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Putting Up A Resistance!
An East Indian boy and an African girl tackle a divide and rule system on a coconut estate in deep south Trinidad in the twilight of the Colonial era.
332 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 28, 2022
Read this last year, and I was surprised at how nuanced story was in there.
The cover imagery caught my eye for sure, but the story took some deeper twists and turns into the ethnic tension that has pervaded our society since the colonisers took over.
What stands out to me a year after reading, was the true protagonist of the story imo. Not going to spoil anything, but he was a police officer, and served as a good proxy for the "why my parents are racist" embarrassment that some millennial Trinis know all too well. In his case at least, he was the character who changed the most in the end.
Of course the historical context was also fascinating. The epoch wasn't established in earnest, so its really hard to decipher which decade we're talking about here in Trinidad. Definitely pre 1962 by about 30 years or more.
I wasn't expecting this narrative to have the amount of funny twists it had, and again mostly surrounding the policeman. It's high context humour, though. You'd have to be living in the 868 for a long time to truly absorb some of the ironies in his experiences as his story unfolded.
And yes, this story is about how essential unity is between the two main ethnic groups here, and organised revolt. But it's done in a way where you sort of the live the day-to-day experience with the characters as the months go by.
Nothing too ground-breaking, but a book every Trini should read.
It's a decent examination of our ethnic politics and the forces that made them so, while also not being bogged down with critical analysis and instead being an engaging read from cover to cover.
The cover imagery caught my eye for sure, but the story took some deeper twists and turns into the ethnic tension that has pervaded our society since the colonisers took over.
What stands out to me a year after reading, was the true protagonist of the story imo. Not going to spoil anything, but he was a police officer, and served as a good proxy for the "why my parents are racist" embarrassment that some millennial Trinis know all too well. In his case at least, he was the character who changed the most in the end.
Of course the historical context was also fascinating. The epoch wasn't established in earnest, so its really hard to decipher which decade we're talking about here in Trinidad. Definitely pre 1962 by about 30 years or more.
I wasn't expecting this narrative to have the amount of funny twists it had, and again mostly surrounding the policeman. It's high context humour, though. You'd have to be living in the 868 for a long time to truly absorb some of the ironies in his experiences as his story unfolded.
And yes, this story is about how essential unity is between the two main ethnic groups here, and organised revolt. But it's done in a way where you sort of the live the day-to-day experience with the characters as the months go by.
Nothing too ground-breaking, but a book every Trini should read.
It's a decent examination of our ethnic politics and the forces that made them so, while also not being bogged down with critical analysis and instead being an engaging read from cover to cover.
November 26, 2022
A lot of what Cozier wrote is a picture of what people suffered post slavery. Massa day done was just talk. It was people like Butler, Jatulal and Smart that made workers aware that they had rights. And of course that the racial divide between Indians and Africans in the Caribbean was a construct to keep them mired in bacchanal and away from uniting in a common cause for their own good. Worth a read.
January 16, 2024
The pacing was a bit stilted for me and the writing seemed at times quite amateur. The way that themes of racism and sexual assault were dealt with were either very obvious or very trivial and I wished they were dealt with better care. But it was an entertaining and easy read. I enjoyed it but I do not think I will revisit it in the near future.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews