UK)

GENRE—prose poetry

SETTING—real & abstract worlds, some informed by the Caribbean

MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—coming of age, Caribbean physical & cultural landscapes, folklore, mythology & spiritual heritage, romantic & sexual identity, parent/child relationships, the liminality of dreamscapes & reality, the imagination as refuge, vision quests & other spiritual journies, our connection to the natural world

WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

CHARACTERIZATIONS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

STORIES—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

BONUS ELEMENT/S—Just devastatingly beautiful language.

PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“I am not yet a woman with a terrible and unwanted burden. I am not yet a dog with a cruel and unloving master. I am not yet a tree growing on barren and bitter land. I am not yet the shape of darkness in a dungeon. Where? What? Why? How then? Oh, that! I am primitive and wingless.” — from “Wingless”

My thoughts:

Can I quote the author herself?: “Oh, sensation. I am filled with sensation. I feel—oh, how I feel. I feel, I feel, I feel. I have no words right now for how I feel.” (from “Holidays”)

I was so engrossed by this book on my first reading that I gave myself the hiccups. I’ve read it four times the whole way through since then and each story more times individually on top of that. My favorites were “Wingless” and “Blackness” but there were parts of “At Last” and “At the Bottom of the River” that really resonated with me as well.

I would recommend this book to readers who just want to be thoroughly bowled over, absolutely stunned by beautiful writing. This book is best read a dozen times—no, a hundred!

Final note: Absolutely thrilled I get to read the rest of this authors works in community with #WeReadJamaicaKincaid hosted by Kiki of IG:@ifthisisparadise. 🙏🏻

“What a bitter thing to say to me, I who for time uncountable have always seen myself as newly born, filled with a truth and a beauty that could not be denied, living in a world of light that I called eternal, a world that can know no end.” — from “At the Bottom of the River”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Further Reading—

the rest of Jamaica Kincaid’s works—TBR
GARDENING IN THE TROPICS by Olive Senior
EVERYONE KNOWS I AM A HAUNTING by Shivanee Ramlochan
BLUE by Emmelie Prophète
Zora Neale Hurston
Sabrina Orah Mark’s work: TSIM TSUM, THE BABIES, and WILD MILK
Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s work, especially AT THE DRIVE-IN VOLCANO and LUCKY FISH
Akwaeke Emezi (especially DEAR SENTHURAN)
“A Thousand Words: A Writer’s Pictures of China” in LIVING BY THE WORD by Alice Walker
Elizabeth Bishop—TBR

themillennialjareads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

More like short stories as poems

caribbeangirlreading's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

I don't think it's fair to call At the Bottom of the River a collection of short stories. Don't expect a compact novel with plot and character development. Some of the "stories" read like poems, some of them read like stream of consciousness vignettes. They all feel like dreams. Just ignore the urge to read like a reviewer and enjoy the ride/vibe.

The only comment I do have is that I wish I had read this before Annie John. I now understand Annie John (the writing, and the character) so much more.

daniellestarredpages's review against another edition

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I don't even know

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