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All Decent Animals
Oonya Kempadoo's moving third novel, All Decent Animals , looks at the personal and aesthetic choices of a multifaceted cast of characters on the Caribbean island of Trinidad―a country still developing economically but rich culturally, aiming at "world-class" status amid its poor island cousins. It is a novel about relationships, examined through the distinct rhythms of the city of Port of Spain. Loyalties, love, conflicting cultures, and creativity come into play as Ata, a young woman working in carnival design but curious about writing, and her European boyfriend, Pierre, negotiate the care of their friend Fraser, a closeted gay man dying from AIDS. The contradictory Trinidadian setting becomes a parallel character to Fraser's Cambridge-derived artistic sensibility and an antagonist to Ata's creative journey.
All Decent Animals is a forthright inquiry into the complexity of character, social issues, and island society, with all the island's humor, mysticism, and tragedy.
All Decent Animals is a forthright inquiry into the complexity of character, social issues, and island society, with all the island's humor, mysticism, and tragedy.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published April 30, 2013
6 people are currently reading
717 people want to read
About the author
Oonya Kempadoo
13 books20 followersOonya Kempadoo is a writer who was born in Sussex, England in 1966 of Guyanese parents. She was brought up in Guyana and has since lived in Europe and various islands in the Caribbean.
Her first novel, Buxton Spice, was published to great acclaim in 1998, and was nominated for the 2000 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Her second book, Tide Running (Picador, 2001), set in Plymouth, Tobago, is the story of young brothers Cliff and Ossie.
Oonya Kempadoo has studied art in Amsterdam and has lived in Trinidad, St. Lucia, Tobago, and now lives in Grenada.
She was named a Great Talent for the Twenty-First Century by the Orange Prize judges and is a winner of the Casa de las Americas Prize.
Her first novel, Buxton Spice, was published to great acclaim in 1998, and was nominated for the 2000 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Her second book, Tide Running (Picador, 2001), set in Plymouth, Tobago, is the story of young brothers Cliff and Ossie.
Oonya Kempadoo has studied art in Amsterdam and has lived in Trinidad, St. Lucia, Tobago, and now lives in Grenada.
She was named a Great Talent for the Twenty-First Century by the Orange Prize judges and is a winner of the Casa de las Americas Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 4, 2013
I wanted so much to love this book. And there were many good things about it. The writing was occasionally sonorous and beautiful - Kempadoo has a great feel for Trinidad dialect. The inclusion of snatches of soca and calypso lyrics were also a nice touch. The subject matter of AIDS and Carnival are both subjects dear to me as a person and an anthropologist, so I was excited to read a book-length work that was attentive to both.
She paints a portrait of divisions of class in Trinidad society in the early 90s that (admittedly as an American who has spent a good deal of time in Trinidad) resonate with what I know of the place.
Too much of the novel's plot, though, is predictable. While the writing is gorgeous, particularly her descriptions of places and characterization of people, what plot there is remains fragmented and hard to follow.
She treats her subjects - AIDS, crime, Carnival, loss, and love - with care and delicacy. The individual threads of story, though, unfold in ways that are all-too-predictable. It seemed, at times, like a handful of stock plots woven together in ways that were interesting (if a bit confusing), though the plot as a whole suffered because of the pedestrian nature of its constituent parts. Particularly troubling for me was the character of "Slinger," which was an extremely thinly-veiled portrait of imminent Carnival designer Peter Minshall. If you're going to have Minsh in your book, have Minsh in your book - no need to change names slightly, creating an odd translation project for readers who know his work.
She paints a portrait of divisions of class in Trinidad society in the early 90s that (admittedly as an American who has spent a good deal of time in Trinidad) resonate with what I know of the place.
Too much of the novel's plot, though, is predictable. While the writing is gorgeous, particularly her descriptions of places and characterization of people, what plot there is remains fragmented and hard to follow.
She treats her subjects - AIDS, crime, Carnival, loss, and love - with care and delicacy. The individual threads of story, though, unfold in ways that are all-too-predictable. It seemed, at times, like a handful of stock plots woven together in ways that were interesting (if a bit confusing), though the plot as a whole suffered because of the pedestrian nature of its constituent parts. Particularly troubling for me was the character of "Slinger," which was an extremely thinly-veiled portrait of imminent Carnival designer Peter Minshall. If you're going to have Minsh in your book, have Minsh in your book - no need to change names slightly, creating an odd translation project for readers who know his work.
August 20, 2013
Almost a little too Trinidadian.
I enjoyed the effort and the familiar descriptions but it's as though the author tried to fit every dynamic of Trinidadian society into the book- queer culture, race, carnival, HIV, inter-racial romantic relationships, violence against women, class disparities, politics, UN & NGO culture, the disapora. I'm tempted to say it was too ambitious, too overwhelming... but in many ways that's what Trinidad can feel like when you're paying attention.
I enjoyed the effort and the familiar descriptions but it's as though the author tried to fit every dynamic of Trinidadian society into the book- queer culture, race, carnival, HIV, inter-racial romantic relationships, violence against women, class disparities, politics, UN & NGO culture, the disapora. I'm tempted to say it was too ambitious, too overwhelming... but in many ways that's what Trinidad can feel like when you're paying attention.
April 5, 2017
All Decent Animals was a required read for a Caribbean literature course and, unfortunately, it was one of the novels I found less captivating in the course. Oonya Kempadoo’s Port of Spain has a life all its own and the characters are multifaceted, thus while I cannot fault the author for not creating a sumptuous vision of the Caribbean, the story and thematic content did not seize me nearly as much as the arresting imagery. Especially in her depiction of Carnival, Kempadoo strives to create a vivid and engaging text filled with the vibrancy of its people, but ultimately, in my opinion, falls short in comparison to her descriptive powers.
While I found certain passages very moving, the novel in its entirety felt very fragmented both stylistically and thematically. This, of course, could be intentional, mirroring the fragmentation some of the characters themselves feel—passages jump back and forth, often leading to a sense of disorientation while reading. Again, this disorientation may be intentional as characters are often ‘lost’ in the Caribbean, struggling with their identity as foreigners or as members of the diaspora; for example, certain characters seem like a (barely veiled) manifestation of Kempadoo’s own cynicism about the inefficiency and corruption of the United Nations in Trinidad. Even island natives must confront the realities of their home, such as the character Sammy, who is forced to contend with an act of violence that seems like a microcosmic event which represents a larger trend of violence toward women, violence which is presented in the novel as characteristic of life in Trinidad.
What I found most rewarding and engaging was Kempadoo's treatment of AIDS with Fraser, and various related themes that arose addressing euthanasia, chronic sickness and, quite simply, the death of loved ones. She treats these subjects very delicately, but with a realism that forces the reader to confront their own preexisting conceptions of such issues in a way which feels authentically difficult to comprehend from the outside.
While I found certain passages very moving, the novel in its entirety felt very fragmented both stylistically and thematically. This, of course, could be intentional, mirroring the fragmentation some of the characters themselves feel—passages jump back and forth, often leading to a sense of disorientation while reading. Again, this disorientation may be intentional as characters are often ‘lost’ in the Caribbean, struggling with their identity as foreigners or as members of the diaspora; for example, certain characters seem like a (barely veiled) manifestation of Kempadoo’s own cynicism about the inefficiency and corruption of the United Nations in Trinidad. Even island natives must confront the realities of their home, such as the character Sammy, who is forced to contend with an act of violence that seems like a microcosmic event which represents a larger trend of violence toward women, violence which is presented in the novel as characteristic of life in Trinidad.
What I found most rewarding and engaging was Kempadoo's treatment of AIDS with Fraser, and various related themes that arose addressing euthanasia, chronic sickness and, quite simply, the death of loved ones. She treats these subjects very delicately, but with a realism that forces the reader to confront their own preexisting conceptions of such issues in a way which feels authentically difficult to comprehend from the outside.
August 25, 2021
So I am not sure if I like this or not. A story that pulls you in but detaches from you at the same time? I like it but I feel like I’m the wrong audience?
.
Set in the Carribbean island of Trinidad, All Decent Animals revolves around Ata, a young woman dating a European UN guy. Ata spent most of her time caring for her close friend, Fraser who had been diagnosed with AIDS. Around them were friends and family with their own sets of problems. The culture is dynamic and multi-faceted - Creole, Indian, mixed and more. Pierre, Ata's boyfriend, sometimes found her too raw and complained about the island life. His privileged viewpoint did not match the core lifestyle of his partner and the community they lived in.
.
I like that the book provides a glimpse into contemporary Carribbean life. The characters are from all walks of life. No huge sense of individualism. People help each other. What I did not like is the incoherence of the story. Too much streams-of-consciousness narration. The characters come and go. The storytelling itself is all over the place. I am not sure if it was written like that on purpose, stylistically speaking. Too many incomplete sentences that contain very specific references of culture. Since I am not familiar, I did not really get them.
.
I enjoyed the part when Ata began caring for her sick friend and realised her European partner might not be a good match for her. However, the writer decided to go all magic surrealism near the end of the novel and I went... Huh? Spirits appear, people go missing. So yeah. Recommended? Not recommended? I'm not sure myself. It is interesting but not easy to understand, that’s all I can say.
.
Set in the Carribbean island of Trinidad, All Decent Animals revolves around Ata, a young woman dating a European UN guy. Ata spent most of her time caring for her close friend, Fraser who had been diagnosed with AIDS. Around them were friends and family with their own sets of problems. The culture is dynamic and multi-faceted - Creole, Indian, mixed and more. Pierre, Ata's boyfriend, sometimes found her too raw and complained about the island life. His privileged viewpoint did not match the core lifestyle of his partner and the community they lived in.
.
I like that the book provides a glimpse into contemporary Carribbean life. The characters are from all walks of life. No huge sense of individualism. People help each other. What I did not like is the incoherence of the story. Too much streams-of-consciousness narration. The characters come and go. The storytelling itself is all over the place. I am not sure if it was written like that on purpose, stylistically speaking. Too many incomplete sentences that contain very specific references of culture. Since I am not familiar, I did not really get them.
.
I enjoyed the part when Ata began caring for her sick friend and realised her European partner might not be a good match for her. However, the writer decided to go all magic surrealism near the end of the novel and I went... Huh? Spirits appear, people go missing. So yeah. Recommended? Not recommended? I'm not sure myself. It is interesting but not easy to understand, that’s all I can say.
July 7, 2018
I really wanted to like this book. This was given to me as a present by someone from Trinidad (though she hadn't read the book) so that I could get a glimpse into the language and culture of her native country. I loved the passages with the local dialect and I really enjoyed the author's use of colorful adjectives... but the whole premise of the novel felt contrived instead of moving. The only thing that kept me reading was to catch a glimpse of more of her eloquent syntax but it wasn't enough to hold my interest.
November 25, 2018
It took me weeks to read this. I have such mixed feelings about it. The language/writing was really lovely in a lot of passages. Wonderful descriptions. I could definitely see using a lot of passages in class for a variety of reasons. But as a whole... it just seemed like there was too much going on, and thus not enough focus on one story to make it really matter in the way that it should. I really wanted to and thought I would love this book, but sadly, that was not the case.
February 11, 2020
This book had such a promising start, with Ata’s arrival in Port of Spain, and the vivid descriptions of the scenes outside the taxi window. But it started to unravel for me when I realized the weakness of the character development and plot. Kempadoo is a better writer than she is a story teller.
April 10, 2019
Honestly I found it a bit much. I think she was trying to stuff everything Trinidadian into this book
November 22, 2022
The writing is really beautiful but I only understand about a two thirds of the book :)
October 2, 2025
The story telling was a bit languid but I saw the bigger picture.
July 12, 2013
This was a 3.5 star book for me.
• After finishing this book – I am trying to put my thoughts together – at times this book was a page turner, then it also confused me, then I wondered what did the author want me to take away from this book, was I getting all of the nuances/cultural references of the story.
• This is the first book by the author that I finished. I tried reading the author’s first novel Buxton Spice when it first came out and remember the first chapter did not work for me so put the book down with the intention of picking it back up again – but have not. After reading All Decent Animal I am interested in reading her other books – as this book was set in Trinidad, and other books are each set in a different island – one Guyana and the other Grenada.
• This was a relatively short book for be about 250 pages (and was appreciated as it seems I have been reading a lot of BAB books lately) was the storylines moved along quickly.
• I would categorize the authors writing style as intense, dense yet lyrical. You have to pay attention like you do when reading a Toni Morrison book.
• The themes of the book were about art and creativity in Trinidad and she does this with having one of the main characters Ata not sure what direction she wants her artistic talent to take so accepts a position as costume designer with a Carnival team and another of the characters Fraser being an architect. Also the author gets into how Trinidad is trying to be a world class country and the interaction with developmental agencies such as the UN to provide guidance/support/reporting in project. These are the big picture ideas but also it is a story of friendship, community and who do you rely on when there is a crisis.
• The characters are all striking and complex and move the story along nicely and interconnect the various storylines and makes it seem very plausible how the characters all connect though each is in Trinidad for different reasons (some are native that never left, show are returnees, some are foreigners). While I may not have “liked” all of the characters, I was intrigued by all of them.
• One of the things that I liked most about the book was the vivid imagery of the landscape.
• Overall this book felt like I was hovering over Trinidad getting an intimate birds-eye view of this slice of Trinidad with this diverse group of characters as they weaved their personal and profession ambitions with the culture and norms at this time.
• The language does switch between the “proper” English and Creole but this did not distract from my reading pleasure.
• After finishing this book – I am trying to put my thoughts together – at times this book was a page turner, then it also confused me, then I wondered what did the author want me to take away from this book, was I getting all of the nuances/cultural references of the story.
• This is the first book by the author that I finished. I tried reading the author’s first novel Buxton Spice when it first came out and remember the first chapter did not work for me so put the book down with the intention of picking it back up again – but have not. After reading All Decent Animal I am interested in reading her other books – as this book was set in Trinidad, and other books are each set in a different island – one Guyana and the other Grenada.
• This was a relatively short book for be about 250 pages (and was appreciated as it seems I have been reading a lot of BAB books lately) was the storylines moved along quickly.
• I would categorize the authors writing style as intense, dense yet lyrical. You have to pay attention like you do when reading a Toni Morrison book.
• The themes of the book were about art and creativity in Trinidad and she does this with having one of the main characters Ata not sure what direction she wants her artistic talent to take so accepts a position as costume designer with a Carnival team and another of the characters Fraser being an architect. Also the author gets into how Trinidad is trying to be a world class country and the interaction with developmental agencies such as the UN to provide guidance/support/reporting in project. These are the big picture ideas but also it is a story of friendship, community and who do you rely on when there is a crisis.
• The characters are all striking and complex and move the story along nicely and interconnect the various storylines and makes it seem very plausible how the characters all connect though each is in Trinidad for different reasons (some are native that never left, show are returnees, some are foreigners). While I may not have “liked” all of the characters, I was intrigued by all of them.
• One of the things that I liked most about the book was the vivid imagery of the landscape.
• Overall this book felt like I was hovering over Trinidad getting an intimate birds-eye view of this slice of Trinidad with this diverse group of characters as they weaved their personal and profession ambitions with the culture and norms at this time.
• The language does switch between the “proper” English and Creole but this did not distract from my reading pleasure.
February 25, 2014
I wanted to like this book. My husband is from Trinidad and I was so excited to find a book that was based on the island. The dialect was pretty authentic. The descriptions of Carnival and other island customs was great. But I couldn't deal with Ata. It's tough when you don't know whether to root for the heroine, or if she actually is the heroine. I just couldn't connect with her. Fraser got more emotion from me. The sub stories didn't always weave together that well. And the ending - well, I was so annoyed when I got there. I'm really sad. Had much higher hopes for this.
December 27, 2013
I enjoyed it. There were truly beautiful passages and intriguing, relatable characters. There were a few moments where the different stories connected very cleverly, but in a natural way, which can be difficult to accomplish. It was by no means fast paced, but that's fitting for a story about island life. It was a well written portrayal of a brief period in a few peoples lives, and I found it to be interesting.
August 15, 2016
I think this a book that will simmer inside the reader long after they finish it. There is a lot of gorgeous imagery in Kempadoo's writing, a lot of complicated humanity, and an upsetting ending that leaves you feeling both satisfied and not.
tried-to-read
July 22, 2013I only got through the first chapter, and knew I wouldn't like this book, so moving on to other things
October 20, 2013
Good read
September 18, 2014
Wonderful use of literary devices.
Read
October 28, 2016Fiction K326a 2013
April 3, 2017
Similar to “Davey’s” assessment, I really wanted to wholeheartedly enjoy Oonya Kempadoo’s novel as it seems to have all the components to make an intriguing and impactful read. I loved Kempadoo’s evocative use of language to convey both the locale as well as the impact of Trinidad’s push towards gaining “world class” status. I found this language especially impactful in describing the disparity between the metropolitan city Port of Spain believed itself to be, with buildings miming those found in cities like Miami, and the actual execution. Though I enjoyed the novel for its introduction to Trinidadian culture and Carnival, something I’m personally unfamiliar with, I felt like I was lost in the disjointed story lines and Kempadoo’s modernist narrative structure.
The disjointed structure did lend itself to many impactful moments in the text – for example the killing of Sammy’s girlfriend juxtaposed with the UN’s meeting on violence against women in Trinidad, and Pierre’s subsequent cynicism towards the issue, but I also found that with the changing story lines I became disengaged with many of the characters. By the end of the text, I wasn’t engaged in anyone’s storyline, and felt especially distant from the central characters like Ata and Fraser. With all this character fragmentation, Pierre’s death seemed like a convenient ending for Ata, whom we sensed was unhappy near the end of her relationship, and because of this, her grief seemed almost false and disingenuous.
While it’s important to not always be able to relate to characters in novels (Marlon James argues against it), Ata and the characters really frustrated me because I felt that I didn’t understand their motivations and intentions. Maybe that was the point of Kempadoo’s novel, but it left me frustrated. Despite my frustrations, and probably because of them, I do feel that All Decent Animals is a text I will return to, if only to try and work through my initial reactions and to make better sense of it; I’ll at least do a lot of follow up research.
The disjointed structure did lend itself to many impactful moments in the text – for example the killing of Sammy’s girlfriend juxtaposed with the UN’s meeting on violence against women in Trinidad, and Pierre’s subsequent cynicism towards the issue, but I also found that with the changing story lines I became disengaged with many of the characters. By the end of the text, I wasn’t engaged in anyone’s storyline, and felt especially distant from the central characters like Ata and Fraser. With all this character fragmentation, Pierre’s death seemed like a convenient ending for Ata, whom we sensed was unhappy near the end of her relationship, and because of this, her grief seemed almost false and disingenuous.
While it’s important to not always be able to relate to characters in novels (Marlon James argues against it), Ata and the characters really frustrated me because I felt that I didn’t understand their motivations and intentions. Maybe that was the point of Kempadoo’s novel, but it left me frustrated. Despite my frustrations, and probably because of them, I do feel that All Decent Animals is a text I will return to, if only to try and work through my initial reactions and to make better sense of it; I’ll at least do a lot of follow up research.
April 7, 2017
What I particularly enjoyed about the novel was Kempadoo’s use of language and imagery to depict the intricate and compelling details of Trinidadian life. There seems to be a lot of emphasis on “place” in the novel, specifically in its articulation of the many Trinidadian diasporas merging their cultures and identities into one “world-class” space. Interestingly, Ata defines her identity as “Caribbean” rather than Dominican, Guyanese, or Trinidadian. She refers to herself as a “nonbelonger” because of her “in-between” feelings of being “neither one nor the other” (6). Ata’s self-representation thus addresses problems of creolization while setting the tone for the novel's focus on establishing a place for diverse cultural identities to merge together.
I must say, although Kempadoo’s multi-layered focus in terms of class divisions and representations of Trinidadian society had the potential to make for a compelling read, it was the disjointedness of the novel’s many fragments that made it difficult to follow. The timeline is pretty difficult to grasp, being that there are many storylines occurring at once. I almost wish that the story focused more on Ata’s journey alone, as I was hoping to make a stronger connection with her role in terms of her relationships with others and within the society as a whole. However, by the second half of the novel, I found myself detached from her character.
Kempadoo makes an appropriate use of Trinidadian dialect (which seems authentic from the perspective of an outsider); however, the interweaving of Trinidadian dialect, multiple character representations and time shifts, makes it appear as though the Kempadoo is trying to accomplish a little too much with her novel. Overall, the blending of all of these different motifs made it challenging to make sense of the novel as a whole.
I must say, although Kempadoo’s multi-layered focus in terms of class divisions and representations of Trinidadian society had the potential to make for a compelling read, it was the disjointedness of the novel’s many fragments that made it difficult to follow. The timeline is pretty difficult to grasp, being that there are many storylines occurring at once. I almost wish that the story focused more on Ata’s journey alone, as I was hoping to make a stronger connection with her role in terms of her relationships with others and within the society as a whole. However, by the second half of the novel, I found myself detached from her character.
Kempadoo makes an appropriate use of Trinidadian dialect (which seems authentic from the perspective of an outsider); however, the interweaving of Trinidadian dialect, multiple character representations and time shifts, makes it appear as though the Kempadoo is trying to accomplish a little too much with her novel. Overall, the blending of all of these different motifs made it challenging to make sense of the novel as a whole.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews