Anyone read a good book recently?

"THE DEAD YARD" (tales of modern Jamaica) by Ian Thompson has just come into my hands. It is a good read and, in the words of Ben Zephaniah, "Ian Thompson has captured the tension, the politics, the heat, the chaos, the beauty and music of Jamaica"

St Elizabeth is in there and, particularly, quoted are some of the more notable TB residents.

Someone has told me you cannot get a copy in Jamaica ? Do hope this is not true.

Any comments anyone?

It is only available on Amazon.com in the Kindle format. I'd like to read it if anyone can point me in the right direction to buy it.

I read any books I can find on Jamaica, even fiction. I am a fan of fiction author Margaret Cezair-Thompson. She wrote A Pirates Daugher and The True History of Paradise.

My favorite "Jamaica book" is RastaHeart: A Journey into One Love by Robert Roskind.

I've seen The Dead Yard in Jamaica recently - it was not available locally for a long time... don't remember where though...
Diana

I just looked on Amazon. It is not available in the US. Too bad!

Dead Yard is available here. Several Jamaicans have told me they do not feel it is particularly accurate and glamourises people who are not as posh or upstanding as the book portrays them.

then there are the wonderful books by anthony winkler:

GOING HOME TO TEACH
THE PAINTED CANOE
THE LUNATIC (if i have that title right)
DOG WAR

i've read all the above; THE PAINTED CANOE is my fave. there may be others whose titles i'm forgeting. all these are great reads. winkler, born in jamaica, really has his hand on the culture.

For sure there are parts of the book that are inaccurate as I've spoken with one person who is written about and she was never in the profession he listed her as in and she was misquoted more than once. Knowing her I believe this as she would just not say some of the things he has her saying.

I think the history lessons are good, however, I felt he was here way too short of a time to really understand the intricacies of Jamaica and its people but professed a complete understanding. Jamaica is complicated and far from easily understood. I've been here 17 years and I'm still learning every day.

Overall, I'm glad to have read it but I was not impressed.

The inaccuraces are irritating I agree and similarly there may be associated misguoting, nevertheless, it is a decent "broad brush" of the county's history, development and peoples. As Rebecca says Jamaica is complicated and far from easy to understand. On the positive side Jamaica, size for size, has contributed a great deal to the international community but, I have to say, from where I stand, the current state of affairs existing in the economic and political arena fills one with a certain amount of horror and despondency as does th rampant violence. It is difficult to devine how the Island is to drag itself out of the current mess into a brighter and worthwhile future for everyone.

I have read Dead Yard and although the writer has captured some real issues about Jamaica, I felt it was inaccurate and too one-sided after such a short time on the island - which is a very complex place.

The British press/writers of this nature always seem to slam the negative in people instead of trying to see both sides.

He had some good and interesting points but I felt the book was not connected.

Thank you Uncle Peter,this is a good discussion.
I have a review of this book from The Guardian,
July 2009,by Decca Aitkenhead.The Dead Yard is
published by Faber,14 pounds 99 pence.
I will be bringing a copy of it with me when I return to the Island in June and will donate it to the St Elizabeth Parish Library,Black River.
Another book you may be interested in is The Long
Song by Andrea Levy,who was at Calabash in 2005,
with her book A Small Island.
Andrea Levy was born in England to Jamaican parents who had emigrated in the late 1940s.
The Long Song,published by Headline ,is about slavery in Jamaica*s sugar plantations,a snapshot
of British colonisation and control of Jamaica.
It is the story of July,born sometime around 1816,daughter of a sugar-plantation slave and the
white plantation overseer,and narrated by her much later in life.
Hopefully,Andrea Levy may be at Calabash again this year.She has just been in New Zealand on a speaking tour.

By jane wingate on Monday, April 12, 2010 - 04:21 pm: Edit Post
then there are the wonderful books by anthony winkler:

GOING HOME TO TEACH
THE PAINTED CANOE
THE LUNATIC (if i have that title right)
DOG WAR

i've read all the above; THE PAINTED CANOE is my fave. there may be others whose titles i'm forgeting. all these are great reads. winkler, born in jamaica, really has his hand on the cultur


I have also read "The duppy, "The Lunatic, and "the Great Yacht Race".

I love Winkler.

My first novel just came out - it's called Dog-Heart and it's not about the environment! It's about the relationship between a middle class single mother and an inner city child when the woman tries to help. It's available in many bookstores in Jamaica, but also on Amazon, and there is more info on my website at www.dianamccaulay.com. Am reading at Calabash too! Very excited about that.

Excuse shameless commercial plug, but am having to learn how to do book promotion!

Diana McCaulay

Diana, I just ordered your book on Amazon. Can't wait till it arrives! Looks like a good read.