shadon 's review for:

Passiontide by Monique Roffey

4.0

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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In the Caribbean, everybody exhausted. Like the wheel of trauma went round and round, over several centuries. Millions of First Peoples genocided, millions of Africans enslaved, mass monoculture under a plantation system, heinous mass torture, enforced Christanity, and European language, and culture, indentured Indians, and inside of this, unknowable numbers of women raped and killed.

 This book was like a punch to the face. I could hardly read even read it with how much there were tears in my eyes. Every word and moment was etched with a beautifully sculpted sorrow, deeply impactful and so very real. It presents a swirling tragedy of crime and violence with a familiar face, a familiar struggle, like holding a shattered mirror up to your face. Passiontide is an exploration of the tragic realities of womanhood and gender based violence in the Caribbean, and through its depictions of the courageous women who inhabit its pages, it will infuriate and anger you, inspire and sadden you. But it will certainly make you feel, from cover to cover.

The strength of womanhood and the power of collective change collide on the fictional Caribbean island, St. Colibri, an idyllic paradise of sun and sea invested by a strain of murderous brutality. People are murdered in the streets, the gangs do as they please, and innocents are caught in the crossfire. Hardly any arrests are made, and nothing is ever done. Round and round we go, trapped in this storm of murder and mayhem. Pushed to the brink by generations of abuse, femicide, and violent men, one terrible murder and four women will explode a powder keg that has long been building upon the sandy shores of the island.

Alternating between the diverse perspectives and voices of St. Colibri's people — men and women, old and young, people with power and those without — we follow along as a movement sweeps across the sea and the winds of change approach. Into the minds of these people and all their raw humanity, we explore what it means to live in such violence, and how differently we all cope with an inescapable reality. Violence touches everything, from the Prime Minister to the coroner, from the journalists to the sex workers. No one is truly safe.

Not all of them are likable, with their hard edges and flawed mindsets, and "What the hell are you talking about right now?" But they are strikingly real portrayals of Caribbean people, in their dialogue, bearing, desires, and fears. You feel as though you know these people, have met them all before, both the insufferable and the endearing. 

An unlikely collective had formed; women, all kinds of women had joined hands, here on an island of so much hurt.

 It was a detective story of sorts, with a mystery to be solved and answers to be discovered. Who committed this murder? Who unleashed this storm? But the secrets are not eager to reveal themselves, and the answers are not forthcoming. Hell, we don't ever truly get answers to a lot of our questions, forced to use our imaginations for so much. But perhaps the mystery was never the point, serving only as a depiction of how one life can be so quickly cut short by someone perpetuating the cycle of abuse and violence.

The Island of St. Colibri does not exist, it's an amalgamation of the eastern Caribbean. And it feels wholly authentic, so much that you never feel like it's nothing but real. The imagery, atmosphere, descriptions, and the people who inhabit this fictional island are Caribbean to their core, captured without question. There's carnival and soca, religion, town, a racial divide, and oldheads in power who serve only themselves. Never boring and always keeping you on your toes, with a lyrical lilt and smooth prose, it steals your attention from the start and never really lets go.

I was invested in these women's lives, I was invested in this island, and this protest. I was fervently fighting for change. In presenting this stark reality, it portrays the harsh truths of what it means to be a woman and the struggles to bring about real, concrete change. Change is never easy, it says, but still we must fight for it.

Involved in the movement from the very start, we follow from its shaky beginnings to its highest ascendance, the evolution of something once so small. The depiction of events was strikingly realistic (though at times more idealistic than not, or perhaps I'm a tad jaded) with all the paperwork, media attention, sacrificing, swift organization, and cajoling such a movement would entail. But never once do you question the reality of this movement. Never once do you roll your eyes and say, "That's just not possible." It could happen, it could. All it takes is a moment. You're on the front lines, in the shoes of these women, and you're fighting for justice alongside them. 

Violence here, born from violence which came by ship, which was once European, which had never evaporated, Violence was a con-  tagion. It had mutated and become part of St Colibri, interior, a mindset. 

 This is a story about women and the specific violence they face. In a world where power is the key to survival, those without power still strive to present their own kind of strength, and those below them on the ladder suffer. And the bottom of the ladder is where women reside. This book holds no punches and forces you to look in the face of these women's pain, like a familiar ache in your side. it challenges any and all arguments put forth by those who wish to downplay the rampant abuse and violence faced by women alone, with an answer for every bull-headed rebuttal.

Deeply moving in its depiction of the many terrible truths of womanhood and the harsh realities of gender based violence, this was a portrait of change and challenge, a tragedy turned into a triumph, a movement that changed one island forever.

(I did not like that ending one bit, though. What was the reason? I have no clue what that was about. Feels like when you're eating a really sweet, ripe fruit, and then suddenly you're hit with a terribly bitter aftertaste.)