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A review by rhodaj
The Ladies Are Upstairs: A Collection of Stories by Merle Collins
3.0
3.5 stars
This was my read the world selection for Grenada
This is a series of short stories. The first is the longest story and is about Rain, who has lived a hard life on the Caribbean Island of Paz.
The rest of the book are short stories focused on Doux, who is also negotiating a difficult life and the shame of poverty and illegitimacy.
I’m not always a great fan of short stories for a few reasons: the first being that just as you get into the swing of the writing, they’re over and secondly, that you can veer wildly between loving some stories and not being at all interested in others, which makes for a topsy-turvy reading experience. It was the latter for me with this book.
I very much enjoyed the story about Rain and the earlier stories about Doux growing up and thought I had found a real gem. The writing is lovely and peppered with local language which made it feel really authentic. The author did a great job of conveying some of the harsh realities of life and how individuals cope with them.
The last third of the book however, I didn’t really enjoy. Many years had passed and Doux was only mentioned in passing. The stories were about other characters who were loosely connected to Doux and each one constituted a kind of ghost story. I have nothing against ghost stories, but I didn’t feel that they fit seamlessly into this collection and would have preferred these to be in a separate collection and this one to have been more focused. The final two stories went back to Doux as an old woman, but I had lost a bit of momentum by then.
So a bit of a mixed bag for me, but the author is definitely a talented writer ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
This was my read the world selection for Grenada
This is a series of short stories. The first is the longest story and is about Rain, who has lived a hard life on the Caribbean Island of Paz.
The rest of the book are short stories focused on Doux, who is also negotiating a difficult life and the shame of poverty and illegitimacy.
I’m not always a great fan of short stories for a few reasons: the first being that just as you get into the swing of the writing, they’re over and secondly, that you can veer wildly between loving some stories and not being at all interested in others, which makes for a topsy-turvy reading experience. It was the latter for me with this book.
I very much enjoyed the story about Rain and the earlier stories about Doux growing up and thought I had found a real gem. The writing is lovely and peppered with local language which made it feel really authentic. The author did a great job of conveying some of the harsh realities of life and how individuals cope with them.
The last third of the book however, I didn’t really enjoy. Many years had passed and Doux was only mentioned in passing. The stories were about other characters who were loosely connected to Doux and each one constituted a kind of ghost story. I have nothing against ghost stories, but I didn’t feel that they fit seamlessly into this collection and would have preferred these to be in a separate collection and this one to have been more focused. The final two stories went back to Doux as an old woman, but I had lost a bit of momentum by then.
So a bit of a mixed bag for me, but the author is definitely a talented writer ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5