Independence

Cecil Foster

3.24 · Rating details · 29 ratings · 5 reviews

Independence is the deeply moving story of the coming of age of a country and a boy, at the time of Barbados’ independence from Britain in 1966. Fourteen-year-old Christopher Lucas and Stephanie King have been neighbours and best friends since they were born a few months apart. They have been raised by their impoverished grandmothers after their mothers went “over ’n’ away Independence is the deeply moving story of the coming of age of a country and a boy, at the time of Barbados’ independence from Britain in 1966. Fourteen-year-old Christopher Lucas and Stephanie King have been neighbours and best friends since they were born a few months apart. They have been raised by their impoverished grandmothers after their mothers went “over ’n’ away” to the United States and Canada to find work when the children were toddlers; no one has heard from the mothers since. The grandmothers are growing more and more desperate about their ability to support their charges. When the novel opens, there is a sudden and unexplained rift between Christopher and Stephanie following the return from Canada of a benefactor named Mr. Lashley, who lavishes gifts on Stephanie.

Through a series of triumphs and catastrophes, Christopher and Stephanie determine their places in the world and take control of their lives. Rich with the details of Bajan culture—from food preparation to political and financial affairs, from sexuality to spirituality—Independence is a fascinating window onto a little-known world and a touching portrait of a journey to adulthood and the women who guide it.

Praise for Independence

“Foster’s story of a West Indies community in transition is a marvelous read, filled with humour, sorrow, and wit, and told with the deft and gentle touch of a master storyteller.” —Thomas King, author of The Inconvenient Indian

“This magical volume invokes the concept of ‘independence’ on so many levels. Through stunningly eloquent narration and lilting dialogue Foster brings to life this powerful moment in Bajan history. Told from the perspective of a thirteen-year-old boy, the tale rings with the voices of the children whose own coming-of-age paralleled that of their island home. The grandmothers who raised them are drawn in such fine detail that none of us who read Independence will ever forget them.” —Karolyn Smardz Frost, author of I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land

“In Independence, two young children, a boy and a girl, are cared for by their grandmothers as they wait for years for their mothers to send for them. Cecil Foster dresses up the language of the nation, formerly called ‘broken Barbadian,’ but now called ‘nation language.’ Following in the footsteps of Chamoiseau, Foster does for Caribbean English what Chamoiseau did for Creole French.” —Austin Clarke, author of The Polished Hoe

“Every sentence of Cecil Foster’s Independence rings with the music of authenticity. His eye for detail and his ear for the rhythms of dialogue are uncanny. There are pages in Independence that deserve repeated visits, so great is the pleasure of encountering characters and scenes described so vividly. Foster’s novel isn’t just about somewhere else. It’s like being there.” —David Macfarlane, author of The Figures of Beauty ...more

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ebook, 336 pages

Published January 28th 2014 by Harper Perennial

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Feb 13, 2015 Wolfkin rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: for-school, huma1300, slice-of-life

The short answer is no. I'm not a big fan of this book. I feel it's poorly characterized and poorly written.

Independence is a story about Christopher a young man from Barbados a newly independent nation. His mother and the mother of his best friend Stephanie are both "over and away" in Canada working. Their big dreams as the book opens is that one day their mothers will send for them.

I'm not familiar with Cecil Foster's previous work fiction or non, and yet this book shares many characteristics The short answer is no. I'm not a big fan of this book. I feel it's poorly characterized and poorly written.

Independence is a story about Christopher a young man from Barbados a newly independent nation. His mother and the mother of his best friend Stephanie are both "over and away" in Canada working. Their big dreams as the book opens is that one day their mothers will send for them.

I'm not familiar with Cecil Foster's previous work fiction or non, and yet this book shares many characteristics with Cory Doctorow's novels. Which, as I said in my review of Little Brother, suffer from big ideas and weak writing. Doctorow's books are excellent manuals and guides but terrible stories. Here Foster has created what in many ways is a very realistic picture of the Caribbean. The problem is this picture is inconsistent.

The protagonist Christopher grows up. This is the only consistent arc in the book. Ostensible the book covers the coming of age for young Christopher. It would be unfair to say he doesn't grow up, but it would be more accurate to say he changes from being a nonentity to an entity. Until 90% of the way into the novel Christopher is a character I can't care about. He's nothing. It's a book about a boy that stars women. Every interesting character in the book is a woman. I don't mind reading about women but at some point you have to ask what does Christopher do except be "a silly man" as no doubt many of the women see him. Entire passages will go by with in depth and important conversations between women. Yet in the book there's no young man filter. At least not consistently or majoritatively. Instead he's like a fly on the wall. He's close enough to hear the conversation in detail and no one ever notices him. Maybe when the conversation is over we'll get a mention of how Christopher has to tip toe away. But rarely does he reflect on what he's heard. Even when he does it's mostly to see surface deep.

A colleague of mine pointed to the sexuality in this book. The reader gets a good picture of the sexuality of the girl next door Stephanie even if it's through an unclear filter of the theoretically unreliable narrator of Christopher. There's a lot that goes on with Stephanie. Christopher likewise undergoes his own awaking in sexuality...... oh wait.. he doesn't. For too much of the book it's a just an empty neutral shell of a character. There are precious few scenes when Christopher felt like a real person and those scenes are the few scenes when Foster actually manages to get his metaphor and allegory on. When Christopher talks to Mr Smith about losing the bad call to the Umpire, I felt like this was a real person. He was having real emotions and being bigheaded. Unfortunately this is the exact scene when the metaphor about being a man and accepting the good and the bad is effected. Christopher refers to his penis exactly two times. Once directly once indirectly. He starts dating a girl in his class and it's completely unnuanced. Are they dating? Are they not? Does Christopher care? Does he like her? Who knows because we're spending more time talking about Stephie who's primary attribute to the reader is being absent. Her absence is of bigger note than the missing mothers. Christopher who starts the novel as a "man-dem foolish" kid who doesn't read anything into anything. Doesn't understand anything. Then later escape a homosexual situation at the hint of something wrong. Knowing completely what is going on. This from a kid who will never think about this girl and consider what he wants with her. Even though she kissing him (chastely) and dances with him (provocatively) she never enters his stream of thought except to consider her presence. Oh maybe she'll show up here. Oh in a few minutes we'll walk home together. That's as deep as it goes. Contrast to the nearly violent sexuality of Stephie who disappears twice for sexual reasons and becomes the talk of the town. Which leads to a third disappearance.

This is a book I read for class and honestly I can't say for sure I would have finished it otherwise. I'm glad I did because it got better. Unfortunately it got better in the last 90%. This is disappointing because it means there were ideas and themes that are compelling and interesting and they just aren't used until the end of the book. None of these ending themes are being built up in the opening two thirds of the book. They just appear at the end.

My conclusions about this book are as follows. The author's ideas for the book are basically inserting a theme into an autobiographical slice of life. The book is filled with teachable moments. Not so much for Christopher but for the reader. If you wanted to explain Caribbean life to someone could point to specific passages and you learn a lot about how this lifestyle works. The narrative is weak. I realize a slice of life novel doesn't have to answer every thread because in real life we don't get all the answer and yet this isn't The Matrix. I didn't leave completely satisfied with the story. I left feeling like I had just watched Pirate of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest, in other words I left on a cliff hanger expecting more. I would have suspected the author got better.

That said when the book was firing it worked. When it does a good job of creating a sample of Caribbean culture it does so excellently. In the end when he creates themes and characters out of name we've been using all this time. It does so well. When Christopher goes through his phase I liked him. I felt like I understood what he was about. Somewhat so with even other characters like Mr Smith (the angry sullen man in the neighborhood) and even his grandmother and to an extent Mrs King. Unfortunately none of the good writing make up for the chapters and chapters of empty (at times unrealistic) writing that came before it. ...more

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Feb 29, 2020 Caroline Weber rated it really liked it · review of another edition

1967/68: Barbados is an independent country, and two adolescents (13 and 14 years old), left by their mothers with their grandmothers, are also coming of age.

This is well-written, and an obvious metaphor for the country - which takes nothing away from the book. People take advantage of the young people, everyone trying to survive in a changing world, trying to figure out what "independence" means. Good job Cecil Foster.
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Jan 13, 2014 leslie nikole rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Christopher, the novel's protagonist, and Stephanie are God siblings, neighbours, and best friends. They are also coming of age in the time of Barbados' independence from England (1966) while their single mothers have gone "over n' away" to North America for work. While Stephanie has already slipped into the assumption that she is more mature than she actually is, Christopher is focused on getting back in contact with his mother. During post-independence Barbados, many of the island's young adul ...more

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Mar 16, 2014 Tami rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This one's more like a 2.5 for me. I LOVE "post-colonial" Caribbean literature, so I was excited to read this novel about a nation on either edge of national "independence". Instead, I found Independence pretty boring, flat, and predictable, with both main characters I mostly couldn't get invested in (perhaps because of the very choppy, large unimpassioned writing (which I found really ironic because "independence" writ large seems like something that is/should be close to the essence of "impass ...more

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Jul 12, 2016 Tony Blenman rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Stephanie and Christopher, both 14 year olds, live next door to each other. They have been friends all their lives. Their parents moved overseas for work since they were quite young. Stephanie and Christopher's grandparents raised them with no financial assistance from the parents even though the grandparents were quite poor. A man from the community, who had returned from Canada, began lavishing Stephanie with gifts. This caused friction between the grandmothers, and Stephanie's aunt. Christoph ...more

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