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clarereadstheworld's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
Set in Guyana in the 1970's, Buxton Spice meets the pre-adolecent Lula and her friends as they play games and discover their sexuality. In the background political battles rumble, threatening to ruin the innocence of the young girls. The colourful inhabitants of Tamarind Grove are vividly portrayed, right down to the sullen mango tree.
It was interesting reading this book just after Crossing the Mangrove. In Condé's novel Guyana is viewed as a wonderful place of wealth and riches, and several islanders had left to make their fortunes in Guyana. This is not quite the same Guyana as portrayed by Kempadoo. In Kempadoo' s novel the local Guyanise are leaving to make their fortunes in America. It was interesting to see these contrasting portrayals from two geographical close countries.
However, I was not all together blown away by this novel. Some parts of the emerging teenage sexuality I did find interesting to read, such as her discovery of masturbation. I think it's one of the first clear descriptions of female masturbation I've ever read, so from a feminist perspective that was nice. However, there were other scenes involving teenage sexual experiences I felt much less comfortable with. Some parts were just plain strange, and I nearly didn't keep reading after the first section.
I thought it was interesting how Lula refers to her 'man-self' and her 'she-self' when talking about her different emerging personalities. Her 'man-self' makes intelligent arguments, and impresses her Dad with her knowledge and strength, her 'she-self' is sexuality and attracts the attention of men. It is of course very reductive to reduce these to gender assigned stereotypes, but I did like the idea of every young woman having a bit of both in her. Though today we wouldn't use the same terms, it was an interesting exploration of how we become aware of acting differently in different situations as we grow older.
Overall, I'm not really quite sure how I felt about this novel. There are good things, and not quite such good things about it. I would probably say proceed with caution!
It was interesting reading this book just after Crossing the Mangrove. In Condé's novel Guyana is viewed as a wonderful place of wealth and riches, and several islanders had left to make their fortunes in Guyana. This is not quite the same Guyana as portrayed by Kempadoo. In Kempadoo' s novel the local Guyanise are leaving to make their fortunes in America. It was interesting to see these contrasting portrayals from two geographical close countries.
However, I was not all together blown away by this novel. Some parts of the emerging teenage sexuality I did find interesting to read, such as her discovery of masturbation. I think it's one of the first clear descriptions of female masturbation I've ever read, so from a feminist perspective that was nice. However, there were other scenes involving teenage sexual experiences I felt much less comfortable with. Some parts were just plain strange, and I nearly didn't keep reading after the first section.
I thought it was interesting how Lula refers to her 'man-self' and her 'she-self' when talking about her different emerging personalities. Her 'man-self' makes intelligent arguments, and impresses her Dad with her knowledge and strength, her 'she-self' is sexuality and attracts the attention of men. It is of course very reductive to reduce these to gender assigned stereotypes, but I did like the idea of every young woman having a bit of both in her. Though today we wouldn't use the same terms, it was an interesting exploration of how we become aware of acting differently in different situations as we grow older.
Overall, I'm not really quite sure how I felt about this novel. There are good things, and not quite such good things about it. I would probably say proceed with caution!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence
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