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Ghosts
The circumstances of their brother's violent death inflicts such a wound on his family that its four oldest sisters feel compelled to come together to write, tell or imagine what led up to it, to unravel conflicting versions for the benefit of the younger generation of the huge Pointy-Morris clan.
From the richly distinctive voices of the writer Micheline (Mitch), who could never tell a straight truth, the self-contained and sceptical Beatrice (B), the visionary and prophetic Evangeline (Vangie), and the severely practical Cynthia (Peaches), the novel builds a haunting sequence of narratives around the obsessive love of their brother, Pete, for his dazzling cousin, Tramadol, and its tragic aftermath.
Set on the Caribbean island of Jacaranda at different points in a disturbing future, Ghosts weaves a counterpoint between the family wound and a world caught between amazing technological progress and the wounds global warming inflicts on an agitated planet.
In a lyrical flow between English and Jamaican Creole, Ghosts catches the ear and gently invades the heart. Love enriches and heals, but its thwarting is revealed as the most painful of emotions. Yet if deep sadness is at the core of the novel, there are also moments of exuberant humour.
Curdella Forbes is the critically-acclaimed Jamaican author of Songs of Silence (2002); a collection for younger readers, Flying with Icarus and Other Stories (2003); and more recently A Permanent Freedom (Peepal Tree, 2008). She is currently Professor of Caribbean Literature at Howard University, and lives in Takoma Park, Maryland.
From the richly distinctive voices of the writer Micheline (Mitch), who could never tell a straight truth, the self-contained and sceptical Beatrice (B), the visionary and prophetic Evangeline (Vangie), and the severely practical Cynthia (Peaches), the novel builds a haunting sequence of narratives around the obsessive love of their brother, Pete, for his dazzling cousin, Tramadol, and its tragic aftermath.
Set on the Caribbean island of Jacaranda at different points in a disturbing future, Ghosts weaves a counterpoint between the family wound and a world caught between amazing technological progress and the wounds global warming inflicts on an agitated planet.
In a lyrical flow between English and Jamaican Creole, Ghosts catches the ear and gently invades the heart. Love enriches and heals, but its thwarting is revealed as the most painful of emotions. Yet if deep sadness is at the core of the novel, there are also moments of exuberant humour.
Curdella Forbes is the critically-acclaimed Jamaican author of Songs of Silence (2002); a collection for younger readers, Flying with Icarus and Other Stories (2003); and more recently A Permanent Freedom (Peepal Tree, 2008). She is currently Professor of Caribbean Literature at Howard University, and lives in Takoma Park, Maryland.
- GenresMagical Realism
202 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2012
1 person is currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Curdella Forbes
8 books34 followersCURDELLA FORBES is a Jamaican American writer who lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, and teaches at Howard University. A Tall History of Sugar is her latest novel.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 12, 2016
In a future marked by massive environmental changes, a family from the fictional Caribbean island of Jacaranda comes together to write about their brother many years after his death.
This is a strangely mixed book. Is it a memoir? Is it fantasy? Is it a myth? I think it’s all of those. But more than that, it's a beautiful piece of writing.
Grief
This is a book about grief. Grief and guilt. Each of the siblings is sad about their brother’s death, and afraid that they could have done something to prevent it. Evangeline, the Seer in the family, knows what will happen beforehand: could she have stopped it? Their mother was worried about Pete for years, but no one else listened to her. Should they have? When they disapproved of his actions and his personal life what should they have done? Should, should should should.
The major source of this guilt is the family's treatment of Pete when he was alive. His star-crossed, taboo infatuation with a cousin caused deep rifts in the otherwise (at least on the surface) tight-knit family. Later, when he married a woman that his family did not approve of, the family split into factions, led by: his mother, who forbid her daughter-in-law from entering the house; and Evangeline, whose enlightened knowledge places her on a different spiritual field. This leads to the effective ostracism and isolation of Pete, something that the whole family bitterly regrets after his death. In many ways, this is a cautionary tale: don't let your personal disapproval get in the way of a relationship with your relatives.
Read the rest here: http://thegloballycurious.blogspot.in...
This is a strangely mixed book. Is it a memoir? Is it fantasy? Is it a myth? I think it’s all of those. But more than that, it's a beautiful piece of writing.
Grief
This is a book about grief. Grief and guilt. Each of the siblings is sad about their brother’s death, and afraid that they could have done something to prevent it. Evangeline, the Seer in the family, knows what will happen beforehand: could she have stopped it? Their mother was worried about Pete for years, but no one else listened to her. Should they have? When they disapproved of his actions and his personal life what should they have done? Should, should should should.
The major source of this guilt is the family's treatment of Pete when he was alive. His star-crossed, taboo infatuation with a cousin caused deep rifts in the otherwise (at least on the surface) tight-knit family. Later, when he married a woman that his family did not approve of, the family split into factions, led by: his mother, who forbid her daughter-in-law from entering the house; and Evangeline, whose enlightened knowledge places her on a different spiritual field. This leads to the effective ostracism and isolation of Pete, something that the whole family bitterly regrets after his death. In many ways, this is a cautionary tale: don't let your personal disapproval get in the way of a relationship with your relatives.
Read the rest here: http://thegloballycurious.blogspot.in...
August 8, 2013
I haven't read a book that I seriously disliked in some time. I hated hte characters, the story, the style, the language. I would say I hated the plot but there wasn't really one.
We hear from about five people in the Ponty family and the perspective changes are dizzying. I never know if it's a close third person, a distant third person, an omniscient narrator or first person. I think that was my biggest problem with the book. I kept trying to figure out who is speaking.
I didn't think she handled the creole/english mixture very well. It felt really awkward.
Potential spoiler
The story is about a man who has been in love with his cousin since they were children. They each marry someone else. Later in life he is killed.
In some convoluted way the family has connected the two events and try as I might, I really can't see it.
Their grief over Pete's death is understandable, everyone wonders what they could have done to prevent it but I wasn't able to relate to any pf the characters except maybe Peaches who had the shortest chapter in the book, (2-4) pages.
I really didn't enjoy this and it was a struggle to finish, but I paid $20 for it so, I had to.
We hear from about five people in the Ponty family and the perspective changes are dizzying. I never know if it's a close third person, a distant third person, an omniscient narrator or first person. I think that was my biggest problem with the book. I kept trying to figure out who is speaking.
I didn't think she handled the creole/english mixture very well. It felt really awkward.
Potential spoiler
The story is about a man who has been in love with his cousin since they were children. They each marry someone else. Later in life he is killed.
In some convoluted way the family has connected the two events and try as I might, I really can't see it.
Their grief over Pete's death is understandable, everyone wonders what they could have done to prevent it but I wasn't able to relate to any pf the characters except maybe Peaches who had the shortest chapter in the book, (2-4) pages.
I really didn't enjoy this and it was a struggle to finish, but I paid $20 for it so, I had to.
January 25, 2016
I loved this story of "hope and tears"
and the winding road of sibling/family relationships
and the winding road of sibling/family relationships
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews