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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
This was a short but powerful story told in two intertwining parts.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
sad
3.5 stars. Some lovely writing about grief-stricken Michael and his Mother years after the loss of Francis, the Brother of the title.
We get a sense of the summer heat, the low expectations directed at the brothers by their school and shopkeepers, the exhaustion and frustrated hopes of Mother and other parents of colour in the Park for their children as Michael remembers the shooting of a neighbourhood boy one summer evening years before the story opens in the present. This incident spurs Francis to leave home. Michael, meanwhile begins a relationship with local girl Aisha, who's intent on a future far from the Park. Years later, we see Michael and Mother, practically frozen in their grief, stuck, in the present.
I liked Chariandy's prose, especially his portrayal of Mother, while I found Michael to be a passive and opaque character. And Francis' fate, when it was finally revealed, felt almost anti-climactic. I would have liked more time with Mother, and what was going on with her (even though the story was from Michael's point of view.) There were some lovely passages, and while I liked this book, I wasn't wowed by it.
We get a sense of the summer heat, the low expectations directed at the brothers by their school and shopkeepers, the exhaustion and frustrated hopes of Mother and other parents of colour in the Park for their children as Michael remembers the shooting of a neighbourhood boy one summer evening years before the story opens in the present. This incident spurs Francis to leave home. Michael, meanwhile begins a relationship with local girl Aisha, who's intent on a future far from the Park. Years later, we see Michael and Mother, practically frozen in their grief, stuck, in the present.
I liked Chariandy's prose, especially his portrayal of Mother, while I found Michael to be a passive and opaque character. And Francis' fate, when it was finally revealed, felt almost anti-climactic. I would have liked more time with Mother, and what was going on with her (even though the story was from Michael's point of view.) There were some lovely passages, and while I liked this book, I wasn't wowed by it.
I loved this book. The writing was so vivid and tangible, and the grief felt so real. A wonderful book.
Beautifully written account by a pre-teen boy growing up in the shadow of his "father-figure" brother, his sole role model, protector and mentor. Brings out the pathos of migrant and disenfranchised communities left to fend for themselves in a world completely different from what is projected as the "normal". Gripping tale, even if the outcome can almost be guessed right in the beginning.
sad
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Michael grows up in the late 80s in Scarborough (aka Scarberia, aka Scarbro), a marginalized suburb east of Toronto in the late 1980s. Michael's South Asian father left the family and his Trinidadian mother works long hours as a cleaning lady. The book flips back and forth in time, before and after Francis's death at the hands of police, an event that causes the mental deterioration of Michael's mom. Brother is well-written and insightful, with some strong supportive characters, particularly Jelly, an awkward youth whose love of music leads them to a DJ competition at a summer fairground. Though almost unrelentingly grim, Brother would make an exceptional book in a high school reading program.
Beautifully written, but this very short novel left a few too many loose threads for my liking.