book review: jamaica kincaid, annie john

I’ll start with an earnest admonition: read Jamaica Kincaid’s ‘A Small Place’.  What a beautiful culture, what a beautiful history, what beautiful writing.

After reading Kincaid’s long personal essay (named above), I was immediately drawn into this hitherto unnoticed country of Antigua. The beauty of post-colonial writing is that it is critical of both past and present. The good thing about being self-critical is that it leads to self-awareness. Nothing is more enjoyable to read than a writer who knows what she (or he) is writing about. And you can bet that Kincaid knows Antigua.

Kincaid was born, brought up and educated in the Caribbeans. At the age of sixteen she decided to move to the US (to the Big Apple, no less) and worked as an au pair. Since then, she has worked in magazines like Forbes, Times and the New Yorker.

I get the feeling that Annie John is slightly autobiographical. There are many parallels between the lives of both author and heroine among which are: their homeland is both (Antigua), they are both excellent writers and they both left Antigua for overseas at roughly the same age.

Annie John, other than being a coming-of-age story, is a story about a daughter whose relationship with her mother has been severed. Upon entering adolescence, acquiring body odour and developing sexual desires, Annie’s mother becomes cold and strict towards her. Gone are the days of hugging, cuddling and wearing mini replicas of her mother’s dresses.  Annie is thrown into the deep end of puberty.

Throw in lesbianism and the occasional obeah and you have a story with an uncanny yet interesting mix.

By Meryl Perez