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The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts
Folktales and spirits animate this lively coming-of-age tale of two Jamaican-Trinidadian sisters in Brooklyn grappling with their mother’s illness, their father's infidelity, and the truth of their family's past
Sisters Zora and Sasha Porter are drifting apart. Bearing witness to their father’s violence and their mother’s worsening illness, an unsettled Zora escapes into her journal, dreaming of being a writer, while Sasha discovers sex and chest binding, spending more time with her new girlfriend than at home.
But the sisters, like their parents, must come together to answer to beings greater than themselves, and reckon with a family secret buried in the past. A tale told from the perspective of a mischievous narrator, featuring the Rolling Calf who haunts butchers, Mama Dglo who lives in the ocean, a vain tiger, and an outsmarted snake, The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter & Other Essential Ghosts is set in a world as alive and unpredictable as Helen Oyeyemi’s.
Telling of the love between sisters who don’t always see eye to eye, this extraordinary debut novel is a celebration of the power of stories, asking, what happens to us when our stories are erased? Do we disappear? Or do we come back haunting?
Sisters Zora and Sasha Porter are drifting apart. Bearing witness to their father’s violence and their mother’s worsening illness, an unsettled Zora escapes into her journal, dreaming of being a writer, while Sasha discovers sex and chest binding, spending more time with her new girlfriend than at home.
But the sisters, like their parents, must come together to answer to beings greater than themselves, and reckon with a family secret buried in the past. A tale told from the perspective of a mischievous narrator, featuring the Rolling Calf who haunts butchers, Mama Dglo who lives in the ocean, a vain tiger, and an outsmarted snake, The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter & Other Essential Ghosts is set in a world as alive and unpredictable as Helen Oyeyemi’s.
Telling of the love between sisters who don’t always see eye to eye, this extraordinary debut novel is a celebration of the power of stories, asking, what happens to us when our stories are erased? Do we disappear? Or do we come back haunting?
288 pages, Hardcover
First published March 28, 2023
107 people are currently reading
11482 people want to read
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November 17, 2023
This is what I mean by a stellar debut! I am blown away!
Soraya Palmer was flexing on us when she wrote this debut novel and I am here for it, because it is truly an experience reading this book and I need everyone to engage with what true storytelling looks like.
The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts has everything, from folklore, to spirits, to contemporary Caribbean and Brooklyn setting, themes of family, sisterhood, mother-daughter relationship, infidelity, coming-of-age, sexuality- it is all there and it is very well executed. What a brilliant book!
This book is about a family comes together through storytelling. Told from the perspective of the two sisters in the family, we are privy to the family life. The mother who is currently pregnant with the third child, she reminisce on growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, meeting her current husband and how much he loves her. She suffers from a lot of headaches, while trying to raise her two daughters who she cannot seem to relate to, added to that, her husband is cheating on her… again. Her husband, originally from Jamaica, loves storytelling, and loses himself in it, he does not know how to commit or be there when times are hard.
Zora, is currently on her way out of the home, getting ready for college. She is exploring her sexuality in a way her mother did but she does not get the grace she needs. Wondering if she will ever be accepted by her family or the world, leaves home to find herself. Further distancing herself from her sister. Sasha is the middle child, who spends a lot of time with her journal, as a way to understand the world and what is happening around her. With her sister out of the house and her father gone as well, she must take care of her mother whose illness is getting worse. How will they as a family come together to rally for her mother?
Told from the perspective of the two daughters and an omniscience narrative this reads like a fairytale where you get insights into how things will end. I absolutely LOVED the very present narrator who draws you into the story and asks you questions- it was soooo very interactive and think that was the biggest brilliance of the book for me.
As someone who grew up in the Caribbean, storytelling is a big part of our culture and meeting family who tells story as a way to impart wisdom made me feel so much at home. Also, it doesn’t hurt that it is set in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, my two homes.
I wish I could tell you more about this book, because I so want you to read it, but this is something you must experience for yourself. I LOVE this one, read it!
Soraya Palmer was flexing on us when she wrote this debut novel and I am here for it, because it is truly an experience reading this book and I need everyone to engage with what true storytelling looks like.
The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts has everything, from folklore, to spirits, to contemporary Caribbean and Brooklyn setting, themes of family, sisterhood, mother-daughter relationship, infidelity, coming-of-age, sexuality- it is all there and it is very well executed. What a brilliant book!
This book is about a family comes together through storytelling. Told from the perspective of the two sisters in the family, we are privy to the family life. The mother who is currently pregnant with the third child, she reminisce on growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, meeting her current husband and how much he loves her. She suffers from a lot of headaches, while trying to raise her two daughters who she cannot seem to relate to, added to that, her husband is cheating on her… again. Her husband, originally from Jamaica, loves storytelling, and loses himself in it, he does not know how to commit or be there when times are hard.
Zora, is currently on her way out of the home, getting ready for college. She is exploring her sexuality in a way her mother did but she does not get the grace she needs. Wondering if she will ever be accepted by her family or the world, leaves home to find herself. Further distancing herself from her sister. Sasha is the middle child, who spends a lot of time with her journal, as a way to understand the world and what is happening around her. With her sister out of the house and her father gone as well, she must take care of her mother whose illness is getting worse. How will they as a family come together to rally for her mother?
Told from the perspective of the two daughters and an omniscience narrative this reads like a fairytale where you get insights into how things will end. I absolutely LOVED the very present narrator who draws you into the story and asks you questions- it was soooo very interactive and think that was the biggest brilliance of the book for me.
As someone who grew up in the Caribbean, storytelling is a big part of our culture and meeting family who tells story as a way to impart wisdom made me feel so much at home. Also, it doesn’t hurt that it is set in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, my two homes.
I wish I could tell you more about this book, because I so want you to read it, but this is something you must experience for yourself. I LOVE this one, read it!
March 28, 2023
4.5/5 stars
"See once upon a time there was a woman. And this woman conjured stories from ghosts and gave them to her daughters. This conjure woman's name was Beatrice. The daughters loved her stories, and when she died it was all that she left them. Little did they know that this book had a life before me. You see, I, Your Faithful Narrator, will always carry the burden of knowing how my stories will end."
Caribbean spiritual folklore meets a grounded multigenerational saga of a Jamaican-Trinidadian family, in this stellar debut by Soraya Palmer. Based on blurb, themes and genre, this quickly rose to the top of my Anticipated-releases of 2023 list, and I'm happy to say that it did not disappoint.
Our story starts with a omniscient, unnamed, and slightly mischievous narrator, recounting the tale of three generations of the Porter women. In modern day Brooklyn, sisters Zora and Sasha have been floating apart for years now; introverted, reticent Zora loses herself in her own mind and journals amidst her hopes of becoming a writer, whilst outgoing and tough-on-the-outside Sasha explores her gender-identity, sex and her first sapphic relationship. When their mothers recent cancer diagnosis brings the family together one final time, old secrets, stories and even ghosts passed through generations resurface, challenging old dynamics and strengthening new bonds.
Palmer seamlessly interweaves threads of classic folklore (Anansi, the Rolling Calf and the powerful ocean-deity Mama Dglo) with a modern narrative into a stunning web of layered tales. Fans of magical realism will be delighted by the small interjections of the speculative in the plot, but readers of more realistic fiction can still find a grounded and heartfelt family-tale with folkloric metaphors at the heart of it. Palmer covers a full spectrum of themes, including sisterhood, family-dynamics, sexuality, race, belonging and cycles of trauma. Yet, the theme of storytelling and myth is at the core of this book. From the actual folktales we tell our children, to the mythologization of our own history to make sense of our lives; each of these women is both a teller of stories, as a character in them. This includes our unreliable narrator, whom voice was one of the highlights of the book for me. No, the narrator is not actually "death personified", yet it still reminded me of the narrative voices of Mrs Death Misses Death and The Book Thief.
From a representation-perspective: there's much to love here as well. As far as I'm aware, most of it is based on the authors own experiences, and as far as my personal expertise goes: the cancer-representation was beautifully done. Especially near the end, I was deeply invested in the relationships of Beatrice and her daughters, and their final interactions with each other genuinely choked me up for a moment.
Overall, I cannot recommend this book highly enough to any fan of Southern Gothic, haunting familial tales or a beautiful depiction of ghosts and storytelling in general.
Many thanks to Viper Publishing for providing me with an ARC of one of my most anticipated releases of the year. All opinions are my own.
"See once upon a time there was a woman. And this woman conjured stories from ghosts and gave them to her daughters. This conjure woman's name was Beatrice. The daughters loved her stories, and when she died it was all that she left them. Little did they know that this book had a life before me. You see, I, Your Faithful Narrator, will always carry the burden of knowing how my stories will end."
Caribbean spiritual folklore meets a grounded multigenerational saga of a Jamaican-Trinidadian family, in this stellar debut by Soraya Palmer. Based on blurb, themes and genre, this quickly rose to the top of my Anticipated-releases of 2023 list, and I'm happy to say that it did not disappoint.
Our story starts with a omniscient, unnamed, and slightly mischievous narrator, recounting the tale of three generations of the Porter women. In modern day Brooklyn, sisters Zora and Sasha have been floating apart for years now; introverted, reticent Zora loses herself in her own mind and journals amidst her hopes of becoming a writer, whilst outgoing and tough-on-the-outside Sasha explores her gender-identity, sex and her first sapphic relationship. When their mothers recent cancer diagnosis brings the family together one final time, old secrets, stories and even ghosts passed through generations resurface, challenging old dynamics and strengthening new bonds.
Palmer seamlessly interweaves threads of classic folklore (Anansi, the Rolling Calf and the powerful ocean-deity Mama Dglo) with a modern narrative into a stunning web of layered tales. Fans of magical realism will be delighted by the small interjections of the speculative in the plot, but readers of more realistic fiction can still find a grounded and heartfelt family-tale with folkloric metaphors at the heart of it. Palmer covers a full spectrum of themes, including sisterhood, family-dynamics, sexuality, race, belonging and cycles of trauma. Yet, the theme of storytelling and myth is at the core of this book. From the actual folktales we tell our children, to the mythologization of our own history to make sense of our lives; each of these women is both a teller of stories, as a character in them. This includes our unreliable narrator, whom voice was one of the highlights of the book for me. No, the narrator is not actually "death personified", yet it still reminded me of the narrative voices of Mrs Death Misses Death and The Book Thief.
From a representation-perspective: there's much to love here as well. As far as I'm aware, most of it is based on the authors own experiences, and as far as my personal expertise goes: the cancer-representation was beautifully done. Especially near the end, I was deeply invested in the relationships of Beatrice and her daughters, and their final interactions with each other genuinely choked me up for a moment.
Overall, I cannot recommend this book highly enough to any fan of Southern Gothic, haunting familial tales or a beautiful depiction of ghosts and storytelling in general.
Many thanks to Viper Publishing for providing me with an ARC of one of my most anticipated releases of the year. All opinions are my own.
April 5, 2023
Thank you to the author Soraya Palmer, publishers Dreamscape Media, and as always NetGalley, for an advance audio copy of THE HUMAN ORIGINS OF BEATRICE PORTER AND OTHER ESSENTIAL GHOSTS. I thought the narrator, Jaimie Gray, was good, but inconsistent throughout the audiobook.
For me, this audiobook is a whirlwind of lush settings and addictive character development. The narrator (the book's speaker, Zora) really brought life and magnetism into this story and I was hooked from the first words spoken between sisters Zora and Sasha. And when I first saw bloom between them wisps of magic, fanciful creatures and brush painted histories... Well, I just became completely invested in the story!
More than anything, HUMAN ORIGINS is a story about sisters and sisterhood and what life and time can do to both. Written in truly spectacular style, this is a beautiful read!
Consider this my trigger warning for extreme depictions of violence against children.
Rating: 👩🏾🤝👩🏿👩🏾🤝👩🏿👩🏾🤝👩🏿👩🏾🤝👩🏿 / 5 sisters-for-now
Recommend: Yes!
Finished: March 31 2023
Read this if you like:
🇯🇲 Stories set in Jamaica
🇹🇹 Stories set in Trinidad
👩🏾🦱 Diverse reads, diverse voices
👩🏾🤝👩🏿 Stories about sisters/sisterhood
👨👩👧👧 Family drama
🌈 LGBTQ+ characters
For me, this audiobook is a whirlwind of lush settings and addictive character development. The narrator (the book's speaker, Zora) really brought life and magnetism into this story and I was hooked from the first words spoken between sisters Zora and Sasha. And when I first saw bloom between them wisps of magic, fanciful creatures and brush painted histories... Well, I just became completely invested in the story!
More than anything, HUMAN ORIGINS is a story about sisters and sisterhood and what life and time can do to both. Written in truly spectacular style, this is a beautiful read!
Consider this my trigger warning for extreme depictions of violence against children.
Rating: 👩🏾🤝👩🏿👩🏾🤝👩🏿👩🏾🤝👩🏿👩🏾🤝👩🏿 / 5 sisters-for-now
Recommend: Yes!
Finished: March 31 2023
Read this if you like:
🇯🇲 Stories set in Jamaica
🇹🇹 Stories set in Trinidad
👩🏾🦱 Diverse reads, diverse voices
👩🏾🤝👩🏿 Stories about sisters/sisterhood
👨👩👧👧 Family drama
🌈 LGBTQ+ characters
February 5, 2024
One of the best books we have ever read.
Thank you, Soraya Palmer. Thank you.
Thank you, Soraya Palmer. Thank you.
October 6, 2023
Format: audiobook ~ Narrator: Jaimi Gray
Content: 4 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars
Complete audiobook review
Zora and Sasha Porter are sisters from a Jamaican-Trinidadian family living in Brooklyn. They tell each other folk stories of their ancestors to forget family issues (father’s infidelity and mother’s illness). At a young age, they were very connected, but lately, they are slowly drifting apart. Sasha discovers chest binding, Zora writes in her journal, and wants to be a writer.
In between the story of the two sisters, there are several shorter folk stories and some from the past. These stories are interwoven with the main. Surreal elements often create a dreamlike story.
Sometimes, stories from the past are too long. You are thrown from the main story and can easily get confused.
The narration is fabulous! Jaimi Gray made this story come to life with all those accents. The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts is definitively one of those books for me that is way better in an audiobook form because the narrator did such a wonderful job.
Thanks to Dreamscape Media for the ALC and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.
Content: 4 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars
Complete audiobook review
Zora and Sasha Porter are sisters from a Jamaican-Trinidadian family living in Brooklyn. They tell each other folk stories of their ancestors to forget family issues (father’s infidelity and mother’s illness). At a young age, they were very connected, but lately, they are slowly drifting apart. Sasha discovers chest binding, Zora writes in her journal, and wants to be a writer.
In between the story of the two sisters, there are several shorter folk stories and some from the past. These stories are interwoven with the main. Surreal elements often create a dreamlike story.
Sometimes, stories from the past are too long. You are thrown from the main story and can easily get confused.
The narration is fabulous! Jaimi Gray made this story come to life with all those accents. The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts is definitively one of those books for me that is way better in an audiobook form because the narrator did such a wonderful job.
Thanks to Dreamscape Media for the ALC and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.
September 27, 2023
An incredibly moving interweaving of narratives that attests to the all encompassing power of storytelling and love. Following sisters as they come of age amidst illness, unfaithfulness, and an imploding marriage, this debut is authentic in its protagonists search for belonging and identity; it is a captivating mix of magic and memory, of all of the stories that define us, inspire us, stay with us through this life and what comes next. It asks two pivotal questions regarding the importance of the tales we embody: “why do we remember some stories more than others? And what happens to the ones we forget?” Through gorgeous prose and heart piercing characters, we see that love is almost never simple; that we are torn away the ones we love in a cycle of misunderstanding, disagreement, intensity, but that it is never too late to find our ways back to one another. It is a raw account of motherhood, the ways in which our mothers love us in the ways that live allows them, that we keep our mothers alive in our own retellings, creations. This novel is a knockout of language and emotion, wrapped together gorgeously with words that dance from the page directly to the mind and heart.
Read
June 11, 2024“Não consigo especificar apenas um tema central neste livro, acho que há vários pontos interessantes e há espaço para que todos sejam explorados. Ainda assim, se tivesse de escolher, diria que tudo gira à volta das histórias — as que contamos aos outros, as que contamos a nós próprios, as que deixamos esquecer. Confesso que os primeiros dois terços do livro funcionaram melhor para mim do que o final, mas ainda assim acho que é uma excelente leitura e foi uma grande surpresa para mim!"
Review completa aqui: https://ritadanova.blogs.sapo.pt/the-....
Review completa aqui: https://ritadanova.blogs.sapo.pt/the-....
May 11, 2023
I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed this book! It was dark, haunting, mystical, lyrical -- it completely swept me away.
The book is about sisters from Trinidiadian Jamaican immigrant parents growing up in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. They cope with the painful reality of their broken family life in the only way they know how: through storytelling. Sasha (Ashes) is an oral storyteller, Zora a written one. They grew up on their parents' tales from home of magic -- of Rolling Calf, Mama Dglo, and Anansi the spider. As the sisters grow, a few things become clear. First, that everyone in the family struggles with their inner secrets and their inability to change their own stories, and second, that the stories they tell have power.
The writing completely pulled me in. There was the main storyline of the novel, but also the storytelling within it. We hear folk tales centering around the same characters but told differently each time; the endings change, but they never manage to end the way the characters need them to. Some of the stories are haunting, dreanlike, others are pure horror. The book was darker than I expected, but I really enjoyed it. Some of the scenes where the lines between folklore and reality blur and magic is conjured into the real world feel so beautifully dreamlike that they took my breath away; I feel like they will stay with me for a while.
I also really appreciated the exploration of family, sisters, mothers and daughters. There were some scenes of domestic violence that were particularly difficult to read, but they were important scenes to understanding who the characters were. The mother, Beatrice, was a particularly complicated character.
My only critique is that one of the folktale arcs that plays a pretty central role in the first half kind of disappears halfway through and never comes back. I would have liked to see that tie in at the end, as well, to make it feel fully cohesive.
Overall though, this was a fantastic debut and I cannot wait to see more from this author!
4.5 stars
The book is about sisters from Trinidiadian Jamaican immigrant parents growing up in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. They cope with the painful reality of their broken family life in the only way they know how: through storytelling. Sasha (Ashes) is an oral storyteller, Zora a written one. They grew up on their parents' tales from home of magic -- of Rolling Calf, Mama Dglo, and Anansi the spider. As the sisters grow, a few things become clear. First, that everyone in the family struggles with their inner secrets and their inability to change their own stories, and second, that the stories they tell have power.
The writing completely pulled me in. There was the main storyline of the novel, but also the storytelling within it. We hear folk tales centering around the same characters but told differently each time; the endings change, but they never manage to end the way the characters need them to. Some of the stories are haunting, dreanlike, others are pure horror. The book was darker than I expected, but I really enjoyed it. Some of the scenes where the lines between folklore and reality blur and magic is conjured into the real world feel so beautifully dreamlike that they took my breath away; I feel like they will stay with me for a while.
I also really appreciated the exploration of family, sisters, mothers and daughters. There were some scenes of domestic violence that were particularly difficult to read, but they were important scenes to understanding who the characters were. The mother, Beatrice, was a particularly complicated character.
My only critique is that one of the folktale arcs that plays a pretty central role in the first half kind of disappears halfway through and never comes back. I would have liked to see that tie in at the end, as well, to make it feel fully cohesive.
Overall though, this was a fantastic debut and I cannot wait to see more from this author!
4.5 stars
September 28, 2023
Sasha and Zora are steeped in Caribbean folklore absorbed from their parents. Nigel, from Jamaica, tells them about “Rolling Calf,” the vengeful ghost of a butcher paying penance for all the animals he slaughtered; Trinidadian Beatrice reminds them that the hero of the Anansi stories is a woman. Like the trickster spider, these Brooklyn adolescents will have to live by their wits when their family disintegrates – Nigel leaves to marry a German woman and Beatrice returns to Trinidad when she’s diagnosed with metastatic skin cancer.
Apart from a few third-person segments about the parents, the chapters, set between 1997 and 2005, trade off first-person narration duties between Zora, a romantic would-be writer, and Sasha, the black sheep and substitute family storyteller-in-chief, who dates women and goes by Ashes when she starts wearing a binder. It’s interesting to discover examples of queer erasure in both parents’ past, connecting Beatrice more tightly to Sasha than it first appears – people always condemn most vehemently what they’re afraid of revealing in themselves.
I’ve had too much of the patois + legends/magic realism combo recently (e.g., When We Were Birds) and Palmer tries too hard to root her stories in time through 1990s pop culture references. She also exhibits a slightly annoying MFA stylistic showiness. Still, this is the kind of book that would make a good wildcard selection on the Women’s Prize longlist.
A favourite passage:
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
Apart from a few third-person segments about the parents, the chapters, set between 1997 and 2005, trade off first-person narration duties between Zora, a romantic would-be writer, and Sasha, the black sheep and substitute family storyteller-in-chief, who dates women and goes by Ashes when she starts wearing a binder. It’s interesting to discover examples of queer erasure in both parents’ past, connecting Beatrice more tightly to Sasha than it first appears – people always condemn most vehemently what they’re afraid of revealing in themselves.
I’ve had too much of the patois + legends/magic realism combo recently (e.g., When We Were Birds) and Palmer tries too hard to root her stories in time through 1990s pop culture references. She also exhibits a slightly annoying MFA stylistic showiness. Still, this is the kind of book that would make a good wildcard selection on the Women’s Prize longlist.
A favourite passage:
Zora: “It was like the end of a Jenga game, the way shit just fell apart. Our family foundation had been fading slowly for years, and yet when it all collapsed, it seemed to happen all at once.”
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
March 23, 2023
This was such a great read. Written for us with no apologies.
"Nothing more dangerous than a story with an owner that no one can touch." –Beatrice
For me, it is the seamless weaving of our orality and roundabout ways of telling stories and histories that make this such a worthwhile read. Palmer has paid homage to the wealth of history that our stories represent. Using this very fractured family where violence, resentment, communication and its lack, familial dysfunction, and sexual identity are their own little stories.
For Sasha and Zora, their home was always volatile. Even when stories were shared, there was that darkness that seemed ingrained in the essence; how the one who tells shapes it for their own purposes. Here, the interaction between mother and daughters and father and daughters shows a complicated dichotomy and how parental influence and actions recur through generations.
I love the way Palmer reimagined our folklore, using it to tackle and highlight issues that are widespread and all too prevalent in our communities. Reading Beatrice and her daughter's stories was both a reckoning and celebration of the intricacies of our history and homes.
"Nothing more dangerous than a story with an owner that no one can touch." –Beatrice
For me, it is the seamless weaving of our orality and roundabout ways of telling stories and histories that make this such a worthwhile read. Palmer has paid homage to the wealth of history that our stories represent. Using this very fractured family where violence, resentment, communication and its lack, familial dysfunction, and sexual identity are their own little stories.
For Sasha and Zora, their home was always volatile. Even when stories were shared, there was that darkness that seemed ingrained in the essence; how the one who tells shapes it for their own purposes. Here, the interaction between mother and daughters and father and daughters shows a complicated dichotomy and how parental influence and actions recur through generations.
I love the way Palmer reimagined our folklore, using it to tackle and highlight issues that are widespread and all too prevalent in our communities. Reading Beatrice and her daughter's stories was both a reckoning and celebration of the intricacies of our history and homes.
December 24, 2023
“You see, burning is what you do to a spirit that can’t be tamed. There are books full of stories of burning women. I wish yours wasn’t one of them.”
April 18, 2023
This debut novel was so intriguing and uniquely layered with a magical realism twist. It takes you on a journey through sisterhood, family drama, culture, storytelling, and the complexities of discovering yourself. This is probably the third novel I’ve read that involved magical realism and was the only one that surpassed my expectations.
It’s something about a book that can immerse you into the plot and make it easy to connect with the characters. While this may not be an easy read for some due to the timeline jumps and magical elements the novel was so vivid, well-developed, fast-paced, and detailed.
It follows two sisters Zora and Sasha Porter as they begin to drift apart in the midst of dealing with their father’s mistreatment & infidelity, along with their mother becoming ill, and uncovering hidden truths about their families past. Zora is on the road to self-discovery and dreams of becoming a writer. While her sister Sasha struggles with sexuality, gender identity, and finding herself. The novel also highlights the power of mythical storytelling featuring the Rolling Calf who haunts butchers, Mama Dglo who lives in the ocean, a vain tiger, and an outsmarted snake.
Overall this book was nothing short of amazing. I highly recommend if you’re into magical realism or just want to give it a try this book is a must read. It’s a perfectly woven novel with a solid premise. I enjoyed the audiobook so much I ordered a physical copy. Special thanks to the author, Catapult, & netgalley for my advanced audio copy!!!
It’s something about a book that can immerse you into the plot and make it easy to connect with the characters. While this may not be an easy read for some due to the timeline jumps and magical elements the novel was so vivid, well-developed, fast-paced, and detailed.
It follows two sisters Zora and Sasha Porter as they begin to drift apart in the midst of dealing with their father’s mistreatment & infidelity, along with their mother becoming ill, and uncovering hidden truths about their families past. Zora is on the road to self-discovery and dreams of becoming a writer. While her sister Sasha struggles with sexuality, gender identity, and finding herself. The novel also highlights the power of mythical storytelling featuring the Rolling Calf who haunts butchers, Mama Dglo who lives in the ocean, a vain tiger, and an outsmarted snake.
Overall this book was nothing short of amazing. I highly recommend if you’re into magical realism or just want to give it a try this book is a must read. It’s a perfectly woven novel with a solid premise. I enjoyed the audiobook so much I ordered a physical copy. Special thanks to the author, Catapult, & netgalley for my advanced audio copy!!!
April 9, 2023
If Zadie Smith and Elif Shafak had a baby who could summon spirits?
July 9, 2024
This is a book that at the start I was invested in but my attention ended up fizzling out by the end. Soraya Palmer does something different here playing with non linear timelines and throwing in storytelling and myths as a coping mechanism. However the mythology aspect in here really didn't work for me and I found my attention waning mid book.
April 24, 2023
read my review here
Rep: Trinidadian & Jamaican mcs, nonbinary butch lesbian mc, bi mc, trans side character, gay side characters
CWs: homophobia, past child sexual abuse, domestic abuse, misgendering, cancer
Rep: Trinidadian & Jamaican mcs, nonbinary butch lesbian mc, bi mc, trans side character, gay side characters
CWs: homophobia, past child sexual abuse, domestic abuse, misgendering, cancer
March 27, 2023
https://shonareads.wordpress.com/2023...
I don’t know why I’ve read so many ghost stories lately, but this turned out to be another. It’s also a moving book about mothers and daughters across generations, a second theme running through many books I’ve reviewed lately.
There are threads of magical realism woven through the novel, with the trickster god Anansi, and a fascinating Trinidadian cosmology. The use of myth and ghosts to explore women’s power and agency, and also death and how we endure in memory, is outstanding. The depiction of the sisterhood of Zora and Ashes, the young American-Jamaican-Trinidadians around whom the story revolves, is absolutely beautiful, and is the centre that holds the book together. They are truly ride-or-die, always loyal, loving and supporting each other through catastrophe, and even when their lives and personalities diverge.
There are so many mysteries in this book (—like, what really happened to the sisters’ uncle??). I gave up on trying to unravel them, because there are parts of the story that are told by a less-than-reliable narrator, tricking you into thinking you know what happened, and then turning around and telling a completely different story. This is so consistent with oral tradition that it charmed my socks off: I could have been listening to one of my Gogo’s stories.
A wonderful debut novel, but not an easy read, the book deals with a lot: loss, pain, death, the break-up of families, rape, traumatised people visiting their trauma on others, cancer and caring for an ill parent, sibling death, mental illness, and the struggles around queer identity. And that list of woes isn’t even complete. But the magic of this book is in story, both in plot and in the exploration of the art of storytelling, from oral tradition and myth-making, to the stories we make as families and in search of personal meaning. I think this book will haunt me for a while.
Thank you to Catapult for this DRC!
I don’t know why I’ve read so many ghost stories lately, but this turned out to be another. It’s also a moving book about mothers and daughters across generations, a second theme running through many books I’ve reviewed lately.
There are threads of magical realism woven through the novel, with the trickster god Anansi, and a fascinating Trinidadian cosmology. The use of myth and ghosts to explore women’s power and agency, and also death and how we endure in memory, is outstanding. The depiction of the sisterhood of Zora and Ashes, the young American-Jamaican-Trinidadians around whom the story revolves, is absolutely beautiful, and is the centre that holds the book together. They are truly ride-or-die, always loyal, loving and supporting each other through catastrophe, and even when their lives and personalities diverge.
There are so many mysteries in this book (—like, what really happened to the sisters’ uncle??). I gave up on trying to unravel them, because there are parts of the story that are told by a less-than-reliable narrator, tricking you into thinking you know what happened, and then turning around and telling a completely different story. This is so consistent with oral tradition that it charmed my socks off: I could have been listening to one of my Gogo’s stories.
A wonderful debut novel, but not an easy read, the book deals with a lot: loss, pain, death, the break-up of families, rape, traumatised people visiting their trauma on others, cancer and caring for an ill parent, sibling death, mental illness, and the struggles around queer identity. And that list of woes isn’t even complete. But the magic of this book is in story, both in plot and in the exploration of the art of storytelling, from oral tradition and myth-making, to the stories we make as families and in search of personal meaning. I think this book will haunt me for a while.
Thank you to Catapult for this DRC!
January 24, 2023
The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts is an all-consuming and fast-paced fiction story about the sisterhood, motherhood, marriage and family secrets. Our narrator is pretty straight up in the beginning of the story about her intentions. She wants us as readers to believe her and to save her but she is also not necessarily the most reliable.
As the story unfolds the narrative centers two sisters, Zora and Sasha, who enjoy escaping into made up stories in order to cope with the domestic violence their mother endures at the hands of their father. When their father disappears and reappears at whim the sisters are left to care for their mother and prepare for the birth of their baby sister, Kayla. The sisters end up taking very different paths in life as Zora goes off to college and Sasha figures out her own sexuality and gender identity. As they each come of age as young women they are forced to reconcile some hard facts of life following the death of their mother after her condition worsens.
There are many elements of folklore and magical realism in the narrative that make this a spiritual read with many layers of deeper meaning. I know I will be analyzing this book and thinking about it for quite some time. A brilliant debut!
Thank you to the author and publisher for the e-arc copy!
As the story unfolds the narrative centers two sisters, Zora and Sasha, who enjoy escaping into made up stories in order to cope with the domestic violence their mother endures at the hands of their father. When their father disappears and reappears at whim the sisters are left to care for their mother and prepare for the birth of their baby sister, Kayla. The sisters end up taking very different paths in life as Zora goes off to college and Sasha figures out her own sexuality and gender identity. As they each come of age as young women they are forced to reconcile some hard facts of life following the death of their mother after her condition worsens.
There are many elements of folklore and magical realism in the narrative that make this a spiritual read with many layers of deeper meaning. I know I will be analyzing this book and thinking about it for quite some time. A brilliant debut!
Thank you to the author and publisher for the e-arc copy!
April 5, 2023
For me, listening to the audiobook may not have been the ideal choice for this book. While the narrator was excellent, I often found it challenging to follow the twists and turns in the story, as it moved back and forth between Brooklyn and Trinidad, between the past and the present. For that reason, I ended up needing to restart the book after I'd listened to 70% because I realized my concentration had been insufficient and I'd clearly missed some important details. The restart helped, but some confusion persisted, especially when the narrator was retelling the Anansi stories and background from Beatrice's past.
Zora and Sasha were interesting characters, and I enjoyed following their ups and downs as they coped with their parents' erratic and sometimes violent behavior, explored their own sexuality, and dealt with peer issues typical of teen years. Beatrice's story was painful but did help flesh out her character and make her more understandable, if not particularly likable. Nigel, their father, is equally unlikable, moving in and out of his daughters' lives with apparently little care for the impact his absences had on them and on their mother.
Readers who enjoy fables, folk tales, and magical realism will likely appreciate this story more than I did.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an objective review.
Zora and Sasha were interesting characters, and I enjoyed following their ups and downs as they coped with their parents' erratic and sometimes violent behavior, explored their own sexuality, and dealt with peer issues typical of teen years. Beatrice's story was painful but did help flesh out her character and make her more understandable, if not particularly likable. Nigel, their father, is equally unlikable, moving in and out of his daughters' lives with apparently little care for the impact his absences had on them and on their mother.
Readers who enjoy fables, folk tales, and magical realism will likely appreciate this story more than I did.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an objective review.
dnf
April 3, 2023Thank you to libro.fm for providing me with an ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
DNF @ 40%.
Let me start with what I loved about this book - I truly enjoyed the way that stories and folktales played a role in this book. The father told his daughters stories about Anansi and other African folktales, and actively encouraged them to become creative with their own takes on the stories. I loved seeing them all come together that way and having imagination nurtured in the family.
This wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't a good fit for me. By 40% in, I still had no idea what the book was about, or where the plot was heading. In fact, I couldn't even identify a plot. While I loved the folktales, I never really felt like they meshed well with the rest of the story, and it made it difficult to connect with the characters, because the transitions always felt a little jarring.
I'm sure that this is going to be a wonderful book, even if it wasn't the right read for me.
DNF @ 40%.
Let me start with what I loved about this book - I truly enjoyed the way that stories and folktales played a role in this book. The father told his daughters stories about Anansi and other African folktales, and actively encouraged them to become creative with their own takes on the stories. I loved seeing them all come together that way and having imagination nurtured in the family.
This wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't a good fit for me. By 40% in, I still had no idea what the book was about, or where the plot was heading. In fact, I couldn't even identify a plot. While I loved the folktales, I never really felt like they meshed well with the rest of the story, and it made it difficult to connect with the characters, because the transitions always felt a little jarring.
I'm sure that this is going to be a wonderful book, even if it wasn't the right read for me.
May 26, 2023
This was a really interesting way of discussing a woman's experience with a lot of nuance. We're taken through daughterhood, sisterhood, and motherhood in different waves through different perspectives. We have Sasha as a butcher, distinctly lesbian type of femininity, Zora as the young innocent, and Beatrice as the last generation type of woman who conducts a home abortion and still brings out the switch.
The Trinidadian culture woven through the 3 different women was also a fascinating way of looking at diaspora. Palmer was smart to divide the book among these women so that there's always more contemplation than claim on any of these experiences.
TLDR; Magical realism flavor about womanhood out of the Caribbean, the power of stories especially one's own history, and heritage as healing even when it doesn't.
The Trinidadian culture woven through the 3 different women was also a fascinating way of looking at diaspora. Palmer was smart to divide the book among these women so that there's always more contemplation than claim on any of these experiences.
TLDR; Magical realism flavor about womanhood out of the Caribbean, the power of stories especially one's own history, and heritage as healing even when it doesn't.
January 7, 2024
There's so much in this story and I can't tell if that is a wonderful thing or part of the reason I just couldn't give 5 stars to it. Like I was a wee bit overwhelmed!
A fantastic debut novel tho, I really don't think I need to say too much about what I didn't enjoy about it because I don't think it is significant enough to risk being the reason someone doesn't give the book a chance.
I can't survive if I'm not allowed to have an opinion on something tho...
I really love stories about folklore and I didn't always mind the way we would be interrupted from big moments to visit stories from the past but sometimes it could be jarring or distract from a big moment in the narrative. I also found myself bogged down at times by the stories within stories.
On the flipside, there was a lot that I related to in this story. My family has Hoodoo roots and that mysticism has followed my family (at least my mother's side) for generations, really; and it really is the type of thing that is only shared generation to generation through the art of storytelling. Growing up my grandmother and her siblings and family would always tell me, my sisters, and cousins these stories to help guide us in our everyday troubles and future perspectives. I feel like this novel really captured that importance of storytelling, regardless of beliefs.
Like, that overwhelming feeling of spirituality via ancestry that exists outside of modern religion.
There was also of course sexuality exploration and dealing with familial changes. Mother-Daughter and Father-Daughter relationships; blended/cross-cultural families, just...a lot going on. It really was A LOT going on haha, I don't know I liked it and it is definitely something you have to pace yourself with if you are unfamiliar with these stories or overwhelmed or whatever your reason may be.
I didn't mind the Patois in the story because I don't find Patois hard to understand but I guess it really depends on your exposure to it. Anyway 4.5/5, rounded down. Won't be for everyone, though, in my opinion.
A fantastic debut novel tho, I really don't think I need to say too much about what I didn't enjoy about it because I don't think it is significant enough to risk being the reason someone doesn't give the book a chance.
I can't survive if I'm not allowed to have an opinion on something tho...
I really love stories about folklore and I didn't always mind the way we would be interrupted from big moments to visit stories from the past but sometimes it could be jarring or distract from a big moment in the narrative. I also found myself bogged down at times by the stories within stories.
On the flipside, there was a lot that I related to in this story. My family has Hoodoo roots and that mysticism has followed my family (at least my mother's side) for generations, really; and it really is the type of thing that is only shared generation to generation through the art of storytelling. Growing up my grandmother and her siblings and family would always tell me, my sisters, and cousins these stories to help guide us in our everyday troubles and future perspectives. I feel like this novel really captured that importance of storytelling, regardless of beliefs.
Like, that overwhelming feeling of spirituality via ancestry that exists outside of modern religion.
There was also of course sexuality exploration and dealing with familial changes. Mother-Daughter and Father-Daughter relationships; blended/cross-cultural families, just...a lot going on. It really was A LOT going on haha, I don't know I liked it and it is definitely something you have to pace yourself with if you are unfamiliar with these stories or overwhelmed or whatever your reason may be.
I didn't mind the Patois in the story because I don't find Patois hard to understand but I guess it really depends on your exposure to it. Anyway 4.5/5, rounded down. Won't be for everyone, though, in my opinion.
October 26, 2023
3.75 stars - I might have had my expectations set too high when I dove into this unusual story. I enjoyed the stories that comprised this novel and its many themes from folklore and spirits to family dynamics and loyalty. Maybe it was too many themes for me to settle in fully or maybe it was just a matter of timing or expectations, I wanted to love this one but just couldn’t.
April 1, 2023
An amazing debut!!
Everything about this novel feels fresh and raw. Told alongside folklore, we are introduced to two sisters navigating life in Brooklyn amidst their parents’ growing discord.
The girls couldn’t be any more different-Sasha discovering her sexuality, Zora blossoming as a writer but find their way back to each other as they get to the bottom of their own family story.
Candidly told with a headstrong attitude and memorable characters shifting the storytelling throughout. I loved the energy of this book, the no hold backs and the magic when the sisters would share folk stories. The imagery forming in my mind was active and colorful as I read.
Everything about this novel feels fresh and raw. Told alongside folklore, we are introduced to two sisters navigating life in Brooklyn amidst their parents’ growing discord.
The girls couldn’t be any more different-Sasha discovering her sexuality, Zora blossoming as a writer but find their way back to each other as they get to the bottom of their own family story.
Candidly told with a headstrong attitude and memorable characters shifting the storytelling throughout. I loved the energy of this book, the no hold backs and the magic when the sisters would share folk stories. The imagery forming in my mind was active and colorful as I read.
November 23, 2024
A highly original debut novel that has characters with great depth, brought to life by the format and some brilliant magical realism
May 29, 2023
Beautiful. Loved the narration styles, changing time periods and locations, and magical realism/folklore elements. And, of course, the Buffy & Greys references.
June 20, 2023
Excellently explored family dynamic, my heart broke for them (the Porter women i mean...) over and over. The story is brilliantly layered characterwise, relationshipwise and structurally. There's also some fun experimenting with form which I always like. Personally, I wish we'd spent more pages with the ending but that's just me.
Thanks to netgalley for the arc!
Thanks to netgalley for the arc!
March 15, 2023
A beautiful debut novel on ghosts, sisterhood and family secrets.
Jamaican-Trinidadian sisters, Sasha and Zora witness their fathers violence and their mothers illness. Zora finds solace in writing stories, while Sasha discovers chest binding and explores her sexuality.
Told through alternating narratives, a mischievous narrator, Sasha and Zora’s voices and weaving coming-of-age with folktales and spirits, this deeply moving debut is an amalgamation of histories both ancient and recent and the traumas that come with it.
The novel focuses on many themes; race, gender, sexuality, and is done in a reflective and emotional way whilst still remaining sensitive to the issues discussed.
The story is not an easy read and the jump in narratives and writing styles didn’t always work but this was an excellent debut and a new author for me to look out for!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Serpents Tail / Viper Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Jamaican-Trinidadian sisters, Sasha and Zora witness their fathers violence and their mothers illness. Zora finds solace in writing stories, while Sasha discovers chest binding and explores her sexuality.
Told through alternating narratives, a mischievous narrator, Sasha and Zora’s voices and weaving coming-of-age with folktales and spirits, this deeply moving debut is an amalgamation of histories both ancient and recent and the traumas that come with it.
The novel focuses on many themes; race, gender, sexuality, and is done in a reflective and emotional way whilst still remaining sensitive to the issues discussed.
The story is not an easy read and the jump in narratives and writing styles didn’t always work but this was an excellent debut and a new author for me to look out for!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Serpents Tail / Viper Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
July 18, 2024
I loved thissss!!! Ghosts and magical realism and witchy women magic and spiders and storytelling and women (and also a few dope men) just made this so original and cool. It’s not a collection of short stories despite what the name and the blurb suggests!
4.5 stars but rounded up cos feeling generous. This slaps as a debut!
On a side note why is this the THIRD book in the last month with a main character called Zora?
4.5 stars but rounded up cos feeling generous. This slaps as a debut!
On a side note why is this the THIRD book in the last month with a main character called Zora?
Read
April 11, 2023The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts by Soraya Palmer
Format: audiobook courtesy of Dreamscape Media and NetGalley
Yes, that is the full title of this book, and much like the title, this debut novel by Soraya Palmer has a lot going on. After checking out the stunning cover art and reading the blurb, I knew I had to see what this book was about.
Told from a variety of points of view, this book journeys through the experiences and perspectives from members of the same family- sisters Sasha and Zora, their mother Beatrice, from Trinidad and Tobago, and their Jamaican father, whose name escapes me. This book talks about family, culture and heritage, the power of stories and folktales, and the struggles of immigrants coming to New York City in the 1990s. Unfortunately, for me the larger meaning behind these woven stories was lost. The narrator's voice was beautiful to listen to, but this may have been a better book to read for the first time, that would have made it easier to follow.
The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts is one of those books where ten different people can read it and get ten different reactions. I can see how some people can fall in love with the poetic use of language, the evocative folktale retellings, and be vested in the journey of the sisters and their mother. I wish that I was one of those people, but instead I got lost in trying to understand what the book was trying to tell me. Ultimately, this book was not the right fit for me, and I DNF’d at 60%.
Format: audiobook courtesy of Dreamscape Media and NetGalley
Yes, that is the full title of this book, and much like the title, this debut novel by Soraya Palmer has a lot going on. After checking out the stunning cover art and reading the blurb, I knew I had to see what this book was about.
Told from a variety of points of view, this book journeys through the experiences and perspectives from members of the same family- sisters Sasha and Zora, their mother Beatrice, from Trinidad and Tobago, and their Jamaican father, whose name escapes me. This book talks about family, culture and heritage, the power of stories and folktales, and the struggles of immigrants coming to New York City in the 1990s. Unfortunately, for me the larger meaning behind these woven stories was lost. The narrator's voice was beautiful to listen to, but this may have been a better book to read for the first time, that would have made it easier to follow.
The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts is one of those books where ten different people can read it and get ten different reactions. I can see how some people can fall in love with the poetic use of language, the evocative folktale retellings, and be vested in the journey of the sisters and their mother. I wish that I was one of those people, but instead I got lost in trying to understand what the book was trying to tell me. Ultimately, this book was not the right fit for me, and I DNF’d at 60%.
May 8, 2023
This book was something alright....
I'll start off by acknowledging the fact that fantasy/magical realism is not a genre I like or, on a good day, particularly enjoy- so this took me quite a while to get through.
The only advice I have for anyone who isn't 'fantasy-familiarized' like myself, is to expect the unexpected and get prepared for a lot of wtf moments.
But, I will give the author her flowers, and say that this is one of the most brilliantly interwoven plots I've read in a while.
Weaving Carrribean folklore with modern day societal occurrences will forever be a feat I admire and applaud.
The way the author implored the voice of an 'unreliable narrator' in some parts of the story was lovely.
I particularly enjoyed the insights into Beatrice's past and Sasha and Zora's conjuring scenes the most; the story telling was seamless.
Although I found most of the characters to be quite irritating (asides from Ma- she's my favourite), I sympathized with their struggles (Beatrice's in particular).
Through many instances in the book, I genuinely wished I could shape shift and turn myself into a ghost or something, just so I could torment Nigel and make him pay in some way.
The ending made my blood boil and detest Nigel even more, and I really wish the author could have given us readers who are all too familiar with abuse, some satisfaction with Nigel's case.
Oh well.
It was a good read. Highly informative. Lovely writing style.
I'll start off by acknowledging the fact that fantasy/magical realism is not a genre I like or, on a good day, particularly enjoy- so this took me quite a while to get through.
The only advice I have for anyone who isn't 'fantasy-familiarized' like myself, is to expect the unexpected and get prepared for a lot of wtf moments.
But, I will give the author her flowers, and say that this is one of the most brilliantly interwoven plots I've read in a while.
Weaving Carrribean folklore with modern day societal occurrences will forever be a feat I admire and applaud.
The way the author implored the voice of an 'unreliable narrator' in some parts of the story was lovely.
I particularly enjoyed the insights into Beatrice's past and Sasha and Zora's conjuring scenes the most; the story telling was seamless.
Although I found most of the characters to be quite irritating (asides from Ma- she's my favourite), I sympathized with their struggles (Beatrice's in particular).
Through many instances in the book, I genuinely wished I could shape shift and turn myself into a ghost or something, just so I could torment Nigel and make him pay in some way.
The ending made my blood boil and detest Nigel even more, and I really wish the author could have given us readers who are all too familiar with abuse, some satisfaction with Nigel's case.
Oh well.
It was a good read. Highly informative. Lovely writing style.
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