A review by 2treads
At the Bottom of the River, by Jamaica Kincaid
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
4.0
A collection of stories that read like prose laden with poetry, like conversations within stories, and like memories falling from lips. In these stories I could see games played where a word would start a chain of telling, whereby every following link would begin with the last word from the previous link's ending and I could picture children in basic school being taught to memorize rhymes using simple but meaningful words.
Kincaid uses a decidedly island lyricality and stream of consciousness that is inherent to oral storytelling to bring these stories to life. And as the reader skips from line to line, a certain familiarity of place, people, and time awakens.
The beaches that are glimpsed, di pikney dem weh ramp ruff, adults conversing and reminiscing; all the things you have to learn to do to avoid the slut you bent on becoming (Girl), is from stories you have heard and seen played out before.
But even in the sparsest of lines, vividness of imagery is pulled forth making the mind roll and roil with the heaviness of what is transmitted and the meaning held within each phrase.
'My Mother' is the story that asks the most of me: what metamorphosis can teach and how a relationship as strong as the one between mother and child can be an unbreakable yet fraught bond.
Kincaid uses a decidedly island lyricality and stream of consciousness that is inherent to oral storytelling to bring these stories to life. And as the reader skips from line to line, a certain familiarity of place, people, and time awakens.
The beaches that are glimpsed, di pikney dem weh ramp ruff, adults conversing and reminiscing; all the things you have to learn to do to avoid the slut you bent on becoming (Girl), is from stories you have heard and seen played out before.
But even in the sparsest of lines, vividness of imagery is pulled forth making the mind roll and roil with the heaviness of what is transmitted and the meaning held within each phrase.
'My Mother' is the story that asks the most of me: what metamorphosis can teach and how a relationship as strong as the one between mother and child can be an unbreakable yet fraught bond.