A Lesser Dependency

by Peter Benson

In 1971 the inhabitants of Diego Garcia, a small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, a place too small to find on a map and one of the last paradisical outposts of the Empire, were suddenly evicted from their homes to make way for a US military base. A trenchant critique of modern civilization, A Lesser Dependency movingly describes how one family's tropical heaven became hell.

172 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Peter Benson was born in 1956 in Kent, UK and is the award-winning author of seven novels. His work has been described as ‘a far-reaching exploration into unlikely relationships’ and is characterised by the precision of its language, characterisations and approach.

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story about the results of uncaring US self interest and brutal British colonial connivance that I was completely unaware of. Before I deal with the novel itself, as the first reviewer, I think it important to put it into historical context. In the mid 1960's, Diego Garcia was a relatively unspoilt and isolated tropical island in the Indian Ocean with a population of nearly 2,000 people. The US wanted an uninhabited island in that area on which to build a base to support their naval fleet. The island was under the sovereignty of Mauritius at that time and still a British colony. As part of the process of granting Mauritius independence, the British acquired Diego Garcia and several other populated islands in the Chagos Archipelago. They then concluded a secret deal to sell Diego Garcia to the US as part of the negotiation to obtain US Polaris nuclear submarine missiles whilst declaring that the islanders were only temporary occupants and thus making it possible to depopulate the islands. If you want a fuller picture of this shameful episode go to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depopula...

As for the novel, it tells the simple story of one family of four who are forced to leave Diego Garcia and their uphill battle to make a new life for themselves in Mauritius. Like many islanders the family lacked the social and basic life skills such as literacy and numeracy to cope in a more modern economy. They received no help or support and they end up barely surviving as beggars, becoming a racially abused minority and living in shanty towns. It is a moving and extremely sad story and I wish I could give it more than 3 stars, but the novel is at times a bit random. I also struggled to maintain a sense of time as the children grew into adults and the characterisation lacked true depth. It could probably have done with another 100 pages to resolve these issues, but I am however very glad that I read it.

[Neil Aplin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a sad story, with some small references to the background of the fate of Diego Garcia and its population - powerful format within which to tell the story. Not sure it would have been successful as a strategy to steal an island from its inhabitants nowadays. Would love to know what success they have had in getting their home back now, although after all this time it is doubtful whether the current generation of survivers would want to return. Very sad.

[Val · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Chagos Islanders live a simple life, fishing, growing a few vegetables and working on the copra plantations. The island of Diego Garcia has a fine natural harbour and the US want it for a military base, so the copra company and British government sell it to them. The plantation is closed, construction work destroys the fishing and bulldozes the vegetable gardens, the islanders become a destitute embarrassment and are eventually evacuated.
This is the story of one family from Diego Garcia who end up on Mauritius and find themselves lost without their island home. They are probably typical of Chagos Islanders, their story is a sorry one and the characters personalise it.
The link between people and places was a theme in Peter Benson's debut novel, The Levels, and it is the theme in this one too. I thought this novel fell a bit flat compared to his earlier one, perhaps because this is not his place or people. It is still good and worth reading, but not amazing.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sad, sympathetically written. Horrible to know this really happened.