Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
36th out of 149 books
—
49 voters
My Brother
Jamaica Kincaid's incantatory, poetic, and often shockingly frank recounting of her brother Devon Drew's life is also the story of her family on the island of Antigua, a constellation centered on the powerful, sometimes threatening figure of the writer's mother. Kincaid's unblinking record of a life that ed too early speaks volumes about the difficult truths at the heart o...more
Paperback, 208 pages
Published
November 9th 1998
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(first published 1997)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
900)
(Sigh), compared to the fiction I've read by her, I think this book got a lot of praise because she was established already with two good books, and maybe, because its something readers could feel sympathetic towards. For me, I was into it at first, and then thought that even its 198 pages in big type dragged on too long. I still don't know her brother because she doesn't, she doesn't care--me neither, and I don't know the mother because she only chooses to speak about her when she pleases. I fe...more
“What to make of it [death]? Why can’t everybody just get used to it? People are born and they just can’t go on and on…but it is so hard, so hard for the people left behind; it’s so hard to see them go, as if it had never happened before, and so hard it could not happen to anyone else, no one but you could survive this kind of loss, seeing someone go, seeing them leave you behind…”
My Brother is Jamaica Kincaid’s retelling of time spent both before and after the loss of her brother to HIV. At the...more
My Brother is Jamaica Kincaid’s retelling of time spent both before and after the loss of her brother to HIV. At the...more
I'm a new fan of Jamaican Kincaid. I love her style of writing but about 3/4th of the way through this book, I grew tired of the multiple directions she was taking the story in (she uses long bracketed lines to share stories within stories).
Overall, I appreciated the book. For the first time, I got an image of Jamaica Kincaid that showed far more nuance than the image of Kincaid I'd been piecing together from her previous works that I've read (A Small Place and An Autobiography of My Mother) and...more
Overall, I appreciated the book. For the first time, I got an image of Jamaica Kincaid that showed far more nuance than the image of Kincaid I'd been piecing together from her previous works that I've read (A Small Place and An Autobiography of My Mother) and...more
To read this book,was a excited experience for me because I could learn interesting things such as what kind of life could lead a human to contract the desease about HIV virus.For example Kinkaid'brother had a promiscuous life,he had different patners,he used drugs etc and it was the reason why contract this desease.Another thing that grabbed my attention in this book was how their mother interacted with his children and how she felt about them.Sometimes Kinkaid referred her,such a good mother,h...more
I have always been a fan of Jamaica Kincaid's writing since reading Annie John many years ago. I found this book in the MHS library when I was looking for something to read at lunch time. She is a powerful writer. Her attitude toward her family, especially her mother is a little hard to read coming from a very close family. The story of her brother is sad. Experiencing a death due to the AIDS virus is very painful and she makes it very clear what that experience was for her brother. If you haven...more
My first foray into Kincaid's wide body of work, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. Basically analyzes her, let's say, "complicated" relation with her family - her cruel mother, her feuding brothers, and in particular, her wild and horn-dog-y brother who, during the span covered by the memoir, is diagnosed with AIDS, undergoes a respite from death's door with the help of anti-retrovirals, and then dies from the disease's complications.
A number of cultural factors lend the book some greater we...more
A number of cultural factors lend the book some greater we...more
I was curious when she finished the first section of the text and her brother had finally died what she could possibly conceive to round out the remainder of the pages. I thought to myself "what more is there to tell". This title was engaging, insightful, and reflective upon the interactions that occur between parents, children, and siblings in the course of coming of age into our vast adulthood.
This might have just as easily been about my relationship with either of my brothers Tony or Rahsaan...more
This might have just as easily been about my relationship with either of my brothers Tony or Rahsaan...more
Kincaid is a celebrated and respected author, but this was a hard, painful book to read, as if it were meant to be difficult and disturbing, sad and brittle. Although directly focused on the death of her littlest brother from HIV/AIDS, it is really an introspective into her own relationship with her mother (and the family) and Antiguan society. So much of this essay set me on edge: I cannot imagine the combatitive and angry struggle between mother and daughter. Her mother is portrayed as a devil...more
view 1 comment
I bought this book from a public library book sale in Charlottesville, VA while visiting my daughter who is at UVA. Another writer has penned a memoir about loss, this time about a brother who died of AIDS in Antigua, her home country, on January 19, 1996. At the time, she was an established author, wife and mother, living in Vermont. This memoir is convoluted and somewhat confusing as it chronicles a complicated grief. She has a very angry, hateful and unresolved relationship with her mother wh...more
The story goes: "I hate my mom. I hate my mom. I hate my mom. Oh yeah, my brother (whom I didn't really know much about) died of AIDS. By the way, did I mention I hate my mom?"
Blah, blah, blah.
Repetitive and Aimless. I read 125 pages and the same information was reiterated constantly. But what else should I have expected when within the first 20 pages Kincaid actually admits to not really knowing or having a relationship with her brother. (Smacks forehead).
Aug 02, 2010
Alba Sternberg
added it
Jamaica Kincaid, is a very descriptive writer. She had wrote a very interesting non-fiction book like the story "My Brother. It reflects important aspects about the author like temperament,childhood, family,friends, etc.kincaid is a thoughtful memories about her youngest brother Devon's AIDS and her relation with his death. Remembering her role in the final years of his life, the author examines the nature of love, family ties, sacrificies and death. She left her home at the age of 16,when her b...more
Interesting and well-written for about the first 1/4th of the book. Most of the rest of this memoir is fairly redundant. Even the prose is constituted of repetitive patterns by the end of the text, which is a stylistic choice, but a poor one.
Before that point though, the book is intriguing and holds much cultural interest. Kincaid has a lot to say about herself and her familial relationships, particularly with her mother.
Before that point though, the book is intriguing and holds much cultural interest. Kincaid has a lot to say about herself and her familial relationships, particularly with her mother.
jamaica kincaid in this book talks about her brother and how a disease ended with his life. she is very clear and direct and often very descriptive. she shows how was her relationship with her mother and her brothers, it is interesting in the way that she writes because she repeat some parts many times during the book, maybe trying to keep in mind the important details. it is a good story.
This book was extremely painful to read but necessary writing. It gives you a glimpse into the suffering of an individual dieing from HIV/AIDS and the deep and often hidden emotions that surface - within a family - upon learning of a death that is certain and expected - in an unnatural way of sorts. Death for a person who may already be considered to be on "borrowed time".
i wouldlike to tell about this book for me is a interesting book a little hard to read due to the repetitive words but eassy vocabulary and interesting theme like is the HIV disease this story tell us about life in a small island antigua and jamaica kincaid brothers he got abuse drugs and he had many sexual partners also we can say he got a messy,irresponsable life that's why he got contagious of the terrible disease like is the HIV ,She blame her mother even tough we can see how her mother help...more
It's a wrenching book to read, and distractingly
repetitive until and unless you accept the fact that
writing it is a sort of exorcism for the author. The
repeated litanies, with variations, seem a necessary
part of that, as Kincaid tries to come to terms with
the life and death of a brother she hardly knew, and
her continuing struggle with her mother.
repetitive until and unless you accept the fact that
writing it is a sort of exorcism for the author. The
repeated litanies, with variations, seem a necessary
part of that, as Kincaid tries to come to terms with
the life and death of a brother she hardly knew, and
her continuing struggle with her mother.
Really honest memoir about her family and specifically her brother (closeted) dying of AIDS in the mid-'90s. It's rare to read about someone saying, repeatedly, that they hate their mother and don't really love their brother who is dying, but she makes it work. Not everyone has to be lovable to have a memoir written about them.
Kincaid tells of her brother's dying and the telling is a tribute to her deceased father-in-law who as much as anyone helped her save her own life by becoming a writer who has to write to make sense of her worlds. The repetitions, the strung together phrases and clauses are poetry to the complexity of living and dying.
This biography chronicles Kincaid's brother's life (he died from AIDS), but it also shows her life - her culture, why she left, what she hoped for, etc. After reading this book, I can more clearly see how her fiction books Annie John, Lucy, and Autobiography of My Mother are glimpses into Kincaid's real life.
I liked the first book I read by Jamaica Kincaid - Lucy. This one was much more stream of consciousness, and it was hard to follow. I applaud her for being so open and honest about her struggles to love a family and a brother dying of AIDS, but the format of the book just didn't sit with me.
This book is one of my favorites. It shows how a woman reconciles her past with her family, and in the process, she learns some secrets about her brother's life. I'd definitely recommend this book to people who like to read or enjoy memoirs. This author is a talented writer.
it's a good book whose give us the think to pay attention elders beacuse his brother did not pay attention to her sister talk and consequency he got death. This book is little bite about realtionship belong family and her mother special abality to grow plants.
she is talking about her relationship with her mother. she is also talking about her brother. She is saying how her brother became victim of HIV.Kincaid only showed the problems but she didn't talk about the solution of problem. Yes she is describing about the poor people's reality and problem which is really good to read. Specially she says people need to wait for long to get treatment in hospital and there wasn't enough medicine that grab my attention,
She blamed her mother for every wrong bu...more
She blamed her mother for every wrong bu...more
Jun 02, 2008
Marguerite Roth
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
No one
Recommended to Marguerite by:
Curiosity
This is an absolutely horrendous book. She's discussing something traumatic and horrific, but yet she makes you want to pull out your hair as you read it. Apparently its now avant-garde to throw writing formats, structure, grammar, and tidiness out the window. I read a page and she literally only said one thing. It's like reading someones sloppy diary. I understand that this is a personal thing that she is writing about, but there should be a conclusion and a goal to be achieved with the writing...more
To me, Jamaica Kincaid is a contrived. Her whole identity is duplicious and incoherent. I also find her to be a cultural elitist that attempts to pass herself off as the victim of Antigua in general, and her mother in specific. In the end, her brother's death is not about him, but is about her. In fact, the entire book is one long prattle about herself mumbling, "me, me, me". I fail to see her attraction, at least in this volume, as her writing style is far from engaging; more akin to nails on a...more
A stunning look at the toll AIDS takes on one man and on his relationship with his sister and his family, all in the context of a small island society where some things can never be spoken of or forgiven.
Aug 02, 2010
Ptwlo
added it
This is a good book where Jamaica Kincaid ( the author )use a descriptive language for describe how was her life when her brother was dying of AIDS and she talk about the behavior of her mother too.
such a good book boldly explainin the real faces of social roles like mom and dad or some well-accepted meanings for specific words like love, like or hate...
aids seems the least effective part of the book for me...
aids seems the least effective part of the book for me...
Aug 02, 2010
Kanika Roy
added it
My brother was written by Kincaid is sad to read but important to read because its tell about AIDS the serious deases and its cause effect.
Kincaid's honest -- I think! -- analysis of her complex emotions about her brother dying of AIDS, and what she can or can't do to help him.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Jamaica Kincaid is a novelist, gardener, and former reporter for The New Yorker Magazine. She is a Professor of Literature at Claremont-McKenna College.
More about Jamaica Kincaid...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“This way of behaving, this way of feeling, so hysterical, so sad, when someone has died, I don't like at all and would like to avoid. It's not as if the whole thing has not happened before, it's not as if people have not been dying all along and each person left behind is the first person ever left behind in the world. What to make of it? Why can’t everybody just get used to it? People are born and they just can’t go on and on, but it is so hard, so hard for the people left behind; it’s so hard to see them go, as if it had never happened before, and so hard it could not happen to anyone else, no one but you could survive this kind of loss, seeing someone go, seeing them leave you behind; you don't want to go with them, you only don't want them to go.”
—
4 people liked it
More quotes…
