reubenalbatross 's review for:

Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn
DID NOT FINISH: 9%
This book had two immediate red flags for me in the first chapter, then adding to that the fact that reviews that say this is a really bleak book, I just don’t want to read any further. 

The first red flag was that we’re not told when this is set. All I could tell is that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of modern technology, so it’s probably set pre-2000, but apart from that I have no fucking idea. Why do authors think we can just mindread dates?? One review I read said the date was mentioned first on page 225!!! That’s too fucking late. 

The second (and obviously much bigger) red flag was the huge amount of casual racism towards Chinese characters in the first 20 pages of the book. And it’s not the characters being racist, which wouldn’t be as big of a problem, it’s the narration itself (i.e. Dennis-Benn’s voice). 

This is obviously already awful, but in a book that’s centred so much on racism against black people, it’s wild to see racism against another ethnicity spoken so plainly and without any acknowledgement. 

Even if, as suggested by the research I did into some of the words used, these names are seen more as 'endearing' in Jamaica, rather than slurs, TELL US THAT?? Dennis-Brown is obviously trying to reach more than just Jamaican readers with this novel, so she really needs to explain why her seemingly stereotypical and degrading names for people aren't racist (if she even believes that’s the case). Just blind fucking hypocrisy. 

These three examples of what I’m talking about are all from a SINGLE page in the novel while describing the Chinese family who own a shop: 

 1. 
"Though Mr. Levy's name is written on the outside of the store in bright red paint, people still refer to the owner as Mr. Chin by virtue of him being Chinese." 

 2. 
"But the old "Chiney" man is unimpressed." 

3. They’re described as often seen 
"devouring spoonfuls of steamed rice or noodles." 

Excuse me?? Not to mention that this family have lived in this same Jamaican village for at least four generations?? Surely after so long living in Jamaica they wouldn't be SO staunchly only eating stereotypically Asian foods?? 
 
If all of this nonsense was commented on, it would be a whole different story. If Dennis-Brown made it obvious that even though this behaviour towards other ethnicities is common, that doesn’t make it ok to do. Instead, the dismissive way the Chinese characters are described in this chapter alone made me really uncomfortable and like I couldn’t trust Dennis-Benn to have compassion for people not like her, so I won’t be continuing this read.