Carnival of Love's description is slightly misleading. This is a work of fiction characterized as 'memoir-ic' (yes, I'm making up words here) by Maria's first-person view. I'm not sure if Fraser is basing this off of herself or someone else close to her. It didn't seem like that was the case. I'm pretty sure it's all fiction. HOWEVER Carnival of Love is a great piece of work. One of the main themes in Carnival of Love is sweethearting which is

infidelity

in 'cute' Bahamian terms.

Carnival of Love is split up into two main sections which coincide with Maria's parents. Each chapter is a memory of Maria's that help piece the narrative together of why her parents' marriage dissolved. Ernestia Fraser's writing draws you into the story and gets you invested with the characters within the first chapter. The journey of Maria's realization and healing brought me to tears. Learning your parents' faults and coming to the realization that they're not perfect can be difficult. Loving them in spite of their faults is difficult. Family and familial bonds are complex, yet Fraser works magic by showing the complexity.

Carnival of Love takes place in New Providence and I loved reading about places familiar to me. There are so many little Bahamian things throughout the narrative, common to Bahamian living that will resonant with Bahamians, and Caribbean people on the whole. The little things, like superstitions, obeah mixed with Christianity, biggety Bahamian people, small-town gossip, police who don't do shit, "sugar" or diabetes (which is quite common among a lot of older Bahamians).

Predatory relationships were the biggest thing that stood out to me.

Maria's mother (Martha) was only 16* (or 17) when she moves out to be with Maria's father (Mario) who is around 25 years her senior. Mario is constantly cheating on Maria throughout their entire marriage until their separation, yet he has the GALL to threaten her about having other men. Just like a man!!! One chapter had me question whether Maria was molested by a family member but it wasn't clear.

Predatory relationships was one of the main things that stood out to me. It's so common in Bahamian society that you can become numb to it. Sweethearting stood out to me as well, since it was the plot of the book. I HATE how common that is in Bahamian society, and it made cute with sweet words like sweethearting.

Xenophobia and Colourism come up in Carnival of Love. Martha remarks on the bad treatment she received from her family because she was the darkest of her siblings. Mama (grandma) constantly rails on her caretakers, who are Jamaica immigrants. She talks to them like dogs and treats them like poop. Fraser captures attitudes and sayings that are in everyday Bahamian life. I can think of quite a number of examples that would fit into similar stories, such as the one Fraser writes.

Carnival of Love is a great piece of work, that shows how difficult it can be to grow up and let go. Bahamian society and social attitudes are very prevalent in the story. I do wish there would have been more dialect throughout the story though.

*16 is the legal age of consent in The Bahamas, I know yuck.