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At the news of her son BJ's involvement in gang crime, Idora Morrison, a maid at the local university, collapses in her basement apartment. For four days and nights she retreats into a vortex of memory, pain, and disappointment that becomes a riveting exposé of her life as a Caribbean immigrant living abroad. While she struggled to make ends meet, her deadbeat husband, Ber...more
ebook, 320 pages
Published
September 15th 2009
by HarperCollins e-books
(first published 2008)
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Sep 12, 2011
karen
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
distant-lands,
upstairs-neighbors
how many of you would groan if i said i just wanted more from this novel?
don't care.
parts of this book batter me with how well he gets into the mind of this character, and her perceptions and fears and shifts between confidence and a wish to hide herself away from the world are fantastic and uncomfortably recognizable. the parts that are good are amazing.
however, i don't usually have a problem with a nonlinear story, but this one was more difficult than usual. i don't know if i was ever sure wh...more
don't care.
parts of this book batter me with how well he gets into the mind of this character, and her perceptions and fears and shifts between confidence and a wish to hide herself away from the world are fantastic and uncomfortably recognizable. the parts that are good are amazing.
however, i don't usually have a problem with a nonlinear story, but this one was more difficult than usual. i don't know if i was ever sure wh...more
this being the first book i have read by austin clarke, i have to say i was immensely disappointed,considering his impressive reputation, especially here in canada.
i found the book just rambled on for 300 pages, with nothing much really happening, and i found myself skipping large sections of the book, which is something i almost never do. on top of that, i just didn't like the style of writing either.
anyway, i will give The Polished Hoe: A Novel a try at some point, largely because i already ow...more
i found the book just rambled on for 300 pages, with nothing much really happening, and i found myself skipping large sections of the book, which is something i almost never do. on top of that, i just didn't like the style of writing either.
anyway, i will give The Polished Hoe: A Novel a try at some point, largely because i already ow...more
2 likes · like · see review
Clarke is a very well known Canadian writer who has won numerous literary prizes. The book that won the Giller Prize, the Polished Hoe, was a great story, but it was very hard to read as it was written is Bajun dialect (Clarke is from Barbados). This novel is written is plain English, but it reads as a somewhat delirious ramble. A Barbadian-Canadian woman is worried because her son is not home. As the story unravels we find out that she came to Canada as a domestic worker (popular means of immig...more
Austin Clarke is a Canadian author of Caribbean descent who received acclaim for his book, The Polished Hoe (which I haven't read). In More, Clarke weaves a tale about Idora Morrision a Caribbean immigrant living in Canada who receives the news that her son BJ may be involved in gang activity. Abandoned years before by her husband who went to America to find work, Idora has had to raise BJ alone in a land foreign to her. The book takes place over the course of 5 days as Idora sort of has a break...more
Boring as all hell.
I will read anything and very few books have made me struggle my way through them like this one. I literally had to force myself to finish it.
I will read anything and very few books have made me struggle my way through them like this one. I literally had to force myself to finish it.
I guess I am in the minority but I loved this book. I loved the main character's slow descent into insanity.
Great prose
Great prose
Gathering all the courage to start with this one after reading those depressing reviews. WIll let you know soon :)
Idora's experience as an immigrant woman from Barbados in Toronto and her son's involvement in a gang.
Liz
Liz
I threw in the towel after about 75 pages. Definitely not my type of novel.
I enjoyed this story, set in Toronto, about a Bajun-Canadian woman waiting on her wayward son to return home. The city of Toronto is a character in the novel, which is fun to read. However, Clarke's style of writing leaves something to be desired. The novel is written in the mother's, Idora's, voice, in one long, rambling rant that goes back and forth between her past to her present. What Clarke has to say about being black in a multicultural and ostensibly accepting Toronto, however, is searing...more
Hmmm....so far not sure.
not always a fan of Austin Clarke's books because of the theme "being an immigrant is SO depressing"; this is more of "being an immigrant is so lonely"
Terrible. The first two pages are ONE SENTENCE, and the writing gets worse from there. It's intrusive and self-conscious and gets in the way of caring about anything that happens, never mind the characters. Stay away from this one.
Tried so hard understanding this book. Good story, good protagonist... made awfully boring by the personal style of this particular writer.
Mediocre. Clarke can write much better than this.
I gave up on this one at around pg 57....
Jun 04, 2013
Karen Bahal
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Everyone
Recommended to Karen by:
Book Club/ Community One Book Read
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Austin Ardinel Chesterfield Clarke is a Canadian novelist, essayist and short story writer who lives in Toronto, Ontario. He has been called "Canada's first multicultural writer".
Clarke had his early education in Barbados and taught at a rural school for three years. In 1955 he moved to Canada to attend the University of Toronto but after two years turned his hand to journalism and broadcasting. H...more
More about Austin Clarke...
Clarke had his early education in Barbados and taught at a rural school for three years. In 1955 he moved to Canada to attend the University of Toronto but after two years turned his hand to journalism and broadcasting. H...more
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Is that meant to be an anti-black...more
Oct 07, 2011 10:15pm
There are some really poor and underserved neighbourhoods in Canadian cities, and there is certainly r...more
Oct 07, 2011 10:34pm