Books by Jamaica Kincaid
“Although the book begins with the appearance of it being a writing assignment—to go somewhere and write about it—there is a sense from the start that this is much more than that, and that this journey is life-changing. The beauty of this book is in the richness of the writing and observation, which is hardly surprising for a writer of Kincaid’s skill, but it is also a call for us to re-see, to re-enter the world around us. Kincaid brings to the writing a gardener’s eye, and language, using plant names to open up this strange yet familiar landscape.” Read more...
Victoria Bennett, Memoirist
“One of the things I really appreciate about this novel is that, while other books like this, about immigration, tend to want to make really tight comparisons between the place that the protagonist has left and the place that he or she has come to, Lucy doesn’t do that. The narrator isn’t as interested in that comparison—to my mind, it’s a story about a person who is evolving personally, as an individual, and place is of course a part of that, but it’s much more subtle than is often the case.” Read more...
Alexia Arthurs, Novelist
Interviews where books by Jamaica Kincaid were recommended
The Best Caribbean Fiction, recommended by Alexia Arthurs
From the humorous and dark stories of a young V. S. Naipaul to recent coming-of-age novels, set in a cut-throat Jamaican holiday resort or American’s urban battlefields, Alexia Arthurs explores the myriad expressions of Caribbean identity in fiction
The Best Nature Memoirs, recommended by Victoria Bennett
Nature is intrinsic to our experience of being alive and reading about it allows us to connect not just with the natural world but with ourselves. Here Victoria Bennett, author of All My Wild Mothers, a memoir of grief and creating an apothecary garden, recommends five other nature memoirs, highlighting personal and reflective prose by writers including Lauret Savoy, Mary Oliver, and Jamaica Kincaid.
