The Wild Coast

by Jan Carew

In this coming-of-age novel, a young boy learns firsthand about the contradictions that bedevil the people of Guyana, including the legacy of slavery, the clash of cultural traditions, and the inhospitable terrain. Hector Bradshaw, a sickly child living in Georgetown, finds his life turned upside down when his family decides he would be better off living in the country and sends him away to the remote village of Tarlogie. Once settled there with his kind but old-fashioned guardian, Sister Smart, Hector struggles to make sense of his new community. As time goes by, he is given a dry colonial education, is puzzled by his guardian’s fondness for moral precepts, and is fascinated by the harsh African vision of the old hunter Doorne. Above all, the boy struggles to feel at home in a world where nature—so beautiful and so tremendously dangerous—dominates the people’s lives.

Genres: Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2009

Reviews

[Orlando Fato · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I were to rename this book, it would be "The Sleepy Coast". Jan Carew does an amazing job at describing the sleepy town of Tarlogie and the surrounding "bush", with its flora and fauna. The entire time I read this book, I felt transported and felt the heat and torpor of Tarlogie, the same way I have experienced it myself in the Caribbean. In "The Wild Coast", villagers drink, gossip and hunt. They also attend mass in the mornings while practicing African rituals in the evening. This book is probably worth reading for this alone, because after each chapter the mood conveyed by Mr. Carew lingered in myself as if I were daydreaming.

However, this is a coming-of-age story, and this is, perhaps, where the book falls into beaten to death territory. Its main character is Hector Bradshaw who, after some silly mischief one afternoon, is sent to his father's estate in Tarlogie, a sleepy village on the wild, Guyanese coast. In Tarlogie, he does nothing but try to:

Please Sister Smart, a spinter who leads a civilized life under the precepts of Catholicism. Take lessons from Mr. La Rose, a frustrated young teacher who has spent his entire life among books he cannot even judge. Watch the villagers of Tarlogie, who unvoluntarily remind Hector where he comes from and that he is a human being rather than the "religious-scholar" Sister Smart and Mr. La Rose want to make of him.

I have never been a fan of coming-of-age stories. I decided to read this book because I think Carew's "Black Midas" is one of the best books that I have ever read. Why don't I like coming-of-age stories? They all tend to have the same plot: following directions and pleasing elders at first and later rebelling, discovering sexuality, judging books, hunting adventures into the wild, facing the responsibilities of adulthood, etc.

Something I really liked from the book was the backstories of all its secondary characters, specially that of Elsa and Hector's dad. They gave the book interesting plot twists that somehow overshadowed the clichés of the typical coming-of-age story.

I didn't read this book with the page-turning excitement of "Black Midas" but with the delightful, village torpor of Tarlogie, which was rather sleepy than wild.

[Joseph Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is that rare type of book that you yearn to return to, and finish with both happiness and regret. I can't remember loving a book so much since I read Tolstoy's 'The Cossacks.'

I picked this book out as an experimental read - and was rewarded tenfold for the risk taken. Any doubts I may have had vanished within the first two pages. Carew's supreme gifts are characterisation and plot dynamism. His descriptive powers and dialogue are also excellent.

Simply put - and I do not say this lightly - the book is a masterpiece. Go forth and enjoy!

Joseph Smith
josephsmithauthor.com