Not a boxing book like I thought it was going to be! I have read some Nalo Hopkinson before and that book was a kind of post-colonial, magical realist book about a child from the sea. I liked it. I liked this one too, but man oh man was it way different. This book is kind of Neal Stephenson writing a Jamaica Kincaid novel. Or William Gibson writing Gloria Naylor. Oh, with some light eroticism and heavy body-horror mixed in. It’s kind of Hoodoo Punk. […]
Different, Not Less
Nalo Hopkinson is becoming one of my favorite writers. Her novels are creative and humorous, informative and provocative. Sister Mine, like Brown Girl in the Ring, is set in Toronto and revolves around a family with formidable spiritual powers. As with BGITR, celestial beings or gods are characters in the story, and these gods are rooted in Caribbean religion/spirituality. While the search for lost mojo is a big part of this novel, and that part is fascinating and fun, the dominant theme that runs through […]
Has everyone been reading Nalo Hopkinson without me?
Sometimes, when one is introduced to a gifted writer who has been crafting fine works for going on two decades, one feels both excited to have found such a trove and yet irritated to have not known about her sooner. This is how I feel after reading Nalo Hopkinson’s first novel Brown Girl in the Ring, published in 1998. The novel won several awards and was nominated for a Philip K. Dick Award. It is an absolutely fascinating combination of dystopian future, Caribbean folk tale, […]