How to love a Jamaican : stories /

How to love a Jamaican : stories /

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Arthurs, Alexia, author.
Uniform title:	Short stories. Selections
Edition:	First edition.
Imprint:	New York : Ballantine Books, [2018]
Description:	239 pages ; 22 cm
Language:	English
Subject:	Jamaicans -- Fiction. Jamaican Americans -- Fiction. Jamaican Americans. Jamaicans. Fiction. Short stories.
Format:	Print Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11672199

Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:	9781524799205 1524799203
Summary:	Sweeping from close-knit island communities to the streets of New York City and midwestern university towns, these eleven stories form a portrait of a nation, a people, and a way of life. In "Light-Skinned Girls and Kelly Rowlands," an NYU student befriends a fellow Jamaican whose privileged West Coast upbringing has blinded her to the hard realities of race. In "Mash Up Love," a twin's chance sighting of his estranged brother--the prodigal son of the family--stirs up unresolved feelings of resentment. In "Bad Behavior," a couple leave their wild teenage daughter with her grandmother in Jamaica, hoping the old ways will straighten her out. In "Mermaid River," a Jamaican teenage boy is reunited with his mother in New York after eight years apart. In "The Ghost of Jia Yi," a recently murdered student haunts a despairing Jamaican athlete recruited to an Iowa college. And in "Shirley from a Small Place," a world-famous pop star retreats to her mother's big new house in Jamaica, which still holds the power to restore something vital. This collection of short stories sweeps from close-knit island communities on Jamaica to the streets of New York City and midwestern university towns. In them, Arthurs forms a portrait of a nation, a people, and a way of life. -- adapted from jacket.

Description
Summary:	"In these kaleidoscopic stories of Jamaica and its diaspora we hear many voices at once. All of them convince and sing. All of them shine."--Zadie Smith<br> <br> An O: The Oprah Magazine "Top 15 Best of the Year" * A Well-Read Black Girl Pick<br> <br> Tenderness and cruelty, loyalty and betrayal, ambition and regret--Alexia Arthurs navigates these tensions to extraordinary effect in her debut collection about Jamaican immigrants and their families back home. Sweeping from close-knit island communities to the streets of New York City and midwestern university towns, these eleven stories form a portrait of a nation, a people, and a way of life.<br> <br> In "Light-Skinned Girls and Kelly Rowlands," an NYU student befriends a fellow Jamaican whose privileged West Coast upbringing has blinded her to the hard realities of race. In "Mash Up Love," a twin's chance sighting of his estranged brother--the prodigal son of the family--stirs up unresolved feelings of resentment. In "Bad Behavior," a couple leave their wild teenage daughter with her grandmother in Jamaica, hoping the old ways will straighten her out. In "Mermaid River," a Jamaican teenage boy is reunited with his mother in New York after eight years apart. In "The Ghost of Jia Yi," a recently murdered student haunts a despairing Jamaican athlete recruited to an Iowa college. And in "Shirley from a Small Place," a world-famous pop star retreats to her mother's big new house in Jamaica, which still holds the power to restore something vital.<br> <br> Alexia Arthurs emerges in this vibrant, lyrical, intimate collection as one of fiction's most dynamic and essential authors.<br> <br> Praise for How to Love a Jamaican <br> <br> "A sublime short-story collection from newcomer Alexia Arthurs that explores, through various characters, a specific strand of the immigrant experience." -- Entertainment Weekly <br> <br> "With its singular mix of psychological precision and sun-kissed lyricism, this dazzling debut marks the emergence of a knockout new voice." --O: The Oprah Magazine <br> <br> "Gorgeous, tender, heartbreaking stories . . . Arthurs is a witty, perceptive, and generous writer, and this is a book that will last." --Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties <br> <br> "Vivid and exciting . . . every story rings beautifully true." -- Marie Claire
Physical Description:	239 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN:	9781524799205 1524799203