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From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her Island
When Doris Harvey's English grandfather, William Harvey, discovers a clearing at the end of a path cut by the feet of those running from slavery, he gives his name to what will become his family's home for generations. For Doris, Harvey River is the place she always called home, the place where she was one of the "fabulous Harvey girls," and where the rich local
...morePaperback, 304 pages
Published
March 3rd 2009
by Amistad Press
(first published 2007)
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This is a true memoir...a story as common as your and my story. Ups and downs of life in a foriegn land. It took me quite a while to finish the book for the same reason...it was listening to a life story of a any common man...no unexpected twists and turns...life just as it is.
And yet, I give it 3 stars...for life, just as it is, teaches you so much. The story reflects common joys and sorrows, common heroes and battles won and talks a world about another culture. It talks of 3 generat...more
And yet, I give it 3 stars...for life, just as it is, teaches you so much. The story reflects common joys and sorrows, common heroes and battles won and talks a world about another culture. It talks of 3 generat...more
Allison
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Recommended to Allison by:
Calabash International Literary Festival
The book traces the fall of one family from a life of abundance in rural Hanover, Jamaica to a "hard-life" in Kingston, Jamaica in the mid 1900s. Lovers of Goodison's poetry will be interested to see that she weaves lines from past-published poems throughout the narrative. Particularly interesting from a historical point of view, Goodison traces her family tree as far back as her Great Great Grandparents, who on both the maternal and paternal sides of the family were pairs between bl...more
Lovely family memoir, the women were more vivid than the men. It didn't have a lot of drama but beautiful writing. I wish there had been more sense of the place, the physical landscape of Jamaica in Harvey River and Kingston. Still a satisfying read.
A nicely written family memoir. Goodison compiled her mother's life in chronological order, and although there were many people involved in the story, it never became confusing, as sometimes happens with these types of memoirs. Closer to 3-1/2 stars.
2008- I enjoyed the first part of the book exploring her parent's history, but wish she had written about her own childhood the same way. Still, an interesting look at a family and place in Jamaica.
This is what I imagine what life was like for my great grandmother's people as Meads from Meadsfield.
A really entertaining read - funny and touching.
A really entertaining read - funny and touching.
This book is a lovely little read with wonderful descriptions of Harvey River and its people. The customs and speech patterns were well done and very interesting.
A really touching memoir. It got a little confusing with all the different generations involved, but I loved how many details were included for each family member. And luckily the author included a family tree at the beginning of the book :)
Beautiful tribute to Jamaica and her mother.
Masked Editor
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Recommends it for:
Fans of Waiting for Snow in Havana, The Glass Castle, Edwidge Danticant and Julia Alvarez
I love this book! It's a beautiful journey into one woman's family in Jamaica. As one reviewer put it:
“Goodison’s memoir reaches back over generations to evoke the mythic power of childhood, the magnetic tug of home, and the friction between desire and duty that gives life its unexpected jolts.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Goodison’s memoir reaches back over generations to evoke the mythic power of childhood, the magnetic tug of home, and the friction between desire and duty that gives life its unexpected jolts.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
A wonderful book! Evokes a time and place like few other memoirs I've read. The Jamaica she describes is alive and vivid, and she fully develops how the generations of her family are intertwined. I was left with a feeling of the necessity and power of community between all women, sisters, neighbors and most of all, mothers and their children.
Very well written.
Charlotte
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Recommends it for:
movers and shakers, younger siblings
Shelves:
wonderful-non-fiction
I think I'll only read 5 star books. Why settle for anything less. This was beautiful. And magical. The way memoirs should be written, away from all this true/no true baloney. I wish I could go to Jamaica. Today.
so gorgeous! goodison is a poet and this is her memoir of her mother's family and her own early years in Jamaica.
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An inspiring and soothing history of family, relationships, and Jamaican culture. Highly recommended.
So FAr it is lovely -
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