BOOKS FROM ANTIGUA AND BARBUDAAnnie John
Description:
An adored only child, Annie has until recently lived a peaceful and content life. She is inseparable from her beautiful mother, a powerful and influential presence, who sits at the very centre of the little girl's existence. Loved and cherished, Annie grows and thrives within her mother's shadow. When she turns twelve, however, Annie's life changes, in ways that are often mysterious to her. She begins to question the cultural assumptions of her island world; at school she makes rebellious friends and frequently challenges authority; and most frighteningly, her mother, seeing Annie as a 'young lady', ceases to be the source of unconditional adoration and takes on the new and unfamiliar guise of adversary. A haunting and tragicomic tale of the end of childhood, Annie John is told with Jamaica Kincaid's trademark candour and complexity, and is a true coming-of-age classic.
Reviews:
(2 weeks ago) |
26 Sep, 2025
Really enjoyed this one, I loved Kincaid's limpid and matter-of-fact prose style overlaid onto the vivid and dramatic outer and inner life of the teenage Annie. This is not a sweet cuddly coming of age story. Annie's mom basically rejects her as soon as she hits preteendom, and Annie has to fiercely figure out how to navigate the world from there, and she's bold and funny and adventurous and smart and naughty. But her story is told as if it's a memoir, as if it's "recounted" by a much older version of herself. Maybe it's because I'm older but I really enjoy this perspective. I don't feel like I need to feel all the same things Annie felt to relate to her, I just appreciate hearing them described so clearly as the story of her life. Would love to read more Kincaid
|
Add comment
More books from Antigua and Barbuda
More books from Read Around North America Challenge