A review by jstilts
A Tall History of Sugar by Curdella Forbes

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Tough to give this book a rating as the first 150 pages are absolutely exceptional five star stuff (everything up to Moshe arriving in England) - but then it just becomes incredibly dull and ultimately extremely disappointing.

The book charts life for a reclusive foundling orphan boy Moshe in Jamaica with a strikingly unusual appearance. He befriends a girl - Arrrienne - on his first day at school, and they develop a very strange and special rapport and relationship. Following them through these early years in Jamaica is fascinating and beautiful, with mysterious portents for the future reinforced by the narrator (Arrri, looking back on their life).

Unfortunately these portents and claims of amazing times do not deliver - the adult years are strikingly banal in comparison to their magical and raw childhood. I honestly wish I'd stopped reading at the end of Part Two.
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