The Migration of Ghosts

by Pauline Melville

Spirits are on the move in Pauline Melville's fabulous short story collection. A South American president revisits the scenes of his ruthless rise to power-shortly after his own funeral. A transformed and sparkling city of London sets the scene for a company chairman's nemesis at the hands of his wife. In Andalucia, the spirit of the "duende" inspires an elderly widow to dance a death-defying flamenco. We meet splendacious Mrs. da Silva, sixty-five year old matriarch of Rebel War Band, as she boogies at a carnival. The ghost of Dante's Virgil, leading his pilgrim along perilous paths, is brought to mind as one friend guides another on her final journey.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

A Guyanese author of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry, Pauline Melville has emerged in the last few years as a leading Caribbean writer, and one of the most accomplished talents on the modern literary scene.

Shape-shifter, her first collection of stories, revealed the impressive extent of her abilities, and won the 1991 Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Overall Winner, Best First Book) and the Guardian Fiction Prize. Her first novel, The Ventriloquist's Tale, won the Whitbread First Novel Award, and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction.

A professional actress in Europe before making it as a published writer, Melville has a cosmopolitan knowledge of both the Old and the New Worlds, and her fiction informs her experiences with her own mixed cultural heritage, Western philosophy nudging shoulders with Amerindian creation myths and the resulting blend touched with a sardonic, iconoclastic wit.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the World: Guyana

Out of all of the short story collections I’ve read for this read the world challenge, this is probably one of my favorites. The stories are varied and interesting and it’s a quick read that manages to pack in a lot of questions of life and human behavior in just over 200 pages.

If you’re looking for a book written by a Guyanese author I recommend this one!

[Rima · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of short stories in a novel but after my lecture today I get why it's necessary. I get why critics have reviewed it as "exotic" and it seems to be an exoticisation of African culture but in doing that, Melville masterfully exposes why it's wrong to do so. It's a 3 because I only liked certain stories and I probably won't read it again.

[Millie Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find short stories are often tricky to enjoy, but Melville's are wonderful. They're all different, ranging from funny to heartbreaking, and her prose style is incredible. They've kept me thinking long after I finished the collection and it's currently a strong contender for my essay at the end of my module.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and varied collection of short stories. There are some memorable happy and sad tales here. One decent ghost story a story about love in old age stories about loss and love; a good story about a long lived parrot and a very short story about writing. Highly recommended.

[Ginny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never read anything like this before. I definitely plan to check out her novels. Each story is completely different--vivid characters, puzzling and thought provoking situations.

[marjinal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dört Öykü
Bazı kitaplar vardır bir bölümü, bir sayfası hatta bir paragrafı için bile bütün imkanlar seferber edilerek arayışa geçilmesi gerekir. Hayaletlerin Göçü işte böyle bir kitap.          Yanlış saymadıysam kitapta tam on iki adet öykü var; bu öykülerin dördü on numara güzellğinde.          Kitabın ilk öyküsünde, ülkesi karışınca sürgüne yollanan bir diktatörün Londra'daki amaçsız yaşantısını okuyoruz.          Kitaba da adını veren Hayaletlerin Göçü öyküsü son derece dramatik: Nesiller boyu süregelen emperyal zulmün mağduru halkların kol kanat kırıklığını ve yaşamdan vazgeçiş arzularını, Brezilya'dan kocasıyla Londra'ya tatile gelmiş Macusi yerlisi Loretta  bir arabanın  içinde konuşarak anlatıyor.          Pandomim oyuncusunun anlattıkları ve İngiliz masa işi olayı!          Evet bu dört vurucu öyküsüyle Hayaletlerin Göçü yıldızları topluyor.

[Onur Eynallı]

uzun zamandır okuduğum en lezzetli öyküler. ince bir zeka ve mizah anlayışı. göçmenlik, azınlıklar, aidiyet, kimlik, ölüm gibi temalar etrafında dolaşan, insanı kolayca etkisi altına alan öyküler bütünü. yazarın kendi kökenlerinin de ait olduğu güney amerika'nın, yerlilerinin kültürünün ve mitlerinin etkisini yoğun olarak hissettirmesiyle ortaya çıkan mistik / egzotik atmosfer kitabı daha da güzelleştiriyor. güney amerika edebiyatını seviyorsanız tavsiye ederim. ben çok sevdim. yazarın diğer kitaplarını merak ettiriyor.

[Lehilber · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was ok. Basically just cultural stories from around the world. I didn’t really like the story about the English alcoholics. I don’t feel like that belongs in a book where the rest of the stories are about colonized and war torn cultures and beings. I guess I just enjoyed some of the stories more than others but didn’t always see a common thread between them other than a sort of survive with “joi de vivre” attitude.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and different. The text shows the reader a reality where folklore mixes in with reality, making it come alive!

[Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Culture, Crisis, Ecology] Really enjoyed this collection, not often im so grabbed but short stories!!!

[Dan Ralls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Melville's Migration of Ghosts is a fantastic collection of dark and darkly comic short stories. I am particularly impressed by her writing style, which is both gutsy and poetic. She can make grotesque imagery both appealing and amusing in a way, which can be expressed with this quotation, 'Worst of all, someone had seen a dog running from the hospital with a package in its mouth. It stopped by a trench to worry the brown parcel open. A nine-inch, semi-transparent human foetus fell out and the dog ran off triumphantly with the embryonic child in its mouth.'

[Veronica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Subtle these stories are not. There are patches of good writing, but mostly it was too in-your-face for my taste; I was expecting better from all the rave reviews. I took a couple of breaks to read stories from William Maxwell's All the Days and Nights and, well, no contest. If I had to pick favourites they'd be The Sparkling Bitch and the title story. Three stars for them, two for the rest.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Completely intriguing, intricately symbolized, somewhat mysterious - ultimately satisfying collection from Pauline Melville. Bridging Europe and the Caribbean, this book was the perfect segue in our class on Afr0-Caribbean literature to the final, wonderful novel, "Wide Sargasso Sea."

[Eshe Mūrutani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the way she writes. Her short stories were entertaining to read.

[Alper K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Melville perfectly examines the effect of migration on lives.
I'm fascinated by Melville's style, magic realism in a post-colonial context.

[Marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Precioso, próximamente reseña.

[Lolilu]

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