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28th out of 31 books
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9 voters
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At the Bottom of the River
Jamaica Kincaid's inspired, lyrical short stories
Reading Jamaica Kincaid is to plunge, gently, into another way of seeing both the physical world and its elusive inhabitants. Her voice is, by turns, naively whimsical and biblical in its assurance, and it speaks of what is partially remembered partly divined. The memories often concern a childhood in the Caribbean--f...more
Paperback, 96 pages
Published
October 15th 2000
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(first published 1983)
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I'm sure there are some merits of this book, but I'm too busy to search for them, even though this book is 88 pages of triple-spaced prose. This is my fourth Jamaica Kincaid book (her first) and I think I can officially put myself in the "I'm not a fan" category.
It's amazing that this book was received as well as it was. This is the type of book that people in the rest of the US think New Yorkers read and write, the type of book people use as an example of why they don't read...more
It's amazing that this book was received as well as it was. This is the type of book that people in the rest of the US think New Yorkers read and write, the type of book people use as an example of why they don't read...more
Terrible. My winning streak of good books is over. I read a few of Jamaica Kincaid's essays at graduate school, which were good. Perhaps I just chose the wrong novel because there was nothing redeeming about it. Horrible style and use of repetition... I understand its purpose but the execution fails. Waste of time. Nothing memorable about it all. Found myself indifferent and also skimming parts.
I loved a lot of things about this book. The first two stories especially are brilliant surprising strange lyric wonderful. I love the way a consciousness and and story unfolds in a non-traditional, without the awkwardness of exposition or introduction. Some of the later stories miss that specificity of moment and scene that drives the first two pieces, and become overly abstract in my opinion, moving in a weird dream-like way that, like many re-telling of dreams, seems to make sense only to the...more
This is a book of stories so lyrical as to at times seem surrealistic, sometimes told in the not-very-naive voice of a child. Kincaid has certain material -- her family life on the island of Antigua -- which she repeats in various manners book to book. Here it is presented at its most dreamlike, a brief, beautiful volume unlike anything else I've ever read.
Yum. I should have known that this would be amazing. I loved everything else of hers, why did I put this one off? So that I would have an artsy treat to read in the park one sunny day!
Like listening to Debussy or looking at a Monet painting: very imagistic, very impressionistic. At first, I was annoyed with the repetition, but that lasted only briefly. Kincaid's prose is more poetry than story and, at times, absolutely stunning.
Her oft anthologized "Girl" is the first story in this collection. Although "Girl" is wonderful, I wouldn't say it was the best. I think my least favorite was the title piece.
Her oft anthologized "Girl" is the first story in this collection. Although "Girl" is wonderful, I wouldn't say it was the best. I think my least favorite was the title piece.
I found this collection arresting, breathtaking when I first read it in 1984. I was motivated to write! And write! And write more.
I love the rich verbiage that this novel houses. A vivid imagination, dream interpretations, scattered memories interwoven with fantastical, child-like thoughts. I read a chapter at night when I want to relax and induce dreaming. It works.
Gayla
marked it as to-read
Picked this up the other day but have only skimmed it so far.
Beautiful imagery, incredibly vivid & surreal. Decidedly NOT plot driven stories, but I love her characterizatons of mother/daughter relationships. Rich and troubling. A quick read; well worth it.
Denae
rated it
Beautiful and concise, this is more poetry than prose.
Beautiful prose poems.
fluidity and context. stream of consciousness but... not. kincaid's writing tosses in the stream of the surroundings, of other characters. if i have to hear one more person in this class say, "but if that's what she means, why doesn't she just say it that way," i'll stop being a snob and start being a bully. but, who can be that judgmental when even the critics agree that, like it or not, kincaid's writing is defying. it's fucking beautiful.
This is an exquisite little book of short stories, most of which revolve around mother-daughter relationships. Many in the collection were originally published in the New Yorker, and many are reportedly auto-biographical. Most importantly, the stories dance along the line between prose and poetry from the first page, and Kincaid's language is gorgeous and evocative and powerful. I don't think one reading suffices, at least not for me.
First semester of my senior year at Bard, I took this great class with my advisor, Brad Morrow, called Narrative Strategies. We read all these great contemporary books with wildly varied and experimental narrative techniques, and instead of writing papers, we wrote our own fiction, into which we had to try to experiement with the techniques of the authors we were reading. I wish all lit classes were like that!
The collection begins with one of the most profound short stories I've ever read. "Girl" is economy of language, but not meaning or beauty. The short stories following it are also testament to Kincaid's mysterious and wind-like prose, but nothing comes close to the opening story.
Something about this book, such great imagery and wandering of language. I love the use of specific objects. It's more poetry than story to me.
I really enjoyed reading this book...not typical of what I normally read...Good book to get out of the comfort zone.
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this is very energetic and creatively poetic writing.
brilliant!
ecastatic, poetic prose...i love her writing!
ecastatic, poetic prose...i love her writing!
A lot of people like this book. That's not my problem.
Beautiful.
Sara D.
marked it as to-read
Phil
is currently reading it
Kendra
marked it as to-read
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Jamaica Kincaid is a novelist, gardener, and former reporter for The New Yorker Magazine. She is a Professor of Literature at Claremont-McKenna College.
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“this is how you smile to someone you don't like too much; this is how you smile to someone you don't like at all; this is how you smile to someone you like completely; this is how you set a table for tea; this is how you set a table for dinner; this is how you set a table for dinner with an important guest; this is how you set a table for lunch; this is how you set a table for breakfast; this is how to behave in the presence of men who don't know you very well, and this way they won't recognize immediately the slut I have warned you against becoming;”
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“Looking at the horizon again, I saw a lone figure coming toward me, but I wasn't frightened because I was sure it was my mother. As I got closer to the figure, I could see that it wasn't my mother, but still I wasn't frightened because I could see that it was a woman.”
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