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A review by nini23
Mr. Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo
4.5
What an irreverent irrepressible character Bernardine Evaristo has created. Full of joie de vivre yet understandably terrified of coming out of the proverbial closet. Barry and Morris have been childhood sweethearts since their schooldays in St John's, Antigua. Now in their seventies living in London England, Morris is divorced from his wife while Barry is acrimoniously unhappily married to Carmel. Carmel is under the erroneous impression that Barry is cheating on her with strumpets. Even without the front cover, I can imagine dapper Barry in his bespoke suit walking down high street.
The characters are stuck in their lives, with realistic reasons like fear of judgment by the community. Bernardine Evaristo really digs into the heart of each and every character, excavating deep truths to reveal what's behind the blustery façade. Even the minor characters have three-dimensional lived in lives and full backstory backgrounds, such as the church ladies. I just love authors who respect and show this compassion to their characters.
I really enjoyed the patois too. The humorous internal thoughts of Barry and his usage of humor to diffuse situations had me chortling. One comes away from this novel with a sense of hope, the world may be spiky and inhospitable but sometimes people who you think you know well may turn out to have the biggest surprises up their sleeves. It is never too late to change and start anew.
CW: homophobia, bigotry, racism, domestic violence, colonialism, death of parent, alcoholism, sexism, infidelity, postpartum depression
The characters are stuck in their lives, with realistic reasons like fear of judgment by the community. Bernardine Evaristo really digs into the heart of each and every character, excavating deep truths to reveal what's behind the blustery façade. Even the minor characters have three-dimensional lived in lives and full backstory backgrounds, such as the church ladies. I just love authors who respect and show this compassion to their characters.
I really enjoyed the patois too. The humorous internal thoughts of Barry and his usage of humor to diffuse situations had me chortling. One comes away from this novel with a sense of hope, the world may be spiky and inhospitable but sometimes people who you think you know well may turn out to have the biggest surprises up their sleeves. It is never too late to change and start anew.
CW: homophobia, bigotry, racism, domestic violence, colonialism, death of parent, alcoholism, sexism, infidelity, postpartum depression