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lindyloureads's review
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
troyonyango's review against another edition
5.0
This here has got to be one of the best short story collections I have ever read. Well thought out and neatly crafted.
Each of the stories in here is well written with clear, concise prose and the characters stay with you long after you have closed the pages of the book.
I absolutely enjoyed reading this, and I see myself going back to it over and over again just to learn from the magic of Olive Senior.
Would recommend it to anyone who loves short stories.
Each of the stories in here is well written with clear, concise prose and the characters stay with you long after you have closed the pages of the book.
I absolutely enjoyed reading this, and I see myself going back to it over and over again just to learn from the magic of Olive Senior.
Would recommend it to anyone who loves short stories.
lovebun's review against another edition
4.0
read a handful of stories and senior truly has a way. not just a way with words but a way with worlds. she crafts atmosphere so fluidly and sucks you into the world of the narrative long before you realise it. her range is incredibly impressive, especially when you compare "country of the one eye god" to "do angels wear brassieres?" the difference is astounding: one rips your heartstrings from your chest through your mouth, the other makes you chuckle and giggle like a child in the back of the classroom. regardless of the genre, senior never fails to capture both character and setting with a sombre, thrumming beauty.
booktwitcher23's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
raulbime's review against another edition
5.0
The protagonists in this collection of ten stories are forlorn, mostly children, who live in rural Jamaica. They’re observant of the world around them, highly acute to the conditions that make themselves and those around them as they are, and make efforts to grasp at and understand that which would be simply termed as their lives.
It’s strange that I can now be able to tell while reading a work of fiction that its author also writes poetry. The way the narrative’s form, even at the sentence level, lends itself to the needs of the story, and makes whatever use it has to while at times disregarding typical form, as well as that way of, seemingly, rounding the story as it ends, might have something to do with this, but I wasn’t surprised to learn later that Olive Senior does write poetry as well.
This is a brilliant collection. I’ve been awed at the skill used to carry the stories off, but even more by the care and sensitivity the writer gives the experiences of the characters that people this story. Writing about poverty can bend towards the voyeuristic. Which isn’t to mean that poverty shouldn’t be written about, or that the suffering of the impoverished shouldn’t be recorded and highlighted. But storytelling, especially in places termed as “developing” or “third world”, can turn the conditions of poverty and deprivation into a kind of spectacle-something to marvel at, arouse disgust or pity, which if anything creates even more distance between the reader and the subjects of the story. Normally in these cases the writers aren’t even from the impoverished communities they depict, and even when they are of origin of the “third world” countries, they’re typically from a class that’s insulated from these depictions, and the intended audience for the stories is, also, not the subjects of the stories themselves; often is intended for those in “developed” or “first world” countries. But reading through this story it’s apparent the amount of genuine love the writer has for the world she artfully depicts and it shows in the level of complexity she’s given to the characters and the relations they have with each other and the world around them.
Star ratings are difficult for me, I’m not going to pretend that there’s a sure formula that I always abide by, and short story collections are even more difficult to rate. For one it’s unrealistic to expect that all short stories will be excellent or on the same level, but seven out of ten of these stories were excellent and given all that I’ve explained so far, this book shouldn’t be getting anything less than five stars from me.
It’s strange that I can now be able to tell while reading a work of fiction that its author also writes poetry. The way the narrative’s form, even at the sentence level, lends itself to the needs of the story, and makes whatever use it has to while at times disregarding typical form, as well as that way of, seemingly, rounding the story as it ends, might have something to do with this, but I wasn’t surprised to learn later that Olive Senior does write poetry as well.
This is a brilliant collection. I’ve been awed at the skill used to carry the stories off, but even more by the care and sensitivity the writer gives the experiences of the characters that people this story. Writing about poverty can bend towards the voyeuristic. Which isn’t to mean that poverty shouldn’t be written about, or that the suffering of the impoverished shouldn’t be recorded and highlighted. But storytelling, especially in places termed as “developing” or “third world”, can turn the conditions of poverty and deprivation into a kind of spectacle-something to marvel at, arouse disgust or pity, which if anything creates even more distance between the reader and the subjects of the story. Normally in these cases the writers aren’t even from the impoverished communities they depict, and even when they are of origin of the “third world” countries, they’re typically from a class that’s insulated from these depictions, and the intended audience for the stories is, also, not the subjects of the stories themselves; often is intended for those in “developed” or “first world” countries. But reading through this story it’s apparent the amount of genuine love the writer has for the world she artfully depicts and it shows in the level of complexity she’s given to the characters and the relations they have with each other and the world around them.
Star ratings are difficult for me, I’m not going to pretend that there’s a sure formula that I always abide by, and short story collections are even more difficult to rate. For one it’s unrealistic to expect that all short stories will be excellent or on the same level, but seven out of ten of these stories were excellent and given all that I’ve explained so far, this book shouldn’t be getting anything less than five stars from me.
dan_pierre_'s review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
elizabethgarcia's review
4.0
"I don't care if I don't turn teacher with press hair and new dress. I believe it better to be someone that can laugh and make other people laugh and be happy too."
First published in 1986, this is a lovely collection of short stories, mostly set in rural parts of Jamaica at a time when people made their own clothes, electricity and running water was a dream, and hardly any of the children went to high school.
I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and found the patois and non-traditional punctuation absolutely fine to get used to. The skill of Senior to create such different and vivid characters, often laced with humour, as well as moralistic undertones was great to read as my first foray into Senior's writing. I was particularly impressed with how each separate narrator or protagonist in each short story was written in a wholly new voice from the last.
"just in case Archdeacon can stop for tea Auntie Mary bake a fruitcake a upside-down cake a three-layer cake a chocolate cake for she don't know which he prefer also some coconut cookies for although the Archdeacon is an Englishman don't say he don't like his little Jamaican dainties."
Favourites of mine were: Summer Lightning, Do Angels Wear Brassieres and The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream.
First published in 1986, this is a lovely collection of short stories, mostly set in rural parts of Jamaica at a time when people made their own clothes, electricity and running water was a dream, and hardly any of the children went to high school.
I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and found the patois and non-traditional punctuation absolutely fine to get used to. The skill of Senior to create such different and vivid characters, often laced with humour, as well as moralistic undertones was great to read as my first foray into Senior's writing. I was particularly impressed with how each separate narrator or protagonist in each short story was written in a wholly new voice from the last.
"just in case Archdeacon can stop for tea Auntie Mary bake a fruitcake a upside-down cake a three-layer cake a chocolate cake for she don't know which he prefer also some coconut cookies for although the Archdeacon is an Englishman don't say he don't like his little Jamaican dainties."
Favourites of mine were: Summer Lightning, Do Angels Wear Brassieres and The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream.
mybookworldtour's review
4.0
'Summer Lighting and Other Stories' is a short story collection by Jamaican author Olive Senior. Each story has enough to deserve a complete review of its own. Senior's style is unique. Most of the dialogue is written in a mix of Jamaican patois/patwah and standard English, which I found particularly enriching.
tawallah's review
4.0
I first read and thoroughly enjoyed this short story collection at age 15. This book made me wish I could write, and the short story format was a delight. It won the Commonwealth Writers Prize in 1987 and was a debut short story collection.
On re-reading this collection I am still in awe of the imagery of rural Jamaica mainly told from the eyes of children. It deals with weighty topics such as religion, abuse, death and grief, friendships and desires as well as lighter stories. This time around I am finding it hard to pick a favorite story, they all resonate on some level. But there are a few stories that leave you without a concrete ending- Summer Lightning and The Country of the One-eye God. The only drawback is that this would require a glossary of terms for the dialect used. I have lived in Jamaica, so I know some of the terms and others I guessed. But for non-Caribbean readers, the dialect would be a challenge.
Highly recommended.
On re-reading this collection I am still in awe of the imagery of rural Jamaica mainly told from the eyes of children. It deals with weighty topics such as religion, abuse, death and grief, friendships and desires as well as lighter stories. This time around I am finding it hard to pick a favorite story, they all resonate on some level. But there are a few stories that leave you without a concrete ending- Summer Lightning and The Country of the One-eye God. The only drawback is that this would require a glossary of terms for the dialect used. I have lived in Jamaica, so I know some of the terms and others I guessed. But for non-Caribbean readers, the dialect would be a challenge.
Highly recommended.
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