Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

read book

Disposable People

by Ezekel Alan (Goodreads Author)

4.21 of 5 stars 4.21 · rating details · 19 ratings · 7 reviews

Ten year old Kenneth Lovelace often went to bed without dinner. Instead of feeling hunger, however, what he mostly felt was fear and shame, knowing that his family’s poverty was the reason he had no food. Kenneth also recalls his bitterness whenever his parents locked him out of their tiny, one-room house to act on their 'urge'. This was in the 1970s, when Jamaica's social...more Ten year old Kenneth Lovelace often went to bed without dinner. Instead of feeling hunger, however, what he mostly felt was fear and shame, knowing that his family’s poverty was the reason he had no food. Kenneth also recalls his bitterness whenever his parents locked him out of their tiny, one-room house to act on their 'urge'. This was in the 1970s, when Jamaica's socialist regime was dragging the country into bankruptcy, and when an Old Timer had told him that he was cursed since birth. Beginning with his earliest memories, “Disposable People” traces the life of Kenneth Lovelace, now a consultant living in the USA. After a string of failed marriages, bad relationships and other misfortunes, Kenneth looks back at his life in his old, hateful village with hopes of finding the roots of his latest tragedy. What comes out is a story of mischief and adventures, sex, prejudice, evil spirits, adversities and, progressively, violence.

"Brian was already dead when they got there, but they still got
something to watch as some of the farmers continued to chop. Chop, chop, chop. Some dogs find it hard to stop barking at cars that have long driven away.

Diary entry: Watch him wail. Wail Brian wail. See them chop. Chop, chop,chop. See him bleed. Bleed boy bleed. See them hack. Hack, hack, hack.

Here are three things I just can’t do, no matter how hard I try: (1) I cannot spell Nietzsche without looking it up in the dictionary; (2) I cannot prepare Jamaican fried dumplings perfectly, no matter how many times I see others do it; (3) I cannot get this image out of my head: a large group of men swarming my cousin like flies, killing him, and continuing to chop as though they were also trying to get down to his soul.

A little while later, our older family members also came. Brian’s papa, Uncle Thomas, came. Said nothing. Just stood there. By then he was well into his can only make love twice a month stage of life but, like a true Jamaican, still wanted it to be with two different women. His mom, Aunt Beverley - Auntie B for short, also came. Not one intelligible word from her either, but her body shook and trembled like a Pentecostal caught by the spirit, before she was taken away by Aunt Josephine and Aunt Frida.

Aunt Martha came also, and she led the screaming. She was in her 300th month of pregnancy (growing up I cannot remember a time when she wasn’t pregnant), and we all worried for her health as she hit those high-pitched notes. When I looked around I saw that Miss Jacky had come as well. She was not a member of our family, just one of those that lived on the other side of the yard. Like a second-hand car, she always had a used look about her. She lavished more attention on her face, and had more control over her hair than she did her kids. I remember she spent endless hours at the hairdresser and beauty salon, and took those birth control pills that reduce acne. Anyway, I digress, perhaps because I was distracted by her long, flowing, artificial hair at the time.

Every one of the other older folks also came, except Grandpa, who had something (not someone, for the Old Timer was long past that stage), eating him. [For clarity: cancer had taken over where the girls had left off ]. After his second heart attack, he was stuck on his veranda with spit on his chin, hanging down like stalactite. Useless and abandoned like a condemned building, he sat there with his shriveling skin looking like a
roll of wet toilet tissue put out to dry."(less)

Paperback, 366 pages

Published January 11th 2012 by CreateSpace

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 176)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Apr 29, 2012 Darcy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ezekel Alan's novel, "Disposable People," is a difficult, yet rewarding read. What I mean by "difficult" is twofold. First, difficult in that vivid language is used to describe the brutality, degradation, and hopelessness that torments real people struggling under the weight of poverty, loneliness, and hopelessness. For those expecting a read about Jamaican locals who work in the tourist industry, the settings are far from the resorts and posh hotels along the beautiful coasts. I've read "A Smal...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 26, 2012 Kate Policani rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: win

Disposable People
by Ezekel Alan

Poverty and desperation describe the start of life for Kenneth E.S. Lovelace, or Kenny. Born into a squatters village called a "Depression" in 1970's Jamaica, he struggles with all the dangers and trials of poverty. He and his kind, living in one-room self-built houses on someone else's land, are "Disposable People." Kenny shows us his world through a collection of diary entries written to Semicolon, his true love. Peppered with bits of his writing collection, poet...more Disposable People
by Ezekel Alan

Poverty and desperation describe the start of life for Kenneth E.S. Lovelace, or Kenny. Born into a squatters village called a "Depression" in 1970's Jamaica, he struggles with all the dangers and trials of poverty. He and his kind, living in one-room self-built houses on someone else's land, are "Disposable People." Kenny shows us his world through a collection of diary entries written to Semicolon, his true love. Peppered with bits of his writing collection, poetry, and reminiscence over time we gradually hear his tale. This novel takes a train-of-thought approach to Kenny's experiences. A progression of understanding, rather than a chronology, takes the reader scene by scene through his childhood and out of the "Depression", or "That hateful f***ing place", and into his life as a successful author, far from the squalor of his childhood.
Ezekel Alan's book wowed me on so many levels. Kenny is thoughtful and honest, confessing all his sins to Semicolon. Ezekel displays gorgeous poetry, joy, beauty, culture, ideals, horror, sin, murder, fear, suspicion and faith, all surging through his tale. The graphic nature of many of Kenny's experiences are often witnessed while Kenny and his cousins eavesdropped without shame "because we all knew that everything we did was being quietly observed by the cold unblinking eyes of Eternity." It's all part of the honesty and depth of every bit of the book. Kenny bared his soul to Semicolon, telling her what he experienced and valued, but also what he felt, learned, and how he failed. Scandalous or horrific scenes are highlighted with a knowing, dark humor, but contain profound lessons learned.
There seemed to be a kind of love/hate relationship between Kenny and his old home. Though he describes it with stark and unforgiving frankness, he does so with an underlying pride and affection.
Even the source of the book is mysterious and poetic, "A Novel Inspired by True Events". Somehow I heard the voice of my own grandmother, transported across time, culture, race, and nationality. I guess some opinions appear everywhere: "If he had gone to church, none of this would have ever happened to him."(less)

like · see review

Mar 08, 2012 Ezekel Alan rated it 5 of 5 stars · (Review from the author)

Shelves: wrote

REVIEW FROM THE JAMAICA OBSERVER NEWSPAPER

The pain and passion in this freewheeling text is so palpable that it is hard to regard it as fiction. It reads like a memoir, a record of hurts and darkly humorous short stories woven together with diary entries and line drawings, redolent with clever raunchiness and with language that rivals a text by Anthony Winkler.

(It is) a brilliant and often innovative offering that falls less in the realm of the West Indian tradition and more in the way of Americ...more REVIEW FROM THE JAMAICA OBSERVER NEWSPAPER

The pain and passion in this freewheeling text is so palpable that it is hard to regard it as fiction. It reads like a memoir, a record of hurts and darkly humorous short stories woven together with diary entries and line drawings, redolent with clever raunchiness and with language that rivals a text by Anthony Winkler.

(It is) a brilliant and often innovative offering that falls less in the realm of the West Indian tradition and more in the way of American postmodernist black humour, reminiscent of the work of Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse Five. Ezekel Alan has constructed a masterpiece of searing memories of his childhood in “that hateful f-ing place” in order to come to terms with them, heal himself, and honour those of the poor and victimised – the “disposable people”.

Ezekel Alan writes with an intensity that astonishes. This is a rousing text, full of energy and venom, and tells multiple stories of 'disposable people" while building an understanding of the lot of Jamaica's poorer children.

Alan is brilliant in his analysis of Kenny Lovelace’s relationship with his father and in the stories of abuse that most of the children suffered at the hands of the village men. His novel is a wail of agony wrapped in spritely prose, deepened with irony and a bitter humour. It reads fast and packed with surprise and horror. This is no admiring chronicle of the values of the God-fearing Jamaican peasant but a searing account of the exigencies of poverty and superstition in a demanding environment.

It is a magnificent piece of work, combining different modes of storytelling including poetry, letters, journal writing, and sketched images, and covering a plethora of issues, including attitudes to homosexuality.

Alan has done a bang-up job of presenting the memories of the boy he once was and the collective memories of the village he came from.

His coming to terms with these memories in a brilliantly innovative text is our gain and his salvation.

- Mary Hanna, Bookends Review, the Jamaica Observer

(See full review here: http://ezekelalan.files.wordpress.com...
(less)

1 like · like · see review

Mar 10, 2012 Ezekel Alan rated it 5 of 5 stars · (Review from the author) · review of another edition

Shelves: wrote

like · see review

Oct 13, 2012 Marie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I was drawn to Disposable People by the description of the story and decided to enter the first-read giveaway and to my surprise I was a winner! I found this book to be an interesting read. To see the cultural difference and also to see how someone's life can change.

1 like · like · see review

Jul 30, 2012 Africa Donaldson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: jamaican-writters

I have finished and I love it. I will admit that it took me very long to read and several times I has said that I was not going to finish it but I got through it and I am happy that I finished it.

like · see review

Nov 17, 2012 Katalin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is awesome!

like · see review

May 19, 2013 Bookformatter rated it 5 of 5 stars

May 14, 2013 Petal Seraphia marked it as to-read

May 14, 2013 Smayall marked it as to-read

May 14, 2013 Megha Kohli marked it as to-read

May 07, 2013 Fiona Hocking marked it as to-read

Shelves: 2013-commonwealth-book-prize

Apr 24, 2013 Bayan marked it as to-read

Apr 23, 2013 Asyla ten Holt marked it as to-read

Apr 16, 2013 Karen Ashmore marked it as to-read

Apr 16, 2013 Wafa Temeza marked it as to-read

Apr 16, 2013 Rana Kadry marked it as to-read

Apr 10, 2013 Kris Tina marked it as to-read

Shelves: summer-list

Apr 09, 2013 Vindi marked it as to-read

Apr 02, 2013 Anita rated it 4 of 5 stars

Apr 01, 2013 Nicole Dahlberg marked it as to-read

Apr 08, 2013 Nicola rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, caribbean-books

Mar 15, 2013 Jennah Ann marked it as to-read

Feb 01, 2013 Sreevidhya marked it as to-read

Apr 29, 2013 Francine Derby rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jan 29, 2013 Allison is currently reading it

Dec 26, 2012 Jodeane Bailey marked it as to-read

Dec 24, 2012 Stacy marked it as to-read

Dec 23, 2012 Cristina marked it as to-read

Dec 13, 2012 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (2)

Popular Shelves

to-read

133 shelves

currently-reading

6 shelves

wrote

2 shelves

first-reads

2 shelves

summer-list

1 shelf

caribbean-books

1 shelf

to-buy

1 shelf

jamaican-writters

1 shelf

won-books

1 shelf

fiction

1 shelf

About Ezekel Alan

"This was a very difficult story for me to write, and for a lot of reasons. Many of the stories in the novel are based on things that happened in the village where I grew up, and were hard to revisit and come to terms with.

It took me close to two years to write the book, not because I didn't know the details of the story, but because I wasn't sure I wanted to tell it. In particular, I struggled wi...more

More about Ezekel Alan...

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Disposable People

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: Disposable People
avg rating	preview: Disposable People Goodreads rating: 4.21 (19 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13499187-disposable-people?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1330131972l/13499187.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13499187-disposable-people?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Disposable People by Ezekel Alan[/url]

Disposable People

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

combineOther Editions (2)

Popular Shelves

About Ezekel Alan

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Disposable People

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (2)