Arielle A.’s Reviews > These Ghosts Are Family > Status Update

Why does a book that is supposed to be about Jamaican generational trauma centre the POV of white and light skinned people so heavily?

The book demonstrates how Jamaican women are borderline abusive with their daughters, but treat their sons like royalty. Similarly, like we see with Vincent and Abel/Stanford, men take little accountability and are able to engage in escapism, while women are left with the brunt of responsibilities and have to stay where they’re treated poorly.

You don’t say “oxtails” when you’re referring to Jamaican food lol

Debbie destroying the pages of the journal to resolve her own white guilt at the cost of Jamaican descendants learning more about their ancestors’ history, is parallel to white women (including Debbie) gaining solace from the same river which caused so much pain for Black women.

The patois is lowkey bad