A review by bookedupandbusy
The Lost Love Songs of Boysie Singh by Ingrid Persaud

dark emotional funny informative mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This is a fictional story inspired by the true life of Boysie Singh. Boysiecaused terror in Trinidad during the 1940s/1950s and was a big time criminal and gangster. He loved his women and the story is told from the viewpoint of his 4 lovers:

🙍🏾‍♀️Mana Lala - She will do anything to be the last one standing with Boysie and his son.

🙍🏿‍♀️Popo - A prostitute who is very smart, until she isn’t!

🙍🏽‍♀️Doris - Known as the red light skin Catholic woman who Boysie literally chases down. 

🙍🏾‍♀️Rosie - she has known Boysie from childhood and is involved in Boysie’s businesses. 

Of all the women, I was most interested in Mana Lala’s chapters, she was obsessed with Boysie and carries out some questionable acts. I was intrigued by both hers and Boysie’s mental health throughout, I know love can make you so crazy things but… 🤦🏾‍♀️

I enjoyed this book. It was entertaining and the portrayal of women chasing a man who is no good for them was worrying. Boysie had a hold on these women. The story did send me down the Google rabbit hole, researching Boysie’s life. He did not treat women well and his crimes were horrendous.

Religion and spirituality is a heavy theme. I learnt a lot about Hinduism and the spiritual methods some would seek to control their lives. At first, I did struggle with the writing. The whole story is written in a Trini dialect - well done to the author for keeping this story authentic 👏🏾. I had to research meanings of words, but once I knew what they meant, it became easier to read. 

Apart from there being no ‘’quotation marks’’ on the dialogue (I hate this in books!), the first half being stronger than the second half and the story being rather too long, I enjoyed buddy reading this with