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A review by africanbookaddict
The Star Side of Bird Hill by Naomi Jackson
3.0
!!! https://africanbookaddict.com/2016/07/27/the-star-side-of-bird-hill-by-naomi-jackson/
I bought this late last year partly because of the sassy book cover and because Naomi Jackson (the author) is an alum of Williams College - Middlebury's (my alma mater) sister liberal arts school in the boonies! This was a very decent coming-of-age story. I liked Naomi's easy-going and descriptive writing style. Her descriptions of Barbados definitely make this a great summer read. I felt like I was with the characters on the sandy beaches and I could even hear the voices of both Dionne and Phaedra in this book - that's how thorough Naomi's descriptions are.
I didn't expect this book to be as deep as it was. Issues of depression, mental illness, death, divorce, suicide, homosexuality, bi-cultural upbringing, Christianity, voodoo etc are all tackled in this book. I really admired the strength of Hyacinth - Dionne and Phaedra's grandma. I love books that highlight the strength of women! Some of the incidences in the book seemed far-fetched and I definitely have some questions to ask Naomi Jackson if I ever get the chance to meet her. I sensed some similarities in this storyline to Danticat's 'Breath, Eyes, Memory' - even though Danticat took the themes of mother-daughter relationships, depression, sexual assault and suicide to another (mature) level...
More on africanbookaddict.com!
I bought this late last year partly because of the sassy book cover and because Naomi Jackson (the author) is an alum of Williams College - Middlebury's (my alma mater) sister liberal arts school in the boonies! This was a very decent coming-of-age story. I liked Naomi's easy-going and descriptive writing style. Her descriptions of Barbados definitely make this a great summer read. I felt like I was with the characters on the sandy beaches and I could even hear the voices of both Dionne and Phaedra in this book - that's how thorough Naomi's descriptions are.
I didn't expect this book to be as deep as it was. Issues of depression, mental illness, death, divorce, suicide, homosexuality, bi-cultural upbringing, Christianity, voodoo etc are all tackled in this book. I really admired the strength of Hyacinth - Dionne and Phaedra's grandma. I love books that highlight the strength of women! Some of the incidences in the book seemed far-fetched and I definitely have some questions to ask Naomi Jackson if I ever get the chance to meet her. I sensed some similarities in this storyline to Danticat's 'Breath, Eyes, Memory' - even though Danticat took the themes of mother-daughter relationships, depression, sexual assault and suicide to another (mature) level...
More on africanbookaddict.com!