Last Thursday, I attended the launch of the Antigua and Barbuda Review of Books at the University of the West Indies (Open Campus – Antigua and Barbuda). A week later, I’m done reading. Thought I’d share some highlights and maybe motivate you to subscribe today by emailing editor Paget_Henry@Brown.edu
“In contrast to the retrospective gaze of the last issue, the books reviewed in this issue focus our attention on the present period in the life of Antigua and Barbuda.” – from the Editor’s Note 2014
“His musicianship, equally rich in epiphany or irony, would prompt him to instantly sketch a riff of The Brute Force Band’s ‘Alec Betsa’; or, the Hell’s Gate Band’s rendition of the theme from ‘Exodus’.”- Reflection on ‘Art’ Jardine by Edgar Lake
“See Now Then is beautiful prose which showcases that love can indeed die.” – A Bittersweet Symphony of Life – Love and Complications in Vermont: A Review of Jamaica Kincaid’s See Now Then by Lisa Pardini
“While the protagonists of her earlier works seek to assert their individuality against inherited legacies of familial and national history, the protagonist of this novel, Mrs. Sweet has established an almost picture-perfect family life that collapses despite her devotion to marriage and motherhood.” – Jamaica Kincaid’s See Now Then A Review by Sachelle M. Ford
“Oh Gad! explores themes of alienation, ‘outsiderness’, and abandonment which are dramatized by central characters, Nikki Baltimore, her father Professor Baltimore and lastly, Aeden Cameron.” – Fitting into One’s Skin: A Review of Joanne Hillhouse’s Oh Gad! by Althea Romeo-Mark
“Bad mindedness pervades the very fabric of this conflicted relationship, which is driven by Audrey’s resentment and sustained by the self-evasive needs of both women.” – Badminded Nikki: a Review of Joanne Hillhouse’s, Oh Gad! by Paget Henry
“This family, like most of Antigua, needs to be made whole.” – Concept of Home and Family: A Review of Joanne Hillhouse’s Oh Gad! by Valerie Knowles Combie
“But my greatest delight came (when) I encountered one of my favourite Antiguan and Barbudan expressions: “My spirit tek you”. – Oh Gad! A Pastoral Panorama of Fictional Narratives by Mali Olatunji
For more on what the Antigua and Barbuda Review of Books has to say about Oh Gad! – a novel by Wadadli Pen site administrator and founder/coordination of the Wadadli Youth Pen Prize, visit Joanne C. Hillhouse’s author page.
“I believe our President Wanlass had agreed to Dickey’s visit, in part, because of the proliferation of students subscribing to Civil Rights-era publication like Jet, Black World, and Crisis; but I suspect, it was also due to the primacy of our paradisiacal landscape, its poetic impulses so evident in our expressions.” – James Dickey’s Gift by Edgar Lake
“The theme and overarching vision of the novel are summed up in this phrase, embodying the notion that if the task at hand is to be effectively completed, then those with the knowledge and capacity to initiate it should take it upon themselves to do so.” – Narrating in Caribbean Tempo: Dorbrene O’Marde’s Regional Vision in Send Out You Hand by Adlai Murdoch
“Unfortunately, he leaves the doxological theme with which he began when he claims that “All of this is at the root of the Afro experience and expression of the Christian faith” to explore the theme of love in the biblical tradition under the following headings: (1) Salvation Story as Love in History, (2) Jesus Christ – The Saving Love of God, (3) God Is In Christ-Faith Through the Spirit.” – Ebony Grace and Black Consciousness by Leslie R. James
“From the foregoing exchanges between the above writers, it should now be clear that a significant and valuable body of literature has developed around the figure of V. C. Bird.” – The Seraphic VC: A Review of Lionel Hurst’s Vere Cornwall Bird: When Power Failed to Corrupt by Paget Henry
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