tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24735734781044674832024-03-12T18:51:13.512-07:00Jack Mandora'sA Book Lover's NookJ.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-4458593672337972122010-01-15T06:59:00.000-08:002010-01-15T07:10:43.287-08:00HaitiI am just sad for Haiti and Tuesday's earthquake. At the same time, the international response is just life affirming. There is plenty of good in the world.J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-2022795923831420312009-12-23T05:33:00.000-08:002009-12-23T08:16:19.979-08:00Any Known Blood<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1JiFsytZYuw/SzI7NtZFIJI/AAAAAAAAAOU/CvyOsFACTXY/s1600-h/any+known+blood.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 91px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 137px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418458408389255314" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1JiFsytZYuw/SzI7NtZFIJI/AAAAAAAAAOU/CvyOsFACTXY/s200/any+known+blood.jpg" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">This 1997 novel by Lawrence Hill absorbed my full attention until I had read the 5o5 pages. After that I read the two page acknowledments that Hill makes at the back - usually these are a few words to the front of the novel, then I turned to the front again, reread the blurb, read the endorsments made by critics, and looked to see if there was anything else to read. I read every word, including that the cover art is a detail from<em> The Kiss</em>, 1887 (oil canvas), by Theodore Jacques Ralli, courtesy of Getty Images. I found the novel quite a pleasure to read, you can tell.</span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">The story centers around Langston Cane the Fifth who was born of a black father and a white mother, who is a little bit lost and who seeks to find his way by exploring the lives of the four Canes before him. What he finds isn't all glorious, but all sheds light on who he is and helps him to make peace with his father as well as himself, helps him find direction for his life, and in the process brings an estranged brother and sister together. That might sound pretty ordinary, but don't worry, the stories that achieve this are not. Hill takes you to the trenches of France in the second World War, you go to the underground railroad, to an encounter with the Klan, to a village in Mali. It's not all harrowing mind you; there are a few erotic scenes, plenty of humour, and lots of lively, interesting dialogue.</span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">I like something that Mill says to Langston; "[forty] is young enough if you know where you're going". I am pushing forty myself and often feel pressed for time, but I do find that when I have a clear map and a time line in front of me, I feel a lot younger. Lots of other stuff resonated with me, like Langston calls himself a wretched athiest. I'm not an athiest, but I was wretched when I went along with christianityand I am just as wretched now that I have rejected most of it, and have no likelihood of ever becoming a Moslem, Hindu or Sikh.</span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">Apparently, <em>Any Known Blood</em> takes its title from a phrase that would be known to most Americans and Canadians, but not to a West Indian of average education such as myself. But I am familiar with the idea that the slightest trace of black blood, no matter how far back it goes, makes any blonde-haired, blue-eyed person black. Aside from being entertaining, this novel is also obviously educational. For instance, it enabled me to attach greater significance to the name John Brown, which hitherto, had meant the same as John Doe to me. Actually, John Brown is to the United States what Cudjoe and Tacky are to Jamaica in the sense that the violent uprisings they led did not deal a final blow, but they helped paved the way to the abolition of slavery.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">I have to mention something about the structure of the novel. It is layered so that the five Canes all get their stories told, this causes the novel to span 150 years. The story is not told chronologically; it shifts backward to one of the Langston Canes, then forward to the last who is the narrator, then backward again. Cane the Fifth tells the story Nathan Zuckerman style; he is a fictitious character writing the story of some other fictitious characters. The story is also told with the aid of letters and various documents like Y0-yo's opinion pieces and the record of a court proceeding. All of this shifting about, far from being confusing, helps to connect me to the fifth Langston, becuase he is in effect looking toward himself from several different perspectives. </span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">Another fantastic read. </span></div>J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-14216937493900242322009-12-11T01:12:00.000-08:002009-12-11T01:12:00.444-08:00Ole YaApprenticeships aren't very common in Jamaica any more, or maybe they are under a different name or in a different form. But it used to be routine that a young person could go "learn a trade"- and this meant working as an apprentice to a tailor or mechanic or so. Case in point, Marcus Garvey left his home in St. Ann and went to work as an apprentice for a printer in Kingston. Nowadays you learn a trade in high school or at a post secondary vocational institution, most often something under the umbrella of HEART Trust/NTA.<br /><br />Well, back in the day, some unscruplous persons would take an apprentice under their wings, with the sole purpose of extracting as much cheap labour from them as possible. The way to drag out the training period was to teach the poor apprentices little or nothing, so what they would do was just have them do tasks that required no skill at all, like hand me this tool, or deliver that package, or hold this thing. Yes, "Hold this" is standard English for ole ya.<br /><br />Over time, "ole ya" became rich with meaning. For instance a person who spent ages as an apprentice but never actually acquired mastery of the trade got called Ole Ya. If someone underestimated your ability by constantly assigning you tasks that did not require much intelligence, you might begin to think they were taking you for Ole Ya.<br /><br />I'm laughing but it's not funny. Lots of talented people never really scale any great heights, and end up as Ole Ya for years and years and years, sometimes a whole lifetime. The reasons must be complex and depend on all sorts of situations, but still take a shot at it and tell me why.J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-58849645759620702212009-12-09T06:32:00.000-08:002009-12-09T06:32:00.506-08:00Exit GhostI have to tell you I am a little lost where the subject matter is concerned in this novel,but I read the whole thing through because I so like his style of writing, and there is so much to be learnt about the craft by reading someone so accomplished as Philip Roth.<br /><br />The novel is somewhat about facing death, it's about stuff we fear and stuff we desire, but it is largely concerned about writing about these things. It's about the purpose of writing, why people, no, why great writers write (and why the not so great shouldn't write), what value their writng has for mankind. There is also a huge concern that the rest of us, the ones who read,often don't get it, and those who don't read at all are just as much to be pitied, in Jamaica we hiss our teeth at such condescension and say "what a piece o fassness". The large issues are out there to see, as plainly as I just outlined them, but the nuances are a little finer and a little harder to put one's fingers on. For instance, do writers write about themselves? To what extent? For example, did Nathaniel Hawthorne write about his own guilt? Well, I might as well ask, does Philip Roth write about his own erotic thoughts in his old age? Perhaps I ask because I don't get it?<br /><br />So on to what I really enjoyed about this novel. In the first place the narrator is Nathan Zuckerman. I met and fell in love with Zuckerman from "The Human Stain" and now I am sworn to reading all in the Zuckerman books, in whichever order I get them. Zuckerman is an old recluse whose cancer is in remission (or has been removed or whatever) and who is at the mercy of incontinence and impotence. From his New England hideaway he authors several best sellers and maintains his very private existence inspite of being world renowned. I find the construct very appealing- Roth is writing the novel, but he does it in such a way that Zuckerman comes alive and seems to be the real writer. I also like Zuckerman's unrelenting frankness about his own physical, psychological and emotional condition. To me Zuckerman is more real than Roth.<br /><br />"Exit Ghost" is apparently the last of the Zuckerman books, as is suggested by the title; "Ghost" being Zuckerman the ghost writer, and Zuckerman's mental faculties being as deteriorated as it is in this novel. He can't remember what restuarant he told Amy to meet him at. He can't remember what he did or did not say to Kliman. He gets bouts of confusion. Also, since "The Ghost Writer is the first of the Zuckerman books, it stands to reason that "Exit Ghost" most be the last.<br /><br />But did you notice my triplet? Zuckerman, I mean Roth, brought the technique to my attention. I've seen it many times before and have probably used the technique myself, but not consciously. He mentions Joseph Conrad's copious use of triplets and he uses them generously himself. Look at this:<br /><br /><blockquote>Who among your contemporaries will be the last to die? Who among your contemporaries is least likely to die? Who among your contemporaries will not only elude death, but will write with wit, precision, and modesty of his amused bafflement at successfully pulling off eternal life?</blockquote><br /><br />Wit, precision and modesty- look, a triplet of nouns within a triplet of questions.<br /><br />Something else he does in this novel held me reading to the end. See the title <em>Exit Ghost</em>? Well within the novel Zuckerman writes a play in which he enacts his fantasy about the alluring Jamie. Zuckerman makes his exit from the play within the novel, from the novel itself, from novel writing, and probably from life. Sophistication itself.<br /><br />On the flap of the cover it says that Roth won the Pullitzer Prize in 1997 for <em>American Pastoral</em> (not one of the Zuckerman books) and that just about every other year after that he's one prestigious award or other. I admire his craft and had a good laugh once in the novel- like I did while I read <em><a href="http://jackmandora.blogspot.com/2008/07/human-stain.html">Human Stain</a></em>, but I will read only his novels between some comics, children's books and mysteries.J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-82771551177135958032009-11-30T19:30:00.000-08:002009-11-30T19:30:00.661-08:00Pride and Prejudice<span style="font-size:130%;">They made me read <em>Great Expectations </em>and <em>Silas Marner</em>. I tried on my own to read <em>Anna Karenina</em> (and failed after 50 or so pages). I read <em>The Great Gatsby</em> one day when I had run out of what to read (turned out to be loads of fun though). But there was no drudgery at all to reading <em>Pride and Prejudice</em>. In my book, this is by far the easiest classic to read. And the funniest! You are bound to love Jane Austen's wit in <em>Pride and Prejudice</em>. Mr. Bennett's sardonicism is chuckle-inducing, Mrs. Bennett's dunceness could only be captured by a playful mind, and Lizzy's sassiness is not only entertaining, its inspiring, even now when women are all liberated and what not. Aside from the cleverness of it, the novel also has value as a sort of history, and a commentary on family life at the time (and not everything has changed since then!).<br /><br /><br /><br />I read the novel after seeing the movie starring Kara Knightly and Matthew McFadyen. Judi Dench adds her usual vigor, as Lady Catherine de Bourgh.<br /></span><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ARWfCBr0ZDM&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ARWfCBr0ZDM&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">I enjoyed the movie so much I had to read the novel; because I know how unfaithful Hollywood can be, I had to go read for myself. They didn't do badly this time. Except, I'm befuddled as to how they came to depict Mr. Collins as being ridiculously short, when Jane Austen clearly said he was tall and heavy. In the novel, the fantastic passion between Darcy and Lizzy is expressed only through the spoken word, which makes it even sexier, if you ask me. But you know Hollywood, sexual tension is expressed through, well... sex, so they exaggerated just a little, but the thing is, if decorum had allowed it back then, Austen might have served up a raunchy scene, so Hollywood taking a little liberty here or there, is not being unfaithful to the essence of the novel. </span><br /><p><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">The long and short of this post is; <em>Pride and Prejudice</em> makes a fantastic read.</span></p>J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-18330699725666127602009-11-15T19:24:00.000-08:002009-11-15T19:24:00.491-08:00Three Songs for Courage<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1JiFsytZYuw/StFU3IcQy4I/AAAAAAAAAOM/0jt5IVt04Iw/s1600-h/courage.bmp"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 139px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391183535074757506" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1JiFsytZYuw/StFU3IcQy4I/AAAAAAAAAOM/0jt5IVt04Iw/s200/courage.bmp" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">Well I have to tell you, I chuckled a whole lot while reading this. Maxine Trottier has a penchant for creating humour with the use of exaggeration and original metaphors. The narrative flows quite easily and is a pleasure to read. There's plenty of <em>oogy</em> stuff inside there so if you are even slightly anal rententive, don't read. Yup, this is the oftenest I've seen the words 'fart' and 'snot' in print. But for me, all the grosseroo is an authentic part of of the story and doesn't subtract from the value of the novel. </span></div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">On the matter of authentic, I think Trottier does a convincing job of rendering a male protagonist. Intriguing stuff. It didn't seem false at all. But I had to wonder how did she do her research? What did she do to get inside of the male experience?<br /></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">Never mind that, I am wholly satisfied with the outcome of the novel, infact, it's one of the more worthwhile novels I've read in a while, and I'm not just saying that because I wept helplessly all of two times. I'm satisfied because Trottier showed that redemption comes in ways that we don't expect.</span></div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">The major issue that underpins the whole novel is what happens to a person who kills another human being. If you kill someone, how do you live with that? It doesn't matter if you kill someone in war, you know, in service to your country, or if you kill someone because you are just plain evil, or if you kill someone to avenge an evil killing. In any case, how do you live with taking a human life?</span></div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">In the novel, we get a sense of the answer from four characters. Two veterans of war lead years and years of dysfunctional existence. A young man commits murder and at first seeks to drown his senses with booze, but recovers soon enough to desire to kill again. Then there is our protagonist- Gordon, a good person, a good kid (and you will love the backdrop of the fifties, the rock and roll, the pampadoor, the fast cars) who is almost consumed by his desire for revenge. Any which way you take it, you leave the novel feeling that once you kill someone, you are defiled in a way that you never recover from, this is the gem that emerges from the well designed <em>Three Songs of Courage</em>.</span></div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">I say it is well designed because of who Injun Joely turns out to be, a surprise, but quite plausible. Quite a number of details just woved themselves well throughout. Two thumbs up for an excellent plot also because Lancer had to die, we knew that, but how, without Gordon defiling himself? Right, so we get to the redemption bit. </span></div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">Injun Joely is redeemed by his self-sacrificial act, it's as if he finds a release from these years of feeling guilty about the senseless killing of war. This release, ironically comes in the form of a justified killing, but living with the fact is by no means easy. Injun Joely also saves Gordon from himself. So Gordon's dad's prayer is answered, for now. His boy will grow into a fine man, cheating Chance, who would just as soon have one little incident at Kitchie's ruin a promising future.</span></div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">Good for all you have read this novel already, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. If you haven't read it yet, there's still plenty I haven't told you, it's definitely worth the read. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">By the way, doesn't the guy on the cover look somewhat like Matt Damon?<br /></span></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div>J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-8743559393407270132009-10-10T22:23:00.000-07:002009-10-10T22:23:00.049-07:00Where are You Now?<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1JiFsytZYuw/StFBDHf82zI/AAAAAAAAAOE/tAZi4vS_vvk/s1600-h/where.bmp"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 132px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391161750747667250" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1JiFsytZYuw/StFBDHf82zI/AAAAAAAAAOE/tAZi4vS_vvk/s200/where.bmp" /></a><br /><div>This one started off something of a drag but soon captured my attention. It's about a promising young man who disappears and soon after begins to make annual calls to his mother on mother's day. That story line by itself is intriguing. For a while I felt like Mary Higgins Clarke was taking things too wide and wasn't going to be able to tie things up, but she managed quite well. I didn't suspect the vilian till almost when she was about to reveal him, or even how the story would turn out until close to the end, but that's just me - someone from a big city like New York and with some knowledge of how the wealthy live, would have picked it up sooner.</div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>The major questions this novel poses are how well can we know even our own? And, what do you do if you even suspect that someone in your family is a sociopath? </div>J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-28088997774922932022009-09-28T23:51:00.000-07:002009-09-28T18:58:04.866-07:00Yertle the Turtle and other stories<span style="font-size:130%;">You're right, it is a title from Dr. Suess.<br /><br />Yertle was king of all he could see but that was not enough, for he could only see the pond in which he lived. So he ordered nine turtles to stack themselves up so he could climb higher and see more.<br /><br />But soon he found that that was still not enough so he ignored Mack's pleas (Mack is the turtle at the bottom of the stack) and ordered more and more until he had about five thousand, six hundred and seven (that rhymes with heaven, you see). But just as Yertle was beginning to enjoy the view, Mack burped and his burp toppled Yertle's throne!<br /><br /><br /><br /></span><blockquote><span style="font-size:130%;">And today, the great Yertle, that Marvelous he,<br /><br />Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see.<br /><br />And the turtles, of course... all the turtles are free<br /><br />As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.<br /><br /></span></blockquote><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">A fantastic allegory, which is just the thing to follow </span><a href="http://jackmandora.blogspot.com/2009/07/michael-crichtons-sphere.html"><span style="font-size:130%;">Sphere</span></a><span style="font-size:130%;">, which had a lot also to do with power. The "other Stories" in the collection are just as wonderful. One titled Gertrude McFuzz who wanted two feathers like Lolla-Lee Lou, and the other titled "The Big Brag", about a rabbit who felt he was better than everyone else. Lots of fun to read, Angel Girl and the Little Gentleman enjoyed them thoroughly.</span>J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-62682267612938097742009-07-27T06:00:00.000-07:002009-07-27T06:56:40.367-07:00Michael Crichton's Sphere<span style="font-size:130%;">Sphere, the 1987 thriller, by <em>ER</em> writer Michael Crichton, certainly lived up to Newsweek's rave that it's a page turner.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Yep, I turned page after page and gobbled the book off in a Jiffy. But when I was done I had indigestion. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The nail biting suspense, the action, the juicy science fiction - like a Stephen Hawking lecture come alive -had me telling Angel Girl and the Little Gentleman "No I can't look now" until all 371 pages had been downed.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">But afterwards I hissed my teeth- like I often do after I've stayed up late watching some crappy movie and must deal with the consequence the following day when I'm sluggish getting out of bed - and said "I could beat myself". Chruups.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">I'm sorry, any novel about time travel is going to end up with all sorts of issues that can never be resolved. You can never sort them out and say yeah well that makes sense, not even in the context of the world created by the writer. And if mankind ever achieves time travel, we can't credit Crichton the way we did Verne - for Crichton has the benefit of all sorts of physicists and what not saying it is possible we just haven't figured out how to do it yet. Whereas Verne concocted a spacecraft and submarine out of his own imagination; truly avant-garde.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Then a couple of things that seemed to have significance just petered out to nothing, leaving me saying "huh?". For instance there is something that keeps gradually changing appearance, and I thought, surely this must have some bearing on the outcome of the novel, Crichton will tell me in a little while why this thing is changing and show me some connection with the action taking place. Wrong, that never happened.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Then the pschological conflict gets resolved in a way that New York Times says is "exactly the way [it] should be". Sure, it's the way it should be, but it's certainly not the way it <em>would </em>be; come on, which human being is going to come in possession of dizzying amounts of power and voluntarily give it up for the good of humanity? And here not one, not two, but three characters say, 'Gee, it's not good that I should have such an inordinate amount of power, let me destroy it'.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">So after reading this novel, I wonder if Sphere isn't riding on the popularity of <em>Jurassic Park</em>, <em>The Andromeda Strain</em> and <em>The Great Train Robbery</em>.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span>J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-15525662270332745142009-07-24T06:30:00.000-07:002009-07-24T06:30:00.468-07:00Tek Kin Teet Kibba Heart Bun<span style="font-size:130%;"><em>Kin teet</em> is Jamaican for laughter.<br /><br /><br /><em>Kibba </em>means cover.<br /><br /><em>Bun</em> stands for burn.<br /><br /><br /><br />When translated you get someting like 'use laughter to cover pain'.<br /><br /><br /><br />This is by no means saying be a stoic. Not at all. We Jamaicans are open and unabashed where grief and distress are concerned. We are not ashamed to let it all out. Even on national TV. Especially on national TV.<br /><br />'Tek kin teet kibba heart bun', is not a saying that intends for you to live in denial and not come head on with whatever it is that is emotionally distressing.<br /><br />Instead, its just a way of saying comedy and laughter are good for soothing sorrows.<br /><br />So look for comedy, create merriment, laugh nuff.</span>J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-2322665276496199882009-07-20T06:59:00.000-07:002009-07-20T09:58:09.682-07:00Miguel Street<div><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:#cc9933;"><em>"Like the great masters of the past, V.S. Naipaul tells stories which show us ourselves and the reality we live in. His use of language is as precise as it is beautiful. Simple, strong words, with which to express the humanity of all of us."</em> David Pryce-Jones</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;color:#cc9933;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><span style="font-size:130%;">Recently I was telling a colleague of mine that I still remember stories from <em><a href="http://books.google.com.jm/books?id=ONK4snfUZuUC&pg=PA220&lpg=PA220&dq=response+by+cecil+gray&source=bl&ots=uVkzDqBdx9&sig=O-noYF3PiGuZ_1--yd4229uxSJI&hl=en&ei=I3pkSs3GLuSStgfv-73_Dw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1">Response</a>, </em>a collection of short stories written by such West Indian greats as Merle Hodge and Michael Anthony. That's how she came to tell me that she still remembers stories from <em>Miguel Street,</em> Naipaul's third work of fiction<em>.</em> These are books we read in grade nine, need I tell you, a long time ago. I had read stories from Miguel Street but never the whole collection, and now my curiousity was piqued. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Now reading from the perspective of an old goat who has seen and done quite a bit is somewhat different from reading as a fourteen year old on the cusp of adulthood, so <em>Miguel Street</em> won't be etched in my mind the way <em>Response</em> is.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">But it is a memorable read nonetheless. It is a collection of short stories but it resembles a novel, being unified by the same narrator, same characters and the same location. So each chapter is really a biography of one or another of the flawed, stroke, ordinary people who live on Miguel Street. I say biography because although the stories are no more than ten or so pages long, and center around everyday events in the characters' lives, one still walks away with the sense of being told what drives that person's life. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">I absolutely enjoyed reading the Trini dialect, and fancied that my attempt at producing the accent was authentic. The second World War as backdrop provides interesting insights into how the world scene can affect us, the little dots on the map. There is plenty from the landscape of West Indian life in general and Trinidadian life in particular, with treats from cricket, popular calypsoes at the time and much more. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:#cc9933;"><em>"[Naipaul] just annoys me so much... I think probably the only people who'll say good things about him are Western people, right- wing people."</em> Jamaica Kincaid</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;color:#cc9933;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">It seemed to me that most of the men in Miguel Street are dysfuntional; they beat their wives- or are beaten by their wives, or they live in some concocted version of reality, or have some sad notion of masculinity, or are puny in some way or other. Two women get a story all to themselves. One has eight children each for different men, that's the only way she could remain in control of her life, yet she regrets the path of her life for she drives her teenage daughtor who becomes pregnant to suicide (so it looks to me). The other woman runs off with a pitiful loser who beats her to a pulp before she eventually goes back to lounging on her doctor husband's lawn in her short shorts. </span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">A condescending treatment of his own? Or the truth about people in general?</span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div><div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">I found <em>Miguel Street</em> a whole lot easier to read than <em>A House for Mr. Biswas</em>. I never read <em>Mimic Men</em> but it is highly recommended by my father, so it's on my list of to read. </span><a href="http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2001/naipaul-bio.html"><span style="font-size:130%;">V.S Naipaul</span></a><span style="font-size:130%;">, the author of <em>Miguel Street</em> and fourteen other works of fiction as well as several works of nonfiction is the 2001 Nobel laureate for literature. </span></div></div></div>J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-71166955581134273802009-07-03T06:31:00.000-07:002009-07-03T08:26:33.325-07:00Duppy know who fi frighten!<strong>A duppy is a ghost. Sometimes we use the word to mean a stupid person, or an ugly person, but mostly we mean ghost. Duppies feature prominently in our folklore, the most famous of them being Annie Palmer the white witch of </strong><a href="http://jamaicanfamilysearch.com/images/photos26.htm"><strong>Rose Hall</strong></a><strong>.<br /><br /><br /><br />Then there is a whole legion of them that arose from the wreckage of the train crash at </strong><a href="http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/history/story009.html"><strong>Kendal </strong></a><strong>in 1957. My mother tells this story of one of her cousins- and part of the story is this study in genealogy, for she digresses by habit, and she loves to trace our family tree. But anyway the cousin in question was a taxi driver in Kingston in the 1950s and he told her that one day he picked up a lady and carried her to a certain upscale address. Upon arrival the lady asked him to wait while she went inside to get the fare. He waited ten minutes and Miss Lady did not return so he honked, at which time someone came out to talk to him. Well you can imagine the rest... no body had entered the house, and the description mom's cousin gave of the woman suited someone from that house who had died in Kendal crash.<br /><br /><br /><br />My mother has lots of duppy stories up her sleeve, even now I enjoy listening to them. My favourite ones are of the pranks she played on her scaredy cat older sister when they were children. Like the time she and Aunt Pearlie were coming from Hillsborough late one moonlight night, and mom stopped under a cotton tree (a favourite hangout spot for duppies) and started screaming in terror. Aunt Pearlie grabbed on to her and nearly went mad with fright, screaming louder and more frantically than her wicked sister. Mom had to stop the nonesense when she realized that Aunt Pearlie might squeeze the life out of her.<br /><br /><br /><br />Just so you know, man duppy and woman duppy do not laugh the same way. Man duppy laugh 'ha-ha', and woman duppy laugh 'cre keh keng keng'. So says Ernie Smith (I believe). I wanted to find you that song, but only found this one:<br /><br /></strong><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/duaG3pmaLDU&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/duaG3pmaLDU&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><strong>If you see a menacing duppy, the way to scare the daylights out of him is to hurl a slew of expletives at him, and I don't mean the mild ones like 'dyam' or 'rahtid'. You have to give him the hard core ones like 'bumbo-rass claat' and he will flee in terror. There are easier, less profane ways of scaring a duppy; like wearing your clothes on the wrong side, or wearing red underwear.<br /><br /><br /><br />So you see, duppies aren't all powerful, they have to choose the weak and the helpless, otherwise they might find themselves spooked out of their wits. That's why in Jamaica we say "Duppy know who fi frighten".<br /><br /><br /><br />But when we use that saying we really aren't talking about ghosts. We are talkning about bullies or anyone who would exploit others if given the chance, such as in the case of a supervisor intimidating an employee who doesn't know his rights, an onlooker might say "duppy really know who if frighten, eenh?"<br /><br /><br /><br /></strong>J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-71534758346554216402009-06-18T18:43:00.000-07:002009-06-18T20:18:37.698-07:00Pitcherie Inna Hawk Back<span style="font-size:130%;">That's the best I could do with the spelling of pitcherie. I'm told that it's called the kingfisher in other places. It's a small bird that looks almost exactly like the mocking bird (which I'm told is the same as the nightingale) except it has a longer beak and a devilish look (I swear) about the eye, and some spiky feathers on the back of his head that makes him look like a gangster. We have plenty of both up here, much to my neighbour's displeasure. My neighbour is not a bird hater, but he's a bee-keeper. And bee-keepers and pitcheries are natural enemies because pitcheries eat the bees you see. Nightingales on the other hand only sing their hearts out for you. It's a true thing I'm telling you, Harper Lee didn't make it up. They echo the melody of other birds with their own little embellishments; it's the sweetest sound to wake up to. We mostly hear them in the spring time here. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">But I'm telling you about the pitcherie. That is a tallawah bird, boy. I've seen them attack hawks. There will be this huge commotion in the azure world and when you come out to see what's going on, lo and behold this pitcherie will be wreaking havoc on a hawk, a bird two or three times its own size. A bird that country people hide their chickens from, for hawks enjoy a good chicken meal as you might well know. It is such an awe-inspiring thing to see the pitcherie out manuevering the hawk and sinking his formidable beak into the back of shrieking, tormented bird that someone made a proverb out of it.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Whenever a smaller, seemingly weaker person dominates another, or whenever someone pesters another person to distraction, in Jamaica we say to that person, "<em>you come in (you're like) a pitcherie inna hawk back</em>".</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Tallawah: "sturdy, strong, not to be underestimated; tough, stubborn." Dictionary of Jamaican English; second edition edited by F. G. Cassidy and R. B. LePage; Cambridge University Press 1967, 1980; page 436.</span>J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-73365000364325672482009-06-05T19:28:00.000-07:002009-06-05T20:20:51.531-07:00When Plantain Want Dead him ShootI'll have to hazard a guess as to what this well known Jamaican proverb means. Shoot means to put out fruit. Plantain is a cousin to bananas, it can be fried, boiled, roasted or used as a filling in pastry - not usually a pie, more likely plantain tart. It is sweet when ripe and has a mellow flavour. When green it is starchy and bland and the flavour is usually enhanced with salt, pepper, onion or garlic.<br /><br />After a plantain plant bears and you harvest the fruit, you generally cut the plant down because it will eventually die anyway. If you are too lazy to cut the plant down, you are merely encumbering the ground and having this useless plant compete with productive ones for space and nutrients.<br /><br />Now, to map an interpretation of the proverb directly to this, I'd have to say that when you feel you've lived long enough, just put on your best show. But strangely that's not how I've heard this saying used. Here is a context in which it might be used - young Susan is blossoming, vivacious and confident, maybe laughs too much in her granny's mind. Granny is worried that some man is is going to come along and pick her cherry (and as far as Granny can see) blight her whole future. So Granny seeing this, hrumphs and issues the cryptic warning; <em>when plantain want dead him shoot</em>.<br /><br />Or here is another scenario Marlon is extra energetic today and he is up to all sorts of mischief and making a complete nuisance of himself. Pappa is quickly losing patience and will reach for a strap in a moment, but before he does so he prepares Marlon; <em>when plantain want dead him shoot</em>. If Marlon gets the message he will stop the tomfoolery.<br /><br /> Do they say anything like this in your neck of the woods?J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-67165138948737473652009-06-01T19:53:00.000-07:002009-06-01T20:55:58.269-07:00The Painted Canoe; Funny and Serious Side by Side<span style="font-size:130%;">Ok so I'm having my second read of Anthony Winkler's "<em>The Painted Canoe</em>". I saw "<em>Going Home to Teach</em>" and "<em>The Great Yacht Race</em>" neither of which I've read as yet, but I chose "<em>The Painted Canoe</em>". I used the other library card to get "<em>Hop on Pop</em>" from Dr. Suess for the Little Gentleman. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>"The Painted Canoe"</em> begins with a point blank description of the unspeakably ugly Zechariah Pelsie. You would think that the description would totally descredit Pelsie and make the reader have no faith at all in him, but it is not so at all. I respect Pelsie and treat him almost as if he's real. For instance, I was telling myself this morning that Pelsie is right; people bother God too much about things they can and should do for themsleves.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Yes, Pelsie is an illiterate, but he is wiser than plenty. In fact, one of the critics who has given kudos to this novel comments that it is an 'exploration of the triumph of folkwisdom over cold scientific criticism'.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">I wanted to read something by Winkler because I recently read a review of his reading at Calabash, and I felt like kicking myself for missing only the premiere Literary event in the Caribbean - again. But what can I tell you, there is no way I'm going to tek show off and spend my little much and go down to Senty, and then in the two weeks before payday I'm using my credit card to survive, and be owing Mas Ken my fare. Nope. Next year maybe. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">So in this review in the Gleaner, I got a reminder of how intelligent Winkler is. I also found out he is a white dude, not so young anymore, who was often beaten by a black teacher for being of the privileged class in Jamaica. Incidentally, I'd written my last post about Jackass saying </span><a href="http://jackmandora.blogspot.com/2009/05/jackass-seh-de-worl-no-level.html"><span style="font-size:130%;">the worl nuh level</span></a><span style="font-size:130%;">, before I read that newspaper review. Winkler grew up on the privileged side of things, but his behind had the disadvantage of having to face the whip of Mr. Inferiority Complex every week.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">I chose to reread "The Painted Canoe" rather than pick something new because I wanted to relive Pelsie stranded out at sea, and Pelsie facing a terminal disease. I needed an antidote to this </span><a href="http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/why-do-you-exist"><span style="font-size:130%;">thread</span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"> that I had wasted my time reading, and to regain my confidence that some people have an indomitable will to survive, some people construct their own purpose, and all of us, specks that we are, make a footstep in time because we existed. So, as ugly and fool-fool as Pelsie is, he has something inside that drives him to survive even the most daunting odds.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Now Winkler is the master of hilarious, if you don't believe me, see for yourself, here are the first two or so pages from "<em><a href="http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:PHjAUiFEgYkJ:www.macmillan-caribbean.com/uploads/9781405068819.pdf+anthony+wrinkler&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=jm">The Lunatic</a></em>". </span>J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-16818874907761269102009-05-29T18:48:00.000-07:002009-05-29T20:02:30.759-07:00Jackass seh de worl no levelJackass is not widely known for his mental acumen, in fact somewhere along the line his name became synonymous with 'idiot' as in the famous quotes below.<br /><br /><br />“Every woman should have four pets in her life. A mink in her closet, a jaguar in her garage, a tiger in her bed, and a jackass who pays for everything.” Paris Hylton<br /><br />"Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one” Sam Rayburn<br /><br />But as Mark Twain suggests, poor Jackass has been maligned; “Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn't any. But this wrongs the jackass.”<br /><br />Now take this astute observation by Jackass; "de worl no level". Jackass is simplifying the Orwellian remark that "all men are created, equal but some are more equal than others". As far as Jackass can see, disadvantage and privilege are both as much part of life as hill and gully are part of the natural terrain here in Jamaica.<br /><br />We use this expression when we come across unfairness, depending on the context we might also say "Puss and dog nuh have the same luck".J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-19170893319086409182009-05-25T14:38:00.000-07:002009-05-25T15:20:01.416-07:00Encyclopaedia Brown<div><span style="font-size:130%;">I can't imagine how I forgot to mention Leroy "Encyclopaedia" Brown in <a href="http://jackmandora.blogspot.com/2009/05/traitors-purse.html">this list</a> of series that I read as a child. So now he gets a post all to himself. Encyclopaedia is this boy genius who solves his detective father's cases right there at the dinner table. Well, actually he carries out a process of deductive reasoning and leaves you the reader to figure the rest out. After you have racked your brain somewhat you can go to the back of the book to see what answer Mr. Sobol, the series creator, has supplied.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">Encyclopaedia often comes into wranglings with Bugs Meany the school bully, but as you might expect, brain generally triumphs over brawn, and by the end of the story, Bugs walks away looking like the total dimwit he is and Encyclopaedia again has earned his name.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">As far as I recall, the series generally came in thin paper backs with bold print, maybe six or so stories to a copy and very nice pencil illustration on every two or so pages. I still am looking at some of those drawing right now in my mind's eye. Well now that I am an old (-er) and a meaner critic, the books seem formulaic, but I must admit they were very easy and very fun to read, and they taught virtues that are worth living by. If you have children, or if there is any of the child left in you, you might want to check this little fellow out.</span></div>J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-66204602308524761952009-05-22T14:29:00.000-07:002009-05-22T15:32:22.711-07:00When time hard mango bear nuff<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mango_tree_(227084493).jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338765781861283714" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1JiFsytZYuw/ShcbMU7aN4I/AAAAAAAAANI/ng7kevPqpvo/s400/800px-Mango_tree_(227084493).jpg" />Photosource</a><br /><br />Julie, East Indian, Bombay, number 11, sweetie com brush me, Milly, Tommy Atkins, reddie, robin, blackie (known in some parts of the island as greenidge or fine skin), and of course the goodly stringy (a.k.a common mango or hairy) weigh down mango trees all over Jamaica right now. This year all our industries except agriculture have seen a decline, the government has imposed new tax measures, and Jamaica is all around feeling the effects of the global economic downturn and we so happen to be having a bumber crop of mangoes this year. Or is there something to the implied folk belief in Providence? When time hard mango bear nuff, so dem sey in Jamaica.J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-34243935166510823372009-05-19T19:06:00.000-07:002009-05-19T21:41:56.391-07:00Traitor's Purse<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1JiFsytZYuw/ShOH_SKXnLI/AAAAAAAAANA/oM6j_dH-lX8/s1600-h/450px-Sherlock_holmes_pipe_hat.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337759504641006770" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1JiFsytZYuw/ShOH_SKXnLI/AAAAAAAAANA/oM6j_dH-lX8/s320/450px-Sherlock_holmes_pipe_hat.jpg" /></a> <span style="font-size:130%;">The fact that I read probably all in the Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys series, then went on to read several of the adventures of Hercule Poirot plus all those of Sherlock Holmes, should tell you that I have nothing against the genre. It's just not my favourite. But I've recently widened my repertoire, having discovered Albert Campen. Campen doesn't quite fit into the list above as he is a real detective; all the others are amatuers who are always able to solve the mystery where the clueless police cannot.</span> <div><div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">Albert Campen was created by Margert Allingham, a British novelist who is credited with bringing the detective fiction to maturity. The BBC produced adaptations of eight of her novels during the 1980s.</span></div><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sherlock_holmes_pipe_hat.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></a><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">This one novel of hers that I've read has piqued my interest. In <em>Traitior's Purse</em> Campen completely loses his memory and must at the same time prevent a... er, what you might call an act of terror; it's bigger in scale than a regular crime as it would affect the whole nation. Considering that the novel is set sometime between the two world wars, what do you think that might be?</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">If the storyline seems unlikely to you, you're probably right, but Allingham's witty, if archaic style, is engaging. For instance she has Amanda remark about Campen's 'magnificent reticence' which is funny because Campen is keeping his mouth shut so as not to appear stupid. The phrase stuck in my mind because I know someone with a magnificent reticence. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">The hint that Campen has grown-up in this novel makes me want to meet the the pre-<em>Purse </em>version of him. The amnesiac Campen wonders about himself, what kind of man is he, if his enemy could so confidently expect to bribe him? He is also less inclined to believe he's the hinge upon which all things rest.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">I also liked the reading about the interwar years from someone who lived through the time. It's believed that the arts puts a human dynamic to what all we get from the historians, archeologists and such.</span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">You will find some racist remarks in the novel. Like there is a man 'with the bright little eyes and thin rodent's face of his race', which should evoke an unbecoming "what the..." from anyone living on this side of time.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">You will also find a few sexist remarks in <em>Traitors Purse</em> -<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1JiFsytZYuw/ShOD8BzHCVI/AAAAAAAAAMw/1uA-I4l4yIg/s1600-h/purse.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 290px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337755050662365522" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1JiFsytZYuw/ShOD8BzHCVI/AAAAAAAAAMw/1uA-I4l4yIg/s320/purse.JPG" /></a> like Allingham says that Amanda handled a situation manfully- but you'll forgive her for she was still way ahead of her time. For one, our hero's sidekick is a woman. That's a big deal. And she is intelligent, tough and fearless. That's another big contrast to the shrinking violets that grace some of these older novels. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">There is no apparent relationship between the novel and the title. Well it might have eluded me.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">Barring these (and a very uninviting illustration in the penguin publication I read) <em>Traitor's Purse</em> makes an intriguing diversion.</span> </div><div> </div><div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sherlock_holmes_pipe_hat.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;">Photosource </span></a></div></div></div>J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-23132558094794697962009-05-14T17:51:00.000-07:002009-05-14T18:26:38.135-07:00Piss in the pot or get up<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1JiFsytZYuw/SgzDHH9BXDI/AAAAAAAAAMo/IhHXZ9J7j4E/s1600-h/chamber+pot.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 273px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335854185688685618" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1JiFsytZYuw/SgzDHH9BXDI/AAAAAAAAAMo/IhHXZ9J7j4E/s320/chamber+pot.jpg" /></a> <span style="font-size:130%;"><em>Pot</em> here refers to what you might know as pottie, chamber pot, chimmy, jordan, john, poe. I grew up with a plain white enamel chimmy with the pretty red flowers on the side. The older folks used a larger variety or sometimes a pail. These were essential amenities, especially at night, as the latrine was a good several feet to the back of the house. Modern life has pretty much done away with all that but in rural areas you will still find a plastic pot underneath many a bed.<br /><br /></span><div></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">The old time saying <em>piss in the pot or get up</em> is a lil old lady's way of saying you should make up your mind, be decisive, take action, do not vacillate.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Click </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pot_de_chambre_4.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;">here</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> for photo source. </span></div>J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-80625166949336538522009-05-10T10:32:00.000-07:002009-05-10T16:58:14.816-07:00The Great GatsbyOkay, I have to admit that before I read The Great Gatsby this weekend, I had always wondered what a Gatsby was. It sounded to me like a period of time, like the Great Depression, or the Great Awakening, or a major event of history (perhaps in a fictitious world, like the Coming of the Great Pumkin, as anticipated by Charlie Brown and the little red haired girl). So now, I've been duly enlightened. Gatsby is the name of a man.<br /><br />Once I discovered that Gatsby is not a momentous event, I now had to grapple with this very complicated word, 'great'. In my experience, great means of epic proportions. So Beauwolf is one kind of great. So is Superman for that matter. Joan of Arc and Napoleon Bonaparte are another kind of great. Abraham Lincoln and George Washington are another. And The Beatles and Bob Marley are another; Susan Bolye might have fallen into that category, but alas, Fate didn't have it that way.<br /><br />'Great' in the context of The Great Gatsby is not so clearcut. In fact, at first I thought F. Scott Fitzgerald is using the word satirically. For how can someone whose tools of trade are subterfuge and bribery be considered great? How can someone who takes out all his fine shirts to show his ex-girlfriend be considered anything but vain and hollow? But gradually I found that he is not laughing at Gatsby's crazed motivation to be rich, he is not mocking Gatsby's fantastic wealth which has failed to buy him a good life. Fitgerald is genuinely writing in praise of Gatsby's optimism, determination and, yes, goodness at heart. In the end, for all his flaws, Gatsby is really 'better than the whole bunch of them'.<br /><br />Fitzgerald is a proper comic, I smiled in my mind often and laughed out loud one time. I never cried, I was never revolted by any gory details, and there were no inordinately boring pages for me to skip. I hope you read this classic, if you haven't already. If you never do, at least you are perfectly clear on what a Gatsby is, and what it is not.J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-12939105744159870152009-02-05T07:32:00.000-08:002009-04-04T20:06:07.049-07:00Forty Seven Roses<em>Forty-Seven Roses</em><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=jacmans-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0333785525" width="1" border="0" /> is a memoir with which I could connect because of what it has in common with my unfinished novel. In Forty Seven Roses, Peter Sheridan, in a very personal way, explores his parents' romance, which was dogged for forty seven years by another woman. In my novel, a teenager goes in search of his father whom he's never met. Ricardo's quest leads him to understand his parents (and the circumstances of his birth) in a way that liberates him from feelings of insecurity and the sense of having been abandoned by the two most important people in the world. Coincidentally, I've also recently read another novel- <em>The Pursuit of Happiness</em> by, Douglas Kennedy in which the protangonist comes face to face with the nature of the relationship between her parents.<br /><br />Anyway, to the memoir at hand; the element of an adult snooping around (to me that's what Peter actually does) is interesting to me. He sometimes goes off (unbeknownst to his mother) to England to talk privately with Doris, to see what he could find out about what really went on with his now deceased father and this woman who travels across the sea to come lay forty seven roses on his father's grave. Why is it so important to Peter, a grown man with children of his own, to dredge up all this stuff that is in the past? Why not leave well enough alone, considering that his dad was with his mom all these years, not with Doris. And what difference does it make anyway?<br /><br /><br />Of course his father's life matters to him. He might have a half sister out there and that's got to be important. His mother's grief (and some guilt she's carrying around with it) is in some way related to forty seven years of competition with another woman. He shares his mom's grief, so it does help for him to understand it. And also tied up in all of this is his own grieving, and his ability to move on, to forgive where he must and forget where he should and be clear on the values he wants to shape his own life.<br /><br /><br />The novel is not at all centred around <a href="http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/sheridan_peter.html">Peter Sheridan</a>, as I have made it seem. It's just that it is Peter's story that caught my interest most. Strangely enough, the novel is not centred around his dad, nor his mom. The central focus of the novel as you can tell by the title, is the other woman, Doris. I know it's Doris' story because Sheridan allows her to tell large portions of the story herself. Something he does not allow Ma or Da; we only get their side of story through Peter.<br /><br />Doris has the misfortune of falling in love with a man she cannot have- for two reasons, one, he's somebody else's and two, he is Irish (at a time when English and Irish did not blend). She further has the misfortune (or fortune?) of being so smitten, so obsessed, so possessed, that she cannot love another man. And so she remains faithful (in a manner of speaking) for a lifetime. I wouldn't say <em>Forty Seven Roses</em> is a novel I would read again, but it sure makes me want to read <em>44: A Dublin Memoir</em> and <em>Every Inch of Her</em> by the same Dublin born author.J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-76957851728575694632009-01-25T05:32:00.000-08:002009-04-04T20:06:49.619-07:00Kit's Law<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1JiFsytZYuw/SXxyQJNfXLI/AAAAAAAAALo/MnZJf4psh_k/s1600-h/kits+law.jpg"></a><br /><p align="left"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1JiFsytZYuw/SXxyED1ZhYI/AAAAAAAAALg/YYQnogkJkz8/s1600-h/kits+law.jpg"></a></p><div align="left">Once I opened Kit's" Law<img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=jacmans-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0618109277" width="1" border="0" />, I did not put it away until I had read all 383 pages. Granted, this was during the Christmas break when I was off from work and could wake up at whatever hour I pleased the morning after.</div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left">What in this first novel hooked me? I'm not sure. I told you <a href="http://jackmandora.blogspot.com/search/label/Kwame%20Dawes">before</a> that I like novels that attempt to capture the inside story of mental illness. Maybe that's it. Maybe I was fascinated with how this teenager dealt with having a woman with a child's mind for a mother. It was a scenario I couldn't resist letting Donna Morissey pull me into. And believe me I got into it for there were times I bawled as though I were Kit, caught in the middle of this unusual trilogy of women.</div><br /><div align="left">But then maybe it was the moral dilemmas that Kit must come to terms with that kept me turning the pages. Kit must choose between her own freedom and doing what's best for her mom. Kit also makes a startling discovery which forces her to make the most difficult choice of all.</div><br /><div align="left">I must admit that the first few chapters were slow moving and I might have put away the book if Lizzy (Kit's grandma and surrogate mother) hadn't died suddenly. For me that's where the action begins, though the the preceeding chapters were essential to getting me rooting for Kit.</div><br /><div align="left">I enjoyed the Newfoundland dialect which marks the narration, and there are several very engaging secondary characters. What I did not like was the tortuous route to a resolution which I found to be morally ambivalent. This was a disappointment for me since the entire novel was so critical of duplicity and ambivalence.</div>J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-456493902363864462009-01-12T19:26:00.000-08:002009-01-12T20:33:39.761-08:00To Longevity and Original Body Parts and SerenityOver the last month, my creative juices slowed to a trickle. I came to my blog and was unable to write a word. While I recouped, I was hoping to fool around with the template a bit to see what I could come up with, but just haven't got to it. And I've only just peeped in on a few of my friends. All sorts of off line perplexities ambushed me, gagged and tied me down, leaving me unable to do anything but look helplessly, longingly at the computer.<br /><br />It got me thinking about some of the bloggers I've met in my short stint. Some having been blogging for years. How do they do it? Do they ever feel like quitting? What sorts of things come between them and blogging? As a new blogger I am beginning to know the answers. And so, it is with humility that I say hats off to anyone who can blog consistently for a whole year. A toast to longevity.<br /><br />I am not one for making New Year's resolutions. I just never keep them, for one, and for two, I like my thing kind of spontaneous. The germ for a life-changing, life-defining idea might come in April or November; for me, it rarely comes in January. But this year a pang of fear hit me on January 1. I am going to be 37 this year. Jesus Christ! That is nearly 40! So I made some resolutions this time round. This year I am going to do something about the slight paunch around my middle, do some execises with the hope of enabling those two to do battle with gravity, and visit the dentist to see what should be done about my wisdom teeth that have been growing on and off since I was 20. Youth is a wonderful backside, I don't ever want to give it up! Here's to mi own teeth and other body parts.<br /><br />I once told a friend of mine that if we ask ourselves at regular intervals, "what will my life look like at 50?" it would help set a good tone for the way we spend our twenties and thirties (and dare I say forties!). He reminded me of it recently. He told me that since then he'd paid attention to 50-ish looking people. He'd seen some, tired and forlorn, wanting to be somewhere else doing something else. And he'd seen others; calm, self-possessed and settled. So, notwithstanding the restlessness inherent in my last point, I want to raise the last of my sorrel to serenity.J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2473573478104467483.post-63468278676763976852008-12-17T23:29:00.000-08:002008-12-17T23:44:08.591-08:00Caribbean BloggersOff Topic -<br /><br />I've set up a site with the aim of showing the feeds of <a href="http://caribbeanbloggers.blogspot.com/">Caribbean bloggers</a> (both those at home and abroad). True you can do this on your blog yourself, but you might not want to because it will crowd your blog, or because it's too time consuming. So now you don't have to do it, because I've done it for you. Just put a link from there to your blog and when you want to, you can see what everyone is up to with one click. I do have one feature on there- I will spotlight a Caribbean blogger for each month. How cool is that?J.Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13528069268393747601noreply@blogger.com15