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A review by inherbooks
Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta
4.0
This one’s about love. And family. A family that we didn’t choose but always want to protect and cherish in the only we know how.
I finished this book in a day, if that says anything to you.
Frying Plantain is a collection of interconnected short stories written from the perspective of Kara, a Jamaican-Canadian, finding the balance between her identities. This journey of self-realization is told in the mirrored reflections of her mother, Eloise, and Nana - her grandmother.
I really enjoy reading stories told from the perspective of a growing mind. What Zalika Reid-Benta did beautifully is tell each story from the perspective of the respective age. What Kara saw and understood at the age of 9 is very different from her stories at the age of 19. As an adult reader, I found so much of the story is found between the lines, especially in moments where Eloise (Kara’s mother) “explains” why her grandmother still stays with her grandfather despite his “other homes”. The word “tired” holds the weight of decades that Kara can’t fathom carrying but is witness to the way it bears down on them at every moment.
Zalika Reid-Benta took me back to walking through the same school halls and reminiscing over hearing similar, if not the same, words from my own mother. The accuracy of the immigrant experience blew me away. Especially being made to feel its just *you* with the strict rules/curfews/standards et. al.
Kara is labelled the “quiet” girl by everyone. What they don’t realize is this silence is the product of her desperate pleas for peace, a moment of quiet resolution. How often have we hoped for a moment to quiet our own thoughts, ones that race and plague our minds, stealing away precious sleep and solace? I know I have.
Reading these stories put me right in Kara’s shoes. From a young age, she was thinking, rethinking, weighing options of what, how and when to say it, for fear of potential repercussions. I found myself more often than not settling on a decision not far from her’s – quiet.
Through these short stories, Kara slowly finds her voice through a newfound understanding for who Nana and Eloise and George represented - Home.
I finished this book in a day, if that says anything to you.
Frying Plantain is a collection of interconnected short stories written from the perspective of Kara, a Jamaican-Canadian, finding the balance between her identities. This journey of self-realization is told in the mirrored reflections of her mother, Eloise, and Nana - her grandmother.
I really enjoy reading stories told from the perspective of a growing mind. What Zalika Reid-Benta did beautifully is tell each story from the perspective of the respective age. What Kara saw and understood at the age of 9 is very different from her stories at the age of 19. As an adult reader, I found so much of the story is found between the lines, especially in moments where Eloise (Kara’s mother) “explains” why her grandmother still stays with her grandfather despite his “other homes”. The word “tired” holds the weight of decades that Kara can’t fathom carrying but is witness to the way it bears down on them at every moment.
Zalika Reid-Benta took me back to walking through the same school halls and reminiscing over hearing similar, if not the same, words from my own mother. The accuracy of the immigrant experience blew me away. Especially being made to feel its just *you* with the strict rules/curfews/standards et. al.
Kara is labelled the “quiet” girl by everyone. What they don’t realize is this silence is the product of her desperate pleas for peace, a moment of quiet resolution. How often have we hoped for a moment to quiet our own thoughts, ones that race and plague our minds, stealing away precious sleep and solace? I know I have.
Reading these stories put me right in Kara’s shoes. From a young age, she was thinking, rethinking, weighing options of what, how and when to say it, for fear of potential repercussions. I found myself more often than not settling on a decision not far from her’s – quiet.
Through these short stories, Kara slowly finds her voice through a newfound understanding for who Nana and Eloise and George represented - Home.