The Truth About Awiti by C. P. Patrick

     I'm not even going to lie; this book startled me.  I sat, pensive at my computer, seeking the right words to describe this book, for quite some time before reviewing.  I started the weekend with three books under my belt and The Truth About Awiti, by CP Patrick dominated my reading schedule.  I couldn't leave it, my heart aching from the bits of historical tragedies.  

     I finally came to realize, I'd developed a sort of 'Love/Hate' relationship with the book.  I became entranced in what felt like a lilting, poetic, historical emprise, bearing a sense of both melancholy and triumph.  The story is powerful, emotional, upsetting even.  I quickly understood why it received so much acclaim.

     The book is an atheneum of lives, a collection of entries from the living and the dead, spanning hundreds of years.  Stories of how White Faces ravaged villages, warriors chained together while witnessing the rapes and murders of mothers, wives and daughters.  Even mutinous battles on the sea where adulterous activities were commonplace.  Each entry carried a theme, a purpose, that either told of a wrong, the dealing of wrong, revenge, remorse and acceptance.  Most of them spoke or concerned Awiti, a bi-racial young woman who was gifted with powers of immortality.  With her power, she exacted revenge, through billowing waves on the seas to wash away evil sailors, or thunderstorms of wind and rain on land.  She creatively did so much more, but her sole purpose was to give those who'd done wrong to the Africans of the world what they deserved.  She went everywhere, filled with a bitterness more hostile than any whipping from the Master, and made them pay...  Other times, someone was  who never imagined they had the strength to run away were blessed with a determination beyond their own ability.  It didn't come from God, but from someplace within.  Girls joined revolutions, men fought to the death, while others found a peace that allowed their their disembodied spirits to curl up in a nook of acceptance in the Bahamas.

     It's hard to say I enjoyed this book, because it's not one where you say, "Girl!  You have got to read this book- it's so good!"  Not that it's not, but it's one that leaves you sad.  Sad and frustrating because, as the reader, you know many of these tales are based on actual facts.  The act of slavery, the punishments for seeking what was a born-given.  It hurts.  Whether black, white, or any other nationality, it affects you as you read (meaning the author did her job well).

     I think this is the longest review I've ever written.  Like I mentioned earlier, I didnt know what to say or how to share it.  So I guess I'll leave close this with, if you are a lover of historical fiction and you have the heart to read the happenings of this book- you won't be disappointed.  It's a book like no other!  
Next book!

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