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A review by drowningparty
A Map to the Door of No Return by Dionne Brand
5.0
A great memoir filled with philosophic, artistic, anthropologic, and historic observations written in wonderfully lyrical prose. Map to the Door of No Return features a series of vignettes, snapshots of her, her friends, her idols, and strangers lives, which she has collected during the course of her travels around the world, as well as a discourse on history and how it influences future generations.
The sea is a recurring theme throughout and gives shape to the narrative. The tide rises and recedes: some passages perilous, anxiety-inducing, glimpses of war, revolution, slavery, and loss, while others are peaceful, pastoral, still—a breath of fresh air as the author retreats into nature or domesticity for a much needed rest. Like the sea, the narrative shifts across the globe, connecting lives as its author crosses continents, searching for an answer that always just eludes her, an answer which may be resignation to the fact there is no simple answer.
First and foremost a book about identity and racial displacement, Brand's Map can also be viewed as a meditation on the role of history in our daily lives. Everyone is given a choice: living with history—whether that means learning from its sins and mistakes or letting it seep into your bones as it seeps into the land it stains—or forgetting it for your own sanity, letting go so as to move forward, like stepping out of water. Ultimately, the choice is yours. There are no wrong answers.
The sea is a recurring theme throughout and gives shape to the narrative. The tide rises and recedes: some passages perilous, anxiety-inducing, glimpses of war, revolution, slavery, and loss, while others are peaceful, pastoral, still—a breath of fresh air as the author retreats into nature or domesticity for a much needed rest. Like the sea, the narrative shifts across the globe, connecting lives as its author crosses continents, searching for an answer that always just eludes her, an answer which may be resignation to the fact there is no simple answer.
First and foremost a book about identity and racial displacement, Brand's Map can also be viewed as a meditation on the role of history in our daily lives. Everyone is given a choice: living with history—whether that means learning from its sins and mistakes or letting it seep into your bones as it seeps into the land it stains—or forgetting it for your own sanity, letting go so as to move forward, like stepping out of water. Ultimately, the choice is yours. There are no wrong answers.