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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
slow-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
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really enjoyed this book.
Having grown up so close to where the story is set it brings a sort of deeper understanding to how the characters feels and their experiences.
Despite understanding that I have lived so differently than Michael and Francis and their community; this book really made me understand how differently people are treated and the difficulties many people grow up having to overcome that I never did.
And although I have been aware of such difficulties and inequalities that people face, it showed me how close to home it was and is happening.
Having grown up so close to where the story is set it brings a sort of deeper understanding to how the characters feels and their experiences.
Despite understanding that I have lived so differently than Michael and Francis and their community; this book really made me understand how differently people are treated and the difficulties many people grow up having to overcome that I never did.
And although I have been aware of such difficulties and inequalities that people face, it showed me how close to home it was and is happening.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4 1/2 stars. Such a poignant, beautiful book. There is tragedy, to be sure, but there are such moments of beauty peppered throughout.. the resilience of the community and the bonds between its members.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
This is a sad memoir of community, love, family, and underlying hope in the midst of struggle and loss and the exhausting hardships of immigrant life. The writing is sparse, in places shocking, heartbreaking, and poetic, full of familiar places and tastes, cast in the light and time of a newer, younger, conflicted generation. Tertiary characters come and go in a blur of brief stereotype-forming encounters and bouts of sickening racism, marring and tainting a diversely beautiful demographic landscape. And in the mess and mingle, a boy, his brother, and their battered mother struggle to live, be heard, and live—just live in peace with good food and music and people.
…a symphony for Scarborough, Chariandy should adapt this for the stage.
Listened to the audiobook—a smooth and subtle reading by Joseph Pierre.
I feel a little bit like I've been punched right in the gut. That sudden "where did my breath go?" feeling...
David Chariandy, I suspect that while this story is fictional, you may have experienced some of the things that Michael and Francis experience. I need to say "I'm sorry". I'm sorry I didn't see you. Not really, not with eyes of compassion. Not with eyes of humanity.
I was a white woman living less than ten minutes away from the neighbourhood in which this story is set. Scarborough of the 1980s and 1990s was a terrible place, with more people living below the poverty line than anywhere else in Canada. Scarborough had the highest proportion of "assisted housing" than anywhere else in Canada. Often only a few blocks away from million dollar mansions. Right on the border of one of Ontario's most lush urban parks, Rouge Park. I lived in Scarborough from 1991 to 2007 and this story has hit me in all the feels. I was the young mother who would move to a different bus shelter two blocks down the road, to avoid 'youths'. I was the person who crossed the road so I didn't have to walk past 'youths'. I was the person of privilege who drove 5 minutes further away so I didn't shop for groceries, or dry-cleaning, or Canadian Tire in "that" neighbourhood. I went to church outside of Scarborough to be with people "more like me". I did, however, go to that library. Frequently. Because my biases tell me that libraries only attract good people.
Rarely do books make me feel shame the way this one did. And I haven't even commented on the story yet...
Luminous writing reveals dark experiences. Michael and Francis have their hope sucked away by a society that sees them only as "less" because they are poor immigrants. Chariandy is pitch-perfect in this novel. His portrayal of Francis, of Michael and of their beleaguered mother is so humanizing. So haunting. So devastatingly beautiful. So real. This book is an indictment to all of us who walked past, or drove past, and looked away.
David Chariandy, I suspect that while this story is fictional, you may have experienced some of the things that Michael and Francis experience. I need to say "I'm sorry". I'm sorry I didn't see you. Not really, not with eyes of compassion. Not with eyes of humanity.
I was a white woman living less than ten minutes away from the neighbourhood in which this story is set. Scarborough of the 1980s and 1990s was a terrible place, with more people living below the poverty line than anywhere else in Canada. Scarborough had the highest proportion of "assisted housing" than anywhere else in Canada. Often only a few blocks away from million dollar mansions. Right on the border of one of Ontario's most lush urban parks, Rouge Park. I lived in Scarborough from 1991 to 2007 and this story has hit me in all the feels. I was the young mother who would move to a different bus shelter two blocks down the road, to avoid 'youths'. I was the person who crossed the road so I didn't have to walk past 'youths'. I was the person of privilege who drove 5 minutes further away so I didn't shop for groceries, or dry-cleaning, or Canadian Tire in "that" neighbourhood. I went to church outside of Scarborough to be with people "more like me". I did, however, go to that library. Frequently. Because my biases tell me that libraries only attract good people.
Rarely do books make me feel shame the way this one did. And I haven't even commented on the story yet...
Luminous writing reveals dark experiences. Michael and Francis have their hope sucked away by a society that sees them only as "less" because they are poor immigrants. Chariandy is pitch-perfect in this novel. His portrayal of Francis, of Michael and of their beleaguered mother is so humanizing. So haunting. So devastatingly beautiful. So real. This book is an indictment to all of us who walked past, or drove past, and looked away.
emotional
reflective
sad