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abbie_ 's review for:
At the Bottom of the River
by Jamaica Kincaid
3.5 stars
My first read for #abreadsaroundtheworld this year and I travelled to Antigua & Barbuda with Jamaica Kincaid!
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At the Bottom of the River is a collection of intertwined short stories, eight out of ten of which deal with mother-daughter themes, and the daughter’s struggle to free herself from the dominating power pf the mother, as Kincaid often draws on her experiences with her own mother. More than anything, this collection made me want to read her longer works where she no doubt delves more thoroughly into these themes, as I feel like a short story barely scratches the surface!
It opens with the shortest and arguably my favourite story - a litany of rules and warnings given to a young girl in the Caribbean by her mother, delivered in one breathless sentence spanning three pages punctuated by semicolons. Straight away we’re plunged into the deluge of rules and expectations our young Afro-Caribbean protagonist has to uphold, setting the tone for the rest of the stories, most of which see a young female protagonist attempt to liberate herself from her mother’s power.
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My other favourites were Wingless, A Letter from Home, At Last and My Mother - again, featuring power struggles but also finding something special in the mundanity of everyday life and objects. The others were interesting enough, but as I mentioned before, not quite long enough to be especially memorable for me.
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I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more Kincaid, and can recommend this one for anyone interested in mother-daughter relationships!
My first read for #abreadsaroundtheworld this year and I travelled to Antigua & Barbuda with Jamaica Kincaid!
.
At the Bottom of the River is a collection of intertwined short stories, eight out of ten of which deal with mother-daughter themes, and the daughter’s struggle to free herself from the dominating power pf the mother, as Kincaid often draws on her experiences with her own mother. More than anything, this collection made me want to read her longer works where she no doubt delves more thoroughly into these themes, as I feel like a short story barely scratches the surface!
It opens with the shortest and arguably my favourite story - a litany of rules and warnings given to a young girl in the Caribbean by her mother, delivered in one breathless sentence spanning three pages punctuated by semicolons. Straight away we’re plunged into the deluge of rules and expectations our young Afro-Caribbean protagonist has to uphold, setting the tone for the rest of the stories, most of which see a young female protagonist attempt to liberate herself from her mother’s power.
.
My other favourites were Wingless, A Letter from Home, At Last and My Mother - again, featuring power struggles but also finding something special in the mundanity of everyday life and objects. The others were interesting enough, but as I mentioned before, not quite long enough to be especially memorable for me.
.
I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more Kincaid, and can recommend this one for anyone interested in mother-daughter relationships!