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km33's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
pharmdad2007's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't hate The Polished Hoe. It just really bored me. Apart from the interesting vocab and syntax, just meh.
booksbecreads's review against another edition
2.0
The dialect was difficult at times and the story too slow for me, I think if you picked the timing of reading this it would have been a better read for me
randomreader41's review against another edition
1.0
If I could give it negative five stars, I would. I kept waiting for the plot to improve, but...Also this type of dialect really drives me crazy. I’m so mad someone recommended this to me.
black_girl_reading's review against another edition
5.0
Holy hell, Austin Clarke’s The Polished Hoe. The story of a woman who has committed a crime against a man who represents many things in her life, not least of all, the key holder to her gilded cage. She recounts the story of her crime over one long night to a police constable who she has known from childhood, and who shares some of her secrets, many of her desires, and a reasonable amount of fear for the woman she has become. Through this meandering telling, the reader experiences the multilayered reach of class and race on the post-WWII Caribbean island of Bimshire, which many of us know as Barbados. This book is a slow burn, it is long and it is complicated, and you earn it as you labour through it. There are many stories in this one night where so many secrets are spilled and feelings are revealed and histories are recounted, but for me, this book was mostly about how they can try put a positive spin on the “gifts” that come with the people and systems that oppress us, surely the most false justification of colonialism, but that we hear true freedom beckon us from beyond the sparkling trinkets of our oppression, and that we will find our way back to ourselves no matter what we have to sacrifice, or how hard we have to fight to get there. Our time will come, and our truth will tell.
bibliophile_dee's review against another edition
The book was entirely too slow for me
bookladyreads's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed the majority of this book. I thought the author did a fantastic job at setting the scene and fleshing out each person. There was definitely a feeling of something big is about to go down. The problem is, that feeling left and I just kept asking myself, when is the big reveal going to happen, and when it did, it was underwhelming. I think that's due to the fact of how long the big reveal was drawn out. Nevertheless, I love this author's writing and will read more of his works. I still recommend this book because the story really was quite captivating and interesting.
elenasquareeyes's review against another edition
2.0
Narrated by Robin Miles
Trigger warnings for rape, sexual assault, racism.
This is one of those books that I’m very glad I listened to the audiobook. The characters speak in creole and it’s something I find easier to understand when hearing it compared to reading it. A good 90% of the book is in that kind of vernacular as the characters talk a lot and describe events and places in great detail.
Even though I listened to the audiobook, I still found The Polished Hoe a bit of a slog to get through. The story takes place over one night as Mary Gertrude Mathilda gives her statement to the police Sergeant Percy. But her statement is more than the how and the why of the murder, it’s Mary Gertrude Mathilda’s life story and how it’s entwined with the history of the island. You don’t learn the how of the murder till the last couple of chapters but the reasons why Mary Gertrude Mathilda would commit murder is sprinkled throughout the story with the final reason that provokes her to finally act is revealed towards the end of the novel.
Mary Gertrude Mathilda grew up on a plantation, working in the fields, then in the kitchen as she got older. She was also repeatedly raped by Mr Belfeels, the plantation owner. The descriptions of their encounters and the assaults she experienced are vivid, but she also recounts them in such a matter of fact way that there’s a distance there too. Even as an adolescent she knows what is happening to her is wrong, but she also knows there’s nothing she can say or do to make it stop.
There are also long sections from Percy’s point of view. He’s been infatuated with Mary Gertrude Mathilda since he was a teenager and he struggles to put his fantasies aside when he’s with her, listening to her story. They are both well-written and well-developed characters, full of contradictions and flaws and aspirations. There is a long history between them and they each delve into a different part of it at different times throughout the book. You get the sense of how their friendship could’ve been much stronger if there wasn’t the issue of perceived class that divided them – Mary Gertrude Mathilda is well respected in the community because of her connection to Mr Belfeels while Percy is just a police officer, even if he is the Sergeant.
It was hard to follow the general plot of The Polished Hoe and both Mary Gertrude Mathilda’s and Percy’s trains of thought in the novel. While the story takes place over one night, they recount historic events and how it’s affected them both and the islands inhabitants. The story meanders from different times and places and jumps back and forth from different points and ideas. The writing definitely captured how people speak as Mary Gertrude Mathilda would start talking about one thing and then that would inspire her to go onto another topic before circling back around to finish what she was originally saying.
The Polished Hoe is well-written but while the characters are well-defined, the actual plot is thin on the ground and it’s more about two characters reminiscing about their experiences. It has a lot of detail of what life on a plantation is like and covers tough topics like racism, slavery, rape and white privilege but those themes, while obviously important, aren’t enough to make an engaging story. I kept reading The Polished Hoe because it was an audiobook (so it was easy) and because I wanted to know what Mary Gertrude Mathilda had actually done and what was the repercussions but unfortunately not all of those questions were answered in a satisfactory way or at all.
Trigger warnings for rape, sexual assault, racism.
This is one of those books that I’m very glad I listened to the audiobook. The characters speak in creole and it’s something I find easier to understand when hearing it compared to reading it. A good 90% of the book is in that kind of vernacular as the characters talk a lot and describe events and places in great detail.
Even though I listened to the audiobook, I still found The Polished Hoe a bit of a slog to get through. The story takes place over one night as Mary Gertrude Mathilda gives her statement to the police Sergeant Percy. But her statement is more than the how and the why of the murder, it’s Mary Gertrude Mathilda’s life story and how it’s entwined with the history of the island. You don’t learn the how of the murder till the last couple of chapters but the reasons why Mary Gertrude Mathilda would commit murder is sprinkled throughout the story with the final reason that provokes her to finally act is revealed towards the end of the novel.
Mary Gertrude Mathilda grew up on a plantation, working in the fields, then in the kitchen as she got older. She was also repeatedly raped by Mr Belfeels, the plantation owner. The descriptions of their encounters and the assaults she experienced are vivid, but she also recounts them in such a matter of fact way that there’s a distance there too. Even as an adolescent she knows what is happening to her is wrong, but she also knows there’s nothing she can say or do to make it stop.
There are also long sections from Percy’s point of view. He’s been infatuated with Mary Gertrude Mathilda since he was a teenager and he struggles to put his fantasies aside when he’s with her, listening to her story. They are both well-written and well-developed characters, full of contradictions and flaws and aspirations. There is a long history between them and they each delve into a different part of it at different times throughout the book. You get the sense of how their friendship could’ve been much stronger if there wasn’t the issue of perceived class that divided them – Mary Gertrude Mathilda is well respected in the community because of her connection to Mr Belfeels while Percy is just a police officer, even if he is the Sergeant.
It was hard to follow the general plot of The Polished Hoe and both Mary Gertrude Mathilda’s and Percy’s trains of thought in the novel. While the story takes place over one night, they recount historic events and how it’s affected them both and the islands inhabitants. The story meanders from different times and places and jumps back and forth from different points and ideas. The writing definitely captured how people speak as Mary Gertrude Mathilda would start talking about one thing and then that would inspire her to go onto another topic before circling back around to finish what she was originally saying.
The Polished Hoe is well-written but while the characters are well-defined, the actual plot is thin on the ground and it’s more about two characters reminiscing about their experiences. It has a lot of detail of what life on a plantation is like and covers tough topics like racism, slavery, rape and white privilege but those themes, while obviously important, aren’t enough to make an engaging story. I kept reading The Polished Hoe because it was an audiobook (so it was easy) and because I wanted to know what Mary Gertrude Mathilda had actually done and what was the repercussions but unfortunately not all of those questions were answered in a satisfactory way or at all.
jacobinreads's review against another edition
5.0
"There is a time when your past takes over you, and takes over your present"."
A magnificent story, earthy, and painful. The history of Bimshire mingles with that of the characters, compelling them through the unpretentious, tragic drama of their lives.
As Miss Mary Gentrude Mathilda says, the stories of the "Wessindies" are just as much important of any other tale. This is a Shakespearean tale in twenty-four hours, told in the dialect of the Caribbean, with Clarke's poetic narration only complementing the voices of the characters themselves. This book is filled with twists and turns, flights of fantasy, and real, lived-in colonial pain.
A magnificent story, earthy, and painful. The history of Bimshire mingles with that of the characters, compelling them through the unpretentious, tragic drama of their lives.
As Miss Mary Gentrude Mathilda says, the stories of the "Wessindies" are just as much important of any other tale. This is a Shakespearean tale in twenty-four hours, told in the dialect of the Caribbean, with Clarke's poetic narration only complementing the voices of the characters themselves. This book is filled with twists and turns, flights of fantasy, and real, lived-in colonial pain.
kimreadbooks's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book. I have never been to the island of Barbados but the writing in this book is so vivid I feel like I have. Although it took me a while to read (mostly because I had a digital copy and I had to wait on my replacement eReader), it wasn't boring to me. I enjoyed all the stories within the story and the vibe it gave me was as if I was laying in bed with my granny while she tell me stories about back in her day.