Fool-Fool Rose is Leaving Labour-in-Vain Savannah

by Lorna Goodison

Lorna Goodison makes her re-entry into the world of prose fiction with this collection of short stories intriguingly titled Fool-Fool Rose is Leaving Labour-in-Vain Savannah. These stories are variously amusing, informative, thought-provoking, poignant and morally challenging, and cover a range of situations, characters and subjects. The stories are marked by Goodison's distinctive mastery of the art of moving between standard English and Creole, which has the effect of making the reader feel that she is using one language. The collection also reflects her characteristic empathy with the deprived, the oppressed, the lonely and the socially disadvantaged. Fool-Fool Rose is Leaving Labour-in-Vain Savannah builds on the author's first collection of short stories Baby Mother and the King of Swords, which won a Pushcart Prize, was translated into German as Der Schwertkonig, and was praised by the London Financial Times as ‘an assured fictional debut'. Fool-Fool Rose is Leaving Labour-in-Vain Savannah strengthens the reputation of Goodison's prose fiction as a worthy complement to her poetry.

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 2, 2005

About the author

Lorna Goodison was born in Jamaica, and has won numerous awards for her writing in both poetry and prose, including the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Musgrave Gold Medal from Jamaica, the Henry Russel Award for Exceptional Creative Work from the University of Michigan, and one of Canada’s largest literary prizes, the British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction for From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her People (2007). Her work has been included in the major anthologies and collections of contemporary poetry over the past twenty-five years, such as the Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, the Harper Collins World Reader, the Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry, the Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, and Longman Masters of British Literature.

Along with her award winning memoir, she has published three collections of short stories (including By Love Possessed, 2011) and nine collections of poetry.

Her work has been translated into many languages, and she has been a central figure at literary festivals throughout the world. Lorna Goodison teaches at the University of Michigan, where she is the Lemuel A. Johnson Professor of English and African and Afro American Studies.

Reviews

[BookOfCinz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second time reading this amazing collection of short stories. Lorna Goodison captures Jamaican life in the 1950s in the most authentic way with this collection of short stories. The characters, scenes, plot are all very colorful and memorable. At points I found myself laughing out loud. What a refreshing, nostalgic look at Jamaica, makes me miss home.