A review by serendipitysbooks
Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

 Texaco was a rich read, but a challenging one. It covers 150 years of the history of Texaco, a poor suburb/shantytown just outside the capital of Martinique, and of the narrator’s family. But the story is told in a non-linear fashion, features multiple points of view, magical realism and spirituality, and includes many short sections including excerpts from letters and journals which don’t always immediately connect. It explores themes like race, slavery, colonisation, and memory and asks, among other things, who gets to tell their story and how, who gets to maintain their culture. In so doing it makes some important points about language. I liked the way sections of the book were named for the predominant building material used at the time such as The Age of Straw and The Age of Asbestos. The heavy religious overtones weren’t to my personal taste though. This is a book that would benefit from a reread and/or being read and discussed with others.