In these conversations with a friend and contemporary the Nobel prize-winning Colombian novelist speaks movingly, revealingly and unaffectedly about his family background, his early travels and struggles as a writer, his literary antecedents and his personal artistic concerns. Guided by Mendoza, Maacute;rquez reveals - as transfigured in his work by the power of language - the heat and colour of the Spanish Caribbean, the mythological world of its inhabitants, the exotic mentality of its leaders.
“A masterful work of historical fiction. . . . [A] Latino Grapes of Wrath.”—Ron Charles, Washington Post Marisel Vera emerges as a major new voice in contemporary fiction with this “capacious” (The New Yorker) novel set in Puerto Rico on the eve of the Spanish-American War. Up in the mountainous region of Utuado, Vicente Vega and Valentina Sanchez labor to keep their coffee farm from the creditors. When the great San Ciriaco hurricane of 1899 brings devastating upheaval, the young couple is lured along with thousands of other puertorriquenos to the sugar plantations of Hawaii, where they are confronted by the hollowness of America’s promises of prosperity. Depicting the roots of Puerto Rican alienation and exodus, which resonates especially today, The Taste of Sugar is “a gorgeous feat of storytelling” (Tayari Jones).
Magic, sexual tension, high comedy, and intense drama move through an enchanted yet harsh autobiography, in the story of a young girl who leaves rural Puerto Rico for New York's tenements and a chance for success.
“A classic Romeo and Juliet love story” spanning decades from the World War II Caribbean to modern-day Vancouver (The Washington Post Book World). At the dawn of the Second World War on the island of Guanagaspar, Harry, the son of a widowed maid, and Rose, the daughter of his mother’s well-to-do employer, are inseparable as children. Blissfully unaware, they form a connection that knows nothing of race or class hierarchies defining their society. Then one night, after American troops occupy Guanagaspar, their deep friendship is exposed and severed. When Harry and Rose meet again in Canada years later, the gulf separating them is not so apparent. As a passion long repressed is rekindled, Rose takes it upon herself to reroute their destinies. A “transcendent tale of souls wounded by circumstance and rehabilitated by love” (Booklist, starred review), He Drown She in the Sea is a lyrical, sensuous, and suspenseful story about the origins of desire and the sacrifice and euphoria that come with defying the life one is born into. With a “narrative pacing verg[ing] on genius . . . The worlds revealed are lush and brilliant. The journey is delightful” (Edmonton Journal).
Khabaar is a food memoir and personal narrative that braids the global journeys of South Asian food through immigration, migration, and indenture. Focusing on chefs, home cooks, and food stall owners, the book questions what it means to belong and what does belonging in a new place look like in the foods carried over from the old country? These questions are integral to the author’s own immigrant journey to America as a daughter of Indian refugees (from what’s now Bangladesh to India during the 1947 Partition of India); as a woman of color in science; as a woman who left an abusive marriage; and as a woman who keeps her parents’ memory alive through her Bengali food.
Welcome to the Movie, Brain is the second full-length collection from the extremely versatile writer Marvel Chukwudi Pephel. This sophomore effort contains over 110 poems that are, without a doubt, breathtaking. The poems are utterly entertaining as though they are cinematic. Divided into three sections titled Dawn, Noon and Nightfall, these poems are just pure delight to the soul. This could just be one of the most engrossing and entertaining poetry books to be ever written.
My ancestors went to Guyana, only English country in South America, by boats from different continents. My mother, Indian, father, Negro, ate the forbidden fruit. I was rejected from conception, amidst the hate and confusion. Old enough to walk, I became my older brothers Datson and Davids keeper. They were mute, deaf and later blind; I was their ears, mouth and later eyes Allegedly, curse on my mother from her father for marring a Black man. Nothing stopped me from loving, caring, being proud of them. Bigotry, hatred, ignorance engulfed my childhood in a providently Indian village. We were dehumanized like animals, freaks and slaves. Even the good Madras people of Whim couldnt stop the horror of being Mixed. In the house of silence, practicing my vocabulary/hearing on animals. Am an animal lover till today. Was told am Indian, speak, pray in Hindi and Sanskrit, keep away from Blacks; they eat Indian children with curly hair. After ten, this barefooted Indian found her other half. Allowed to enter their homes, gravitated and become a runaway. Giant ants, deepwater, dunce cap, ostracized Mommy died, Cinderella abuse stopped when my dearest Uncle Bertram set me free on an elephant - five-dollar bill. Like barnacle, I clamped to the first man in freedom town. He gave me three beautiful children, when nothing left to clamp onto, he forced me to fly without wings. Flew to America, cold, homeless, penniless. A Stranger gave me some silver. I slept under friends table, a kind family made me and mine American Citizens. No job was too many. Goodwill perfect for low-maintenance like us. Education and focus, #1 priority I thank/forgive those haters who looked down at me, they gave me the will to rise. I have my David, and, for not eating my young, God blessed me with six grandchildren.
