A review by casskrug
Salvage: Readings from the Wreck by Dionne Brand

3.5

this was a dense one, so much to unpack! brand looks at classic english and american literature and dissects the colonialism and racism that run rampant through works like robinson crusoe and mansfield park.

i really liked how brand combined memoir and literary criticism, leaving us with an inventive type of creative nonfiction. she often returns back to a photograph of herself as a child with her sisters and cousin, sent from trinidad to brand’s mother and aunt, who were working in london at the time. it was an interesting way to incorporate her personal history, using her own experience with colonialism as a prism through which to view the novels she discusses.

the writing was gorgeous but i did struggle to follow at times, i think just due to my lack of familiarity with the books she was talking about. really wonderful reminder to continue reexamining and being critical of the societal structures that have shaped our literary world.

thank you to netgalley and fsg for the digital copy!