Friday 25 July 2008

Brown Girl in the Ring - Nalo Hopkinson

Imagine a run down Toronto 'ruled' by the equivalent of a mob boss living in the C.N. Tower. Imagine a young mother trying to distance herself from the buff (drug) using father of her child. Now imagine a grandmother who's deep into voodoo. And you'll have some idea of what to expect in this 2008 Canada Reads pick.

Don't let the dialect of the main characters stop you from enjoying the book. You quickly get used to the not quite english they use. And pay close attention, because the passages you think only serve to show character development or scenic description will come back later as having significantly more meaning the further you read. This book is fun, surprising and thought provoking.

5 comments:

Nalo said...

Thank you!

Jessica Strider said...

You're more than welcome. We met very briefly at Book Expo, and your friendly, cheerful attitude put your book at the top of my to be read pile. I loved it.

Maria said...

This does sound like a very interesting book indeed.

Jessica Strider said...

It is a great book. And while I called it voodoo in my review, that's not a completely accurate description of what the grandmother's doing - it was just easier to phrase it that way.

The book is one of those rare glimpses between modern life and post apocalyptic fiction. It actually reminded me of Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower in this respect (though Parable showed the actual breakdown of society while in Brown Girl the complete collapse had yet to happen).

Lynda said...

I enjoyed Nalo's "Brown Girl in the Ring" - particularly the grandmother figure and the strong sense of a very different cultural heritage. Nalo rocks.