How to Love a Jamaican by Alexia Arthurs is the first collection I finished during #storyseptember. Overall, this collection is pretty solid.

As with all story collections, there were some hits and some misses for me. I think Arthurs really shines when she’s writing about young women and their experiences in America as immigrants. My favorites were the first and last stories. The last story, about a Jamaican girl who became an American pop star and never could have thought she’d become so famous, especially felt Zadie Smith-esque, but to be fair I’ve only ever read Swing Time by her. The stories where she wrote about older Jamaican men felt to me less engaging and more uncomfortable, especially because in some stories men are just cheating on their wives like it’s not a big deal. Idk, that just always bugs me, and I don’t want to think it’s just a cultural difference because that feels like stereotyping but it felt like that in more than one story, like it wasn’t a big deal or like Jamaican men weren’t loyal. I just didn’t like that aspect as much, although I’m sure that’s a true experience for some.

I think this is a pretty easy reading story collection. Nothing was too experimental, the stories all related to a central theme of the Jamaican experience, and the stories mostly kept my attention. I also always appreciate learning about different cultures, and reading about experiences of people different than myself.