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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
As a Scarborough resident myself, this hit me. Hard. I live very close by to the protagonists’ place and am very familiar with all the locations within the story. It is quite surreal to ever see our part of the city represented. Much less by a voice who actually seems to understand the everyday hardships and gritty realities of Black and Brown immigrant Scarberians. I have so much to say about this book, some of it coherent and most of it uncoordinated thoughts and inklings about random little details of the world-building (is it really world-building if it’s real??) and characters and the realistic diversity of the area, (sidenote, finally a novel where Canadian diversity is shown not as a gimmick for some sense of white liberalist fulfillment but rather the truthful look at how marginalized, isolated, and oppressed we are even in the supposed cultural mosaic that is Toronto.) but I shall leave it here. I wouldn’t really be able to articulate it properly into words that make sense anyways.
P.S. it’s getting that lgbtqiap rep stop bc I sensed hella queer vibes from Francis and Jelly. Don’t @ me.
P.S. it’s getting that lgbtqiap rep stop bc I sensed hella queer vibes from Francis and Jelly. Don’t @ me.
***A tribute to Canada immigrants and a representation of race***
I had big expectations for this book. It was somehow a bit dull. The scenes are very vague and mostly observant. I had hoped the story will be full of emotions. Instead, it was more of a storytelling of an immigrant family in Canada, their lives in the neighborhood and the reckless big brother who is always mad about the fact that "the white guys" think of him as a menace.
It was a great tribute to the race history in the contemporary world, but with a harsh light on the fact that they were seen as criminals in the making: "We were losers and neighborhood schemers. We were the children of the help, without futures. We were, none of us, what our parents wanted us to be. We were not what any other adults wanted us to be. We were nobodies, or else, somehow, a city. We’re all just dreaming”.
I really enjoyed the chapter where the children visited their mother's native country. I thought it was a beautiful contrast between the dullness of Canadian dream life of a happy, successful life that they never had, and the simplicity, wonderful and colorful life in the Caribbean.
I had big expectations for this book. It was somehow a bit dull. The scenes are very vague and mostly observant. I had hoped the story will be full of emotions. Instead, it was more of a storytelling of an immigrant family in Canada, their lives in the neighborhood and the reckless big brother who is always mad about the fact that "the white guys" think of him as a menace.
It was a great tribute to the race history in the contemporary world, but with a harsh light on the fact that they were seen as criminals in the making: "We were losers and neighborhood schemers. We were the children of the help, without futures. We were, none of us, what our parents wanted us to be. We were not what any other adults wanted us to be. We were nobodies, or else, somehow, a city. We’re all just dreaming”.
I really enjoyed the chapter where the children visited their mother's native country. I thought it was a beautiful contrast between the dullness of Canadian dream life of a happy, successful life that they never had, and the simplicity, wonderful and colorful life in the Caribbean.
Wow. I don’t think I quite have the words to describe how I am feeling about this book. About 30 pages ago, I would have said it was well written but that I struggled to understand the lived experiences of the characters. Now sitting here, crying after the end, I realise that despite describing a world so different to my own, I grew connected and concerned for the characters in a way I didn’t expect to.
Whilst I wasn’t sure about the story itself at times, the broader commentary that the novel has about race, class and institutional barriers is incredibly relevant and poignant. Sitting here now, I realise that just because the story is different to my own does not make it less powerful. Rather, it inspires me to keep looking around for those invisible stories, and to maintain a conscious awareness of them always.
Whilst I wasn’t sure about the story itself at times, the broader commentary that the novel has about race, class and institutional barriers is incredibly relevant and poignant. Sitting here now, I realise that just because the story is different to my own does not make it less powerful. Rather, it inspires me to keep looking around for those invisible stories, and to maintain a conscious awareness of them always.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I couldn’t bring my self to be invested in these characters
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I’m using this book for the first time with my upper level English Lit upgrading class, and I’m glad I chose it—it’s provoking some excellent writing and discussion. Gorgeous prose, a quietly damning indictment of the racism baked into Canadian society and systems. It’s not a gratuitously violent book, but there is a scene that literally made me gasp out loud as I read it. Highly recommended.
This book was wonderful. There's a delicate balance to it, which perfectly captures the delicate balance of Michael and his mother's life after the death of his brother. This isn't a spoiler: it's pretty clear that something tragic happened within the first few pages, although Michael himself skirts around it for a while. It's very reflective of the characters themselves, skirting around what happened to Francis, not able to talk about it or process it.
The weight of the story here is almost belied by the prose and by the length of the book itself. It's a very short novel (I think it's under 200 pages: it's slightly longer than a novella). I actually think the form choice is perfect for the story, which manages to encapsulate so much in so very few pages. It's not a particularly easy read -- Michael and his family have clearly had to struggle and there's a significant amount here about the experience of first and second generation immigrants. One of the most beautiful pieces of prose in the novel undoubtedly comes from the remembered trip of Michael's family back to Trinidad on a trip back to the place his mother deliberately never calls 'home.'
Honestly, I feel like this book is hard to write about because I don't know exactly where to start. There's an immense grief throughout from every corner and every character and a showcase of how what happened to Francis affected his family and how other deaths affect others. I think the central concern is of loss and family, of how difficult family relationships can be, of how difficult navigating poverty and a climate of violence can be. This isn't particularly long, but it tackles each so well, wrapping them all up in boys grappling with issues of masculinity, of identity, and then grief. The sense of inevitability that creeps throughout the book is so wonderfully, precisely evoked. I've thought a lot about that scene with the gunshots, or of Michael stumbling across a boy being brutally beaten who doesn't make a lot of noise. I've already thought a lot about several pivotal scenes with Francis.
Structurally the novel folds in on itself often, compressing timelines, echoing events throughout. It's all very precise and very deliberate. It's an intense novel, but that's not to say that it's without levity because there's some wonderful scenes that made me smile. I think it's a stunning portrait of a family who've suffered through a tragedy and didn't have any choice to live it, even though how far they've coped is debatable.
I'd highly recommend this.
The weight of the story here is almost belied by the prose and by the length of the book itself. It's a very short novel (I think it's under 200 pages: it's slightly longer than a novella). I actually think the form choice is perfect for the story, which manages to encapsulate so much in so very few pages. It's not a particularly easy read -- Michael and his family have clearly had to struggle and there's a significant amount here about the experience of first and second generation immigrants. One of the most beautiful pieces of prose in the novel undoubtedly comes from the remembered trip of Michael's family back to Trinidad on a trip back to the place his mother deliberately never calls 'home.'
Honestly, I feel like this book is hard to write about because I don't know exactly where to start. There's an immense grief throughout from every corner and every character and a showcase of how what happened to Francis affected his family and how other deaths affect others. I think the central concern is of loss and family, of how difficult family relationships can be, of how difficult navigating poverty and a climate of violence can be. This isn't particularly long, but it tackles each so well, wrapping them all up in boys grappling with issues of masculinity, of identity, and then grief. The sense of inevitability that creeps throughout the book is so wonderfully, precisely evoked. I've thought a lot about that scene with the gunshots, or of Michael stumbling across a boy being brutally beaten who doesn't make a lot of noise. I've already thought a lot about several pivotal scenes with Francis.
Structurally the novel folds in on itself often, compressing timelines, echoing events throughout. It's all very precise and very deliberate. It's an intense novel, but that's not to say that it's without levity because there's some wonderful scenes that made me smile. I think it's a stunning portrait of a family who've suffered through a tragedy and didn't have any choice to live it, even though how far they've coped is debatable.
I'd highly recommend this.
Splendid and mesmerizing, the text touched me deeply, particularly on the part of how mourning is experienced differently by different people and the closeness to the mother. Great little book