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Unburnable
By Marie-Elena John
Reviews
In this riveting narrative of family,
betrayal, vengeance, and murder, Lillian Baptiste is
willed back to her island home of Dominica to finally
settle her past. Haunted by scandal and secrets, Lillian
left Dominica when she was fourteen after discovering
she was the daughter of Iris, the half-crazy woman whose
life was told of in chanté mas songs sung during
Carnival: Matilda Swinging and Bottle of Coke; songs
about a village on a mountaintop and bones and bodies;
songs about flying masquerades and a man who dropped
dead. Lillian knew the songs well. And now she knows
these songs
— and thus the history
— belong to her. After twenty years away,
Lillian returns to face the demons of her past, and with
the help of Teddy, the man she refused to love, she will
find a way to heal.
Set
partly in contemporary Washington, D.C., and partly in
post-World War II Dominica, Unburnable weaves
together West Indian history, African culture, and
American sensibilities. Richly textured and lushly
rendered, Unburnable showcases a welcome and assured new
voice.—Publisher
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This compelling first novel traces the fortunes of three
generations of women from the small Caribbean Island of
Dominica. Matilda, descended from African slaves, was a
famous healer and possible murderer. The story of her
hanging was handed down in songs. Her daughter, Iris,
was famous as the jilted lover of a rich man and the
victim of a horrific rape. Her subsequent insanity and
death also became legendary. Iris' daughter, Lillian,
was raised by her devoutly Catholic stepmother. Until
the age of 15 she remains unaware that the infamous
women of song are her legacy. Now living in Washington,
D.C., the fragile, adult Lillian returns to Dominica to
try to unravel the history of her family. The richly
told narrative alternates between time periods, building
suspense and compassion for all of the characters. The
possibly insane Lillian is the least well rounded of the
women, which makes the final chapters a little
disappointing. The diversity of the African diaspora is
often overlooked in modern African American literature,
and this page-turner fills in some gaps.—Booklist
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John
takes readers into Caribbean culture and contemporary
black America to explore family and oppression in this
affecting but flawed debut novel. Lillian, a
30-something native of Dominica, now an activist in
Washington, D.C., suffered a breakdown at 14 after
discovering the identity of her birth mother, Iris: the
beautiful, insane village prostitute whose own mother,
the famous healer Matilda, was convicted of multiple
murder and hung. Sent to live with her aunt in New York,
Lillian grows up shielded from her history, avoiding
troubling questions about herself and keeping friends
distant. Her only real friend is Teddy Morgan, a
self-absorbed historian she's pined after since their
college days.
Twenty
years after leaving Dominica, Lillian is determined to
return, in hopes of learning what happened to her
mother, grandmother and herself—and she's determined to
bring Teddy with her. John switches between Lillian's
present day and the mid-century lives of Matilda and
Iris, who are warm, vibrant characters and a welcome
contrast to Lillian's gloom-and-doom. Aloof from the
outset, it's never clear why, after 20 years without
contact, Lillian wants to investigate her past, and her
calculated manipulation of Teddy makes her hard to feel
for. However, strong writing and interesting supporting
characters should keep readers occupied through the end.—Publishers Weekly
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An
incredibly captivating, well thought out, and unique
story that had me hooked until the last page (when of
course I had to make up my own happy ending!). I had no
idea what was coming in the end, so it was fascinating
to watch the story unfold and be able to retrace my
steps to see the clues that were hidden along the way.
It was very well put together and definitely a
fascinating read.—Alison
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Unburnable
by Marie-Elena John, a multigenerational
family saga set in the Caribbean as well as America was
such an interesting novel. I learned so much about WWII
Domenica and was very entertained by the storyline.
Different indeed!—Laurie
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I was
captured by the very first paragraph in this novel;
which compelled me to read further and untangle the
story behind Iris, Matilda and Lillian! I was not
disappointed. Marie-Elena John brings a fresh voice to
the literary world. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and
have already recommended it to my reading group as a
monthly selection.— Sue
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Greenback Planet: How the Dollar Conquered
the World and Threatened Civilization as We Know It
By H. W. Brands
In Greenback Planet, acclaimed historian H. W. Brands charts the dollar's astonishing rise to become the world's principal currency. Telling the story with the verve of a novelist, he recounts key episodes in U.S. monetary history, from the Civil War debate over fiat money (greenbacks) to the recent worldwide financial crisis. Brands explores the dollar's changing relations to gold and silver and to other currencies and cogently explains how America's economic might made the dollar the fundamental standard of value in world finance. He vividly describes the 1869 Black Friday attempt to corner the gold market, banker J. P. Morgan's bailout of the U.S. treasury, the creation of the Federal Reserve, and President Franklin Roosevelt's handling of the bank panic of 1933. Brands shows how lessons learned (and not learned) in the Great Depression have influenced subsequent U.S. monetary policy, and how the dollar's dominance helped transform economies in countries ranging from Germany and Japan after World War II to Russia and China today. He concludes with a sobering dissection of the 2008 world financial debacle, which exposed the power--and the enormous risks--of the dollar's worldwide reign. The Economy |
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
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update 16
February 2012
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