Secure The True History Of Paradise Authored By Margaret Cezair-Thompson Accessible In Edition

tale of a multiethnic immigrant family in Jamaica, The action flips back and forth between, when the main character is planning to flee the violence on her native island and various members of her family over the generations.
Jean Landing is preparing to bid adieu to her island home of Jamaica, in spite of conflicted feelings, Its, and social unrest has gripped the streets of Kingston madness precipitated by the warring factions of the countrys two political parties, The Peoples National Party and The Jamaica Labour Party.
Jeans surroundings are now plagued with random killings and a general state of chaos, Migration appears to be the only option,

The story unfolds through a series of flash back sequences, illuminating the complex racial and colonial framework of both Jeans family and Jamaica on a whole.
Unlike many of the Jamaican themed novels Ive read over the years, CezairThompson refrains from diluting the islands patois, I experienced a truly visceral response to much of the dialogue contained in this story a familiarity that conjured thoughts of being in the company of family and friends in Jamaica.
Its clear that the importance of cultural accuracy superseded any commercial considerations,

True History is not without its flaws, The final quarter of the book begins to drag somewhat, and the constant mention of violence feels overdone and stale, Still, even with its imperfections, CezairThompson has crafted a story that is head and shoulders above most whove tried their hand at documenting the realities of the Jamaican life.
This may be as good as it gets when it comes to Jamaican literature,
I liked it. Great book for learning about the history of Jamaica while experiencing the book as a novel through the experiences of the main character, Be sure to refer to the family tree in the front of the book often, in order to keep the times, characters, and relationships straight, Much of the book is not in chronological order, Apparently it can be hard to refer back to the family tree if reading the book on a Kindle,
At first I thought this was a new book from CezairThompson, so it was a surprise to find out that it is in fact her first novel, repackaged with a new cover in what I presume is an attempt to capitalise on the success of her second, sitelinkThe Pirate's Daughter.
I'm glad I didn't realise this earlier, as if I'd known, I'd have assumed her first effort would be weaker and less accomplished than her second, and probably wouldn't have bought it.
In fact, I think this is a better book, although the two are similar in a few respects both are set in Jamaica and both tell stories that span several generations of the same family, against a backdrop of political unrest and social change.
The story held my interest easily enough I particularly enjoyed the chapters narrated by Jean's ancestors, ranging from theth century to the lates, and the novel works well both as a brief social history of Jamaica and a subtle exploration of the ways our families' past choices and misdemeanours shape our lives.
I just wish I could say I felt more emotionally involved with the characters as with this writer's other novel, I felt distanced from the people it portrayed and it was hard to be truly affected even when terrible things happened to them.
Also, I found the ending unsatisfying and somewhat abrupt, I'm glad I read this book, but a number of things about it left me feeling frustrated, On the surface this novel takes place during two or three days init is the story of a woman, Jean Landing, who leaves Kingston Jamaica for the North Coast in order to fly to the United States and escape the political violence as the opposition party and the CIA try to topple the Manley government.
However, most of the book is in the form of flashbacks, which narrate Jean's whole life and Jamaica's history from the time of Independence on, in a mostly chronological order third person, but from the perspective of Jean's memory and within these flashbacks are other shorter flashbacks in first person to her ancestors from the earliest days of British rule.
The book has a family tree at the beginning to keep all the characters straight, I generally like this sort of complex structure, but in this case the book is rather slow at the beginning, and seems to present a lot of background material where nothing much happens as it moves closer to the time of the frame story it picks up interest and also becomes more violent.
Much of the novel's focus is on the relationship of Jean to her parents, especially her mother Monica, and her sister Lana, It originated as a short story about these four characters, and then was expanded into the present novel about Jamaican history, Perhaps because I was busy this week with other things, it took me ten days to read, and this may have contributed to my having a hard time getting involved with the action until the middle of the book.
Once I got interested in the characters, it was a good wellwritten historical novel, although I would have liked a more detailed analysis of the political events.
I was surprised and a little embarrassed to realize how little I knew about Manley and his government, given how interested I was at that time in politics and especially in the Caribbean and Central America.
It was the author's first novel, and I may eventually pick up her second and better known novel about Errol Flynn The Pirate's Daughter, Couldn't be a truer story of the turmoil of Jamaica in thes ands if Ms CezairThompson had ended it "Jack Mandora, . . "

I particularly appreciate the different ethnicities of Jamaica present in the novel as, indeed, they are in my own family,

This would be an excellent companion volume to A Brief History of Seven Killings Although I enjoyed 'The Pirate's Daughter' very much, this

earlier work struck a deeper chord for me.
Margaret CezairThompson's style of writing is one that appeals to me,

I found this a fascinating book that wove a multigenerational family drama with the changing culture and politics of Jamaica, Although it touches upon earlier historical periods the main narrative takes place in thes,

It felt like a loveletter to the island that didn't diminish the terrible events of the period but placed them into context with the earlier history of the island.


I found Jean a very sympathetic character and longed to know more of her story, Perhaps Margaret CezairThompson will return to write more on this theme,

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