Sequins for a Ragged Hem: An Island Journey (8)

by Amryl Johnson

A beautifully atmospheric memoir and travelogue from poet Amryl Johnson depicting her journey from the UK to Trinidad in the 1980s

'Memories demanded that I complete this book. If what I experienced was, in fact, a haunting, I believe I have now laid these ghosts to rest in a style which I hope will satisfy even the most determined ones.'

Amryl Johnson came to England from Trinidad when she was eleven. As an adult in 1983, ready for a homecoming, she embarks on a journey through the Caribbean searching for home, searching for herself.

Landing in Trinidad as carnival begins, she instantly surrenders to the collective, pulsating rhythm of the crowd, euphoric in her total freedom. This elation is shattered when she finds the house where she was born has been destroyed. She cannot escape - nor wants to - from the inheritance of colonialism.

Her bittersweet welcome sets the tone for her intoxicating exploration of these distinct islands. In evocative, lyrical prose Sequins for a Ragged Hem is an astonishingly unique memoir, interrogating the way our past and present selves live alongside one another.

Selected by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo, this series rediscovers and celebrates pioneering books from Black Britain and the diaspora, which remap the nation and reframe our history.

Genres: Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 13, 1989

About the author

British poet, born in Tunapuna, Trinidad; she has lived in Britain since the age of 11. She was educated at the University of Kent, became a teacher of arts education at the University of Warwick, and is a popular performance poet.

(from Amryl Johnson Biography - (c.1948– ), Long Road to Nowhere, Tread Carefully in Paradise, Gorgons)

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this book interesting as the poet does a tour of the Caribbean islands from her home Island of Trinidad but it felt like it didn't have that sparkle though.

[Zanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Having read the book of poetry inspired by the journey Amryl Johnson details in this memoir, I already had some familiarity with her relationship to the themes. I found it interesting that she addresses carnival more thoroughly in her poems; it is easier to sing about carnival than to describe it in everyday language!

I am always interested in accounts of Grenada during the Jewel Movement period to add to Audre Lorde’s deeply moving, distressing and yet hopeful description of before and after in Sister Outsider. Amryl Johnson does visit the country, but she seems preoccupied with her travelling companions at that point. In any case, this text takes place at the level of the intra and inter personal, and only touches on history and politics insofar as they reach into this scope. History intrudes because Amryl Johnson is haunted by an ancestral presence she cannot identify, and because she often views things presently around her through race-memories or visions of slavery, for example in the marketplace, she thinks about people being sold, and when she encounters a giant wheel from a sugar mill, she reflects on how it was operated. In a poem, she sees its rigid structure binding both black and white people in a destructive relationship.

Another reason I value this is its resonance with the Toni Morrison novel I read just after it (Tar Baby). Amryl endured an uncomfortable boat crossing with a group of people making the trip to sell products on another island. Her vivid, extended description helped me to imagine Morrison’s characters making similar journeys, which gave extra weight to some key plot points and arguments about them.

There are some lovely moments and episodes in this, but sometimes my lazy brain would not keep hold of the threads. The inevitable lack of plot structure (how can a seeking-journey be carefully plotted? It neither can (especially on a shoestring) nor should be.) made for a story that didn’t always hold my attention, but I think it would resonate more with people who are migrant, diasporic, Caribbean, who would most likely find echoes here. For me it was like a long and interesting conversation with a friend who’s come back from a life-changing trip – I saw what she described in my mind’s eye, at a cool, yearning distance, wishing I had also been there.

[Melanie Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reflective journey through some islands of the Caribbean with layered responses by Amryl Johnson. I can recommend reading 'A Small place' (1988) by Jamaica Kincaid on her experiences growing up in Antigua before reading this book, as some of Kincaid's observations are relevant to Johnson's responses. There is her/history with the effects of colonialism and slavery, as well as carnival culture explored. Contemporary forms of colonialism are also evident, which impacts on the way people live. Housing conditions are described and the effects of living in a sometimes forbidding climate. Johnson's approach is very personal and yet at the same time resonant.

[Shane Rajiv · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book as the introduction says is really one woman’s experience travelling around a few southerly Caribbean islands in the 1980s. I am definitely biased but the first part is strongest. It’s capturing her experience of Trinidad and the fever and the mas of Minshall and the calypsos and the culture. It’s worth reading just for this first part, strong start.

She’s a poet so sometimes it’s a bit tricky to discern exactly what she’s trying to say. Once she leaves Trinidad then the journey is more convoluted, more random. This is the ultimate struggle of a travel book, there is no narrative structure and the order is expectedly chronological. The only structure is comparison between islands etc but ultimately most of the book is the interactions with whomever she interacts with in a rather meandering way.

[Hattie Charnley-Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not biggest fan of memoirs but this was an interesting and unique insight into Caribbean cultures and travel about 30/40 years ago.

[Liliana · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you begin reading this book, like Amryl herself, you get lost in too much information and feelings from a life that you don't know as your own. This book conquered me little by little, some passages less than others. Reading about life in the Caribbeans islands, about poverty and richness of a life so colourful and simple until its point of survival. Strong portails of peoples' lives and brief friendships that stay with you forever. She inspired me to more spirituality and self-understanding so important for someone out of her country, coming back for a while.

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read about Johnson's experiences in the Caribbean. But it was a bit slow.