How to Love a Jamaican in Around the World in 80 Books

Aug 18, 2018 Beverly rated it really liked it

Shelves: cross-cultural, jamaica, short-stories, newtome2018

This was a 3.5 reads for me.

This debut short story collection of Jamaicans is engaging, insightful, and vividly written.

The first taste the reader gets in what lies ahead is in the epigraph from Jamaican Kei Miller’s poem, “The Law Concerning Mermaid” regarding simply being and not needing permission.

Alexis Arthurs then proceeds in the eleven stories to explore the themes of identity and love while your senses explore the Jamaican culture.

Arthurs looks at identity from the perceptive of what is ...more

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Apr 16, 2018 Lindsey Z rated it really liked it

Arthurs’ debut short collection has a lot to offer: with a keen eye for how Jamaicans and Jamaican Americans navigate their often conflicting worlds, she shows off her literary talent through a diversity of points of view, subject matter, and writing style. The collection opens with an epigraph by Kei Miller from his prose poem “The Law Concerning Mermaids,” in which he reflects on the lasting impact that colonialism has had on its victims. The image of the mermaid becomes a thread in Arthurs’ c Arthurs’ debut short collection has a lot to offer: with a keen eye for how Jamaicans and Jamaican Americans navigate their often conflicting worlds, she shows off her literary talent through a diversity of points of view, subject matter, and writing style. The collection opens with an epigraph by Kei Miller from his prose poem “The Law Concerning Mermaids,” in which he reflects on the lasting impact that colonialism has had on its victims. The image of the mermaid becomes a thread in Arthurs’ collection and at least a few of her stories in some way interpret mermaids and what they might represent in culture and literature. There are no actual mermaids in these pages, but the majesty of them frames and inspires what I interpreted to be Arthurs’ most salient claim: that her characters need not step out of their own truths to impress or please others. Her characters confront shadism, homophobia, cultural prejudice, racism, sexism, classism, distorted body image, the death of loved ones, and unrelenting familial expectations. Her characters and narrators range from a woman struggling with an eating disorder, a man who is the lesser loved brother in his family, a gay woman who has to hide her sexuality from her family and her home culture, a shameful and regretful man who has led a double life cheating on his wife, two lower class young girls who drowned going after mermaid dolls they coveted in a pool, a woman who is haunted by the ghost of a dead woman she never knew, and a young girl who is sent away to back to Jamaica for her bad behavior. Many of her characters desire lives they aren’t allowed or don’t know how to lead.

Arthurs’ prose is rich with Jamaican dialect and atmospheric imagery. Her characters are vibrant and their hopes and fears take front and center stage. Each character has a discernible relationship with Jamaica and Jamaican culture, so this collection is very much about Jamaica. But it’s also about what it’s like to feel alone, alienated, and broken. The dialogue in most of these stories is particular to this time period: conversations about popular culture (celebrities and musicians) and current discussions about race and gender are frequent in many of these stories, which makes me wonder about the lasting potential of these stories. They are very much of their time. Even so, Arthurs offers a dynamic collection of stories that suggests that there’s both a commonality and plurality within Jamaican experiences, and she does so with remarkable literary skill. [Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book to review.] ...more

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Feb 03, 2020 Farhana Faruq rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction

This is a collection of eleven stories. It's about Jamaican's residing in either Jamaica or immigrating to the US, and life from their perspective. This is a fictional collection but the author didn't hold back. I love how real each character is and how diverse each story is. Very well written. ...more

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Dec 05, 2017 Stacy marked it as to-read

Shelves: books-i-own, tbr, 2018, arc

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Shelves: caribbean

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Jan 17, 2018 Beverly marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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Apr 28, 2018 Nikki Morse marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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May 08, 2019 Deedee rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction-short-stories, read-2019, book-riot-zodiac, immigrants, african-american, read-2019-popular-fiction, read2019short-stories, challenge-2019-spring

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Jan 03, 2019 Jen marked it as to-read

Shelves: to-read-2019

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Jan 15, 2019 Verity rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: global-culture-and-history, literature, call-number-box

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May 26, 2019 Meghan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: us-new-york-nyc, education-school, lgbtqqia2, spirituality-and-religion, parenting, love-story-and-romance, women, mothers, family, celebrity

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