Reviews for Celtic Fairy Tales

The average rating for Celtic Fairy Tales based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-09-27 00:00:00 Peter Branti Flickering Shadows by Kwadwo Agymah Kamau This novel takes us to the Caribbean island of Barbados. We learn about the lives of the locals who live just outside a city, probably the capital, Bridgetown. The island is small, about twice the size of Martha's Vineyard, and it has about a quarter million people. Despite their proximity to the city, these folks are still living a rural life, raising and selling vegetables, small animals, and fish they catch in small boats. An American missionary and his wife (who thinks the country is a 'shithole') come into the neighborhood to "help." Instead, like Ugly Americans "from Away," as the locals say, they look down on the locals, compete with the established Brethren church, and join in the corruption by finding a bauxite deposit and trying to screw people out of their land. Their giveaways of food and used clothing divide the neighborhood into those who will or won't accept their charity. "Look at this,eh? Look at this. Two things they does turn we people foolish with: booklearning killing the young generation common sense; the Bible turning them stupid as ram goats." The author uses an interesting literary technique to tell his story. People from the past are reincarnated as spirits who can appear to some of the locals and impart their thoughts to live people - giving them good and bad advice. Most of the story is told through the viewpoint of these omniscient spirits. Some people, especially some young children, see the spirits; some people talk with them. Some, such as a young girl and boy who drowned years ago, frequently appear. To an extent it's a fictionalized political history of the island. We watch a local boy become prime minister, go corrupt, and ignore his roots in the neighborhood. They still don't have a paved road, running water or electricity. Some of the local men get involved in with a group in the city plotting a communist/socialist revolution. The police arrest and torture them. Eventually an invasion of outside forces takes place to regain control. This incident is probably based on the US invasion of the neighboring island of Grenada in 1983 (code named Operation Urgent Fury - seriously). We watch the local politicians get corrupted by the money from the bauxite and a scheme to take over the land and build a resort. As if they didn't have enough problems, the locals are subject to terrible hurricanes, one of which devastates the island early in the story. Their shacks built of corrugated metal and plywood collapse like houses of cards. "Down the main road, houses scatter about like dominoes on a table that God fly in a rage and upset because he was losing." All of the story is told in the English-Creole patois that all the locals speak. It's easy to understand. Some examples: "When she and Boysie start getting serious and start thinking bout living together, Pa give her a piece of land. "I en want my girl-child depending pon nobody," he say. 'Besides, I en able to work all that land anyhow - I en no more young yam.' " And: "Doreen and her father in the old house up on the hill. Mr. Holder en saying much. Doreen in the front room sitting in the rocking chair. Mr. Holder moving around the kitchen. Even after he bring in the enamel cup of steaming cocoa, he moving a chair a couple inches, dusting off the mahogany center table, glancing at Doreen and asking, 'You all right?' but he en waiting for her to answer; he going to the window and looking down the gap. Is like he can't stand in one place." A young woman quickly learns the lessons of racism in her first job as a store clerk. She has explicit instructions to ask anyone who is paying by check for ID. When a white man pays by check and she asks for ID she is fired immediately. (For those who follow my reviews, I was reading two Caribbean books at the same time and I erroneously cited this incident in Crossing the Mangrove!) As I wrote in my review of Crossing the Mangrove, this book reminds me a lot of other small island Caribbean novels I've read. I could characterize their differences by their humor, or lack of it, and general attitude of the characters toward life. All have themes of poverty, multi-ethnicities and the lasting legacy of slavery. Miguel Street by V. S. Naipaul (set in Trinidad) and Solibo Magnificent by Patrick Chamoiseau (Martinique) have humor, a live-and-let-live attitude, and an appreciation of life despite the hardships, especially in Chamoiseau's novel where many characters are homeless people who hang out in the park. Crossing the Mangrove by Maryse Conde (Guadeloupe), lacks humor and the characters turn on and undercut each other as in The Dispossessed by Clement Maharaj (Trinidad), of which I wrote "there is no joy in Mudville." This book, Flickering Shadows has humor but it's mainly jokes at the expense of others. I liked the book, both the story and the writing. It's unfortunate that the author (b. 1948) appears to have stopped writing after just two books in the 1990's. His second and last book, Pictures of a Dying Man, isn't even listed on GR. If we assume the author is writing from his childhood experiences, I guess we could say the story is set in the 1960's through the 1980's. Top photo from barbadospocketguide.com Bridgetown street scene by David Stanley on flick.com The author from .albany.edu/writers-inst

Review # 2 was written on 2020-06-22 00:00:00 Anthony Lee Review to come Where you can find me: •(♥).•*Monlatable Book Reviews*•.(♥)• Twitter: @monicaisreading Instagram: @readermonica Goodreads Group: The Black Bookcase