Reviews

Augustown by Kei Miller

jenswagner's review against another edition

5.0

This is a very beautiful book about one day in a fictional town in Jamaica and about magic and sadness and hurt and injustice and strength and music and love.

nadinekc's review against another edition

5.0

This book felt near perfect to me - language that's lovely and earthy at the same time, unforgettable characters (no matter how much page time they have) and a story that's a perfect, organic whole. Every tiny detail has a purpose and a web of connections to other details, but it's not a rigid construction like a house, it's more like a bubble, fluid and moving. I'm not the kind of reader (yet?) who finishes a book and immediately starts it again, but if I were I'd do it with this book.

Here's one example of that lovely language:

Her voice was not typical. Hers was not the rich alto one might expect from a churchified young woman in Augustown - not that gruffly textured sound that had in it the feel of planting cane or walking long distances, and that had at its centre a kind of brokenness which was where all its power sprang from.

The narrator is an exceptional voice too, at one point advising the reader:

Look, this isn't magical realism. This is not another story about superstitious island people and their primitive beliefs. No. You don't get off that easy. This is a story about people as real as you are, and as I once was before I became a bodiless thing floating up here in the sky. You may as well stop to consider a more urgent question; not whether you believe in this story or not, but whether this story is about the kinds of people you have never taken the time to believe in.

originalcyn7's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

stayathomereader's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny informative mysterious relaxing sad tense medium-paced

5.0

readr_joe's review against another edition

4.0

To be clear: this is a trilogy of stories in one book, not a single construct. The final story is shattering, but without the drawn-out length of the two preceding it, would have no impact. So, like a movie trilogy where only the third movie is good, but it needs the first two to introduce all the characters.

midnightsong22's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

3.5

thejollyllama's review against another edition

4.0

I felt like the book was slow at the beginning and I got a little lost with the jumping backwards and forwards in time, but I couldn't put it down by the end. I love the way Miller describes the characters of Augustown, from this omniscient view that shows both how they think about themselves, and contrasts that with how others in the community see them. For example, this description of Mr. Saint-Josephs:

"Mr. Saint-Josephs, after his bath, will observe himself in the mirror. He is always pleased to see a man fair of complexion, with a strong jaw and soft curly hair that betrays a kind of mixed-race heritage that is typical on islands like Jamaica. But if Mr. Saint-Josephs observes such things with pleasure, and indeed pride, he also observes them with a great deal of imagination and fantasy. To everyone else, he is a man dark of complexion; his round face evidences no jawline whatsoever and his extremely thick hair reveals that, if he is mixed with anything, it is with Ashanti and Yoruba (51)."

Miller does this sort of contrast all throughout the book, comparing self-image with community-image. And actually, the community of Augustown is almost like a unique character all on its own, with its own personality traits and quirks. Definitely want to read more by this author.

purplezeeb's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

aviv18's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

lottie1803's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0