A review by ceallaighsbooks
At the Bottom of the River by Jamaica Kincaid

challenging inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

“What is my nature, then? For in isolation I am all purpose and industry and determination and prudence, as if I were the single survivor of a species whose evolutionary history can be traced to the most ancient of ancients; in isolation I ruthlessly plow the deep silences, seeking my opportunities like a miner seeking veins of treasure.” — from “Blackness”

TITLE—At the Bottom of the River
AUTHOR—Jamaica Kincaid
PUBLISHED—1983 (this edition 2022)
PUBLISHER—Farrar, Straus & Giroux (US), Picador (UK)

GENRE—prose poetry
SETTING—real & abstract worlds, some informed by the Caribbean
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—coming of age, Caribbean physical & cultural landscapes, folklore, mythology & spiritual heritage, romantic & sexual identity, parent/child relationships, the liminality of dreamscapes & reality, the imagination as refuge, vision quests & other spiritual journies, our connection to the natural world

WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CHARACTERIZATIONS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
STORIES—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
BONUS ELEMENT/S—Just devastatingly beautiful language.
PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“I am not yet a woman with a terrible and unwanted burden. I am not yet a dog with a cruel and unloving master. I am not yet a tree growing on barren and bitter land. I am not yet the shape of darkness in a dungeon. Where? What? Why? How then? Oh, that! I am primitive and wingless.” — from “Wingless”

My thoughts:
Can I quote the author herself?: “Oh, sensation. I am filled with sensation. I feel—oh, how I feel. I feel, I feel, I feel. I have no words right now for how I feel.” (from “Holidays”)

I was so engrossed by this book on my first reading that I gave myself the hiccups. I’ve read it four times the whole way through since then and each story more times individually on top of that. My favorites were “Wingless” and “Blackness” but there were parts of “At Last” and “At the Bottom of the River” that really resonated with me as well.

I would recommend this book to readers who just want to be thoroughly bowled over, absolutely stunned by beautiful writing. This book is best read a dozen times—no, a hundred!

Final note: Absolutely thrilled I get to read the rest of this authors works in community with #WeReadJamaicaKincaid hosted by Kiki of IG:@ifthisisparadise. 🙏🏻

“What a bitter thing to say to me, I who for time uncountable have always seen myself as newly born, filled with a truth and a beauty that could not be denied, living in a world of light that I called eternal, a world that can know no end.” — from “At the Bottom of the River”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Further Reading—
  • the rest of Jamaica Kincaid’s works—TBR
  • GARDENING IN THE TROPICS by Olive Senior
  • EVERYONE KNOWS I AM A HAUNTING by Shivanee Ramlochan
  • BLUE by Emmelie Prophète
  • Zora Neale Hurston
  • Sabrina Orah Mark’s work: TSIM TSUM, THE BABIES, and WILD MILK
  • Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s work, especially AT THE DRIVE-IN VOLCANO and LUCKY FISH
  • Akwaeke Emezi (especially DEAR SENTHURAN)
  • “A Thousand Words: A Writer’s Pictures of China” in LIVING BY THE WORD by Alice Walker
  • Elizabeth Bishop—TBR