Official Review: Vanessa's Niece by H Horace Broomes
Posted: 25 Aug 2019, 15:30
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Vanessa's Niece" by H Horace Broomes.]
4 out of 4 stars
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At its heart, Vanessa’s Niece by H. Horace Broomes is a story about how a group of girls and women shape a boy’s maturation into manhood. Jakey Brougham is growing up in Tobago surrounded by a large family, but he is especially influenced by his mammy and grandmothers. As a teenager, he begins to spend time with an older, unmarried woman named Vanessa. She invites him into her home where they engage in intimate sexual encounters, and this is the beginning of Jakey’s sexual awakening. When Vanessa takes a suitor, she gradually transfers Jakey’s affection to a younger girl named Rookmin. Around this time, Jakey also begins to sleep with a girl named Jacinta after taking her virginity on the way home from school. Last but not least, Vanessa’s niece Shirley piques his interest and starts up a flirtation. With the passage of time, Jakey finds himself emerging into adulthood as a student in Trinidad. One by one, he reencounters his former lovers and begins to learn the difference between a relationship and a fling. Is it possible to find happiness by spending your life with one person? Will Jakey ever settle down enough to find out? Only time will tell.
One of the strongest elements of this book is the character development. As a teenager, Jakey often feels battered by the women in his family because of the way they react to his misdemeanors. With an acute sense of injustice, he finds himself silently championing his pappy and grandfather in their disputes with his mammy and grandmothers. The first time that Jakey begins to view women as something other than the antagonists in a gender war, his pappy has just reprimanded his mammy for not having the evening meal ready on time. At this point in the story, Jakey says, “It made me see that women could also be made to suffer unfairly, and that now began to complicate the view of them that had been taking shape in my mind” (loc 942). This is just the beginning of Jakey’s growing consciousness of the latent sexism that exists in the world. With the initiation of his sexual relationships with various girls and women in his village, Jakey grows to see that in the same way that he has been groomed and exploited by women, those same women had first been groomed and exploited by men. This characterization of Jakey as a boy growing into a man who can see the world outside of himself is very well executed. Broomes has a knack for creating characters whose personal growth, although painstakingly slow at times, will have you cheering by the sidelines and unable to give up on them.
In addition to strong character development, Broomes has also developed a tragically beautiful plot. Although Jakey is the protagonist of this book, he frequently serves as a character foil to the women in his life. Each of the women in this book have an intense background story full of tragedy and suffering. The way that Jakey’s story is interwoven with Vanessa, Rookmin, Jacinta, and Shirley’s feels authentic. Furthermore, the timing of their respective appearances and reappearances in Jakey’s life propels many of his actions and decisions.
There was one aspect of the book that was problematic. In one specific scene, Jakey takes a girl’s virginity. In describing the event, Jakey says, “I touched her there again. When the moment came and then the blood spurted and madly rushed out… we were shocked” (loc 809). The reader then learns that Jakey’s pants have become visibly soaked in a large quantity of blood, which is what ultimately gets him into trouble with his mammy. This scenario felt heavily exaggerated and unrealistic. Perhaps some exceptions may exist that I am unaware of, but I have never heard of anyone’s first sexual encounter being gory enough to cause this much bloodshed.
One final point that the reader should be aware of is that the dialogue is mostly written in the accent of Tobago and Trinidad natives. Although it can be challenging to translate initially, the key is to read the dialogue phonetically before decoding the grammar. This process was challenging at first, but I gradually became more adept and was able to read and comprehend the dialogue faster.
Overall, this is a great cultural piece. The book was very well-edited, and I found no errors. The only problem that I had with the book was the intensity of the gore during one sexual encounter. Although I was confused by this part, it did not detract from my overall reading pleasure. In conclusion, I am happy to award Vanessa’s Niece by H. Horace Broomes 4 out of 4 stars for fantastic character development and storytelling. If you are interested in the culture and history of Trinidad and Tobago, or if you enjoy coming-of-age stories, this book is for you! If you are sensitive to sexual content, I would caution against reading this book.
******
Vanessa's Niece
View: on Bookshelves
4 out of 4 stars
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At its heart, Vanessa’s Niece by H. Horace Broomes is a story about how a group of girls and women shape a boy’s maturation into manhood. Jakey Brougham is growing up in Tobago surrounded by a large family, but he is especially influenced by his mammy and grandmothers. As a teenager, he begins to spend time with an older, unmarried woman named Vanessa. She invites him into her home where they engage in intimate sexual encounters, and this is the beginning of Jakey’s sexual awakening. When Vanessa takes a suitor, she gradually transfers Jakey’s affection to a younger girl named Rookmin. Around this time, Jakey also begins to sleep with a girl named Jacinta after taking her virginity on the way home from school. Last but not least, Vanessa’s niece Shirley piques his interest and starts up a flirtation. With the passage of time, Jakey finds himself emerging into adulthood as a student in Trinidad. One by one, he reencounters his former lovers and begins to learn the difference between a relationship and a fling. Is it possible to find happiness by spending your life with one person? Will Jakey ever settle down enough to find out? Only time will tell.
One of the strongest elements of this book is the character development. As a teenager, Jakey often feels battered by the women in his family because of the way they react to his misdemeanors. With an acute sense of injustice, he finds himself silently championing his pappy and grandfather in their disputes with his mammy and grandmothers. The first time that Jakey begins to view women as something other than the antagonists in a gender war, his pappy has just reprimanded his mammy for not having the evening meal ready on time. At this point in the story, Jakey says, “It made me see that women could also be made to suffer unfairly, and that now began to complicate the view of them that had been taking shape in my mind” (loc 942). This is just the beginning of Jakey’s growing consciousness of the latent sexism that exists in the world. With the initiation of his sexual relationships with various girls and women in his village, Jakey grows to see that in the same way that he has been groomed and exploited by women, those same women had first been groomed and exploited by men. This characterization of Jakey as a boy growing into a man who can see the world outside of himself is very well executed. Broomes has a knack for creating characters whose personal growth, although painstakingly slow at times, will have you cheering by the sidelines and unable to give up on them.
In addition to strong character development, Broomes has also developed a tragically beautiful plot. Although Jakey is the protagonist of this book, he frequently serves as a character foil to the women in his life. Each of the women in this book have an intense background story full of tragedy and suffering. The way that Jakey’s story is interwoven with Vanessa, Rookmin, Jacinta, and Shirley’s feels authentic. Furthermore, the timing of their respective appearances and reappearances in Jakey’s life propels many of his actions and decisions.
There was one aspect of the book that was problematic. In one specific scene, Jakey takes a girl’s virginity. In describing the event, Jakey says, “I touched her there again. When the moment came and then the blood spurted and madly rushed out… we were shocked” (loc 809). The reader then learns that Jakey’s pants have become visibly soaked in a large quantity of blood, which is what ultimately gets him into trouble with his mammy. This scenario felt heavily exaggerated and unrealistic. Perhaps some exceptions may exist that I am unaware of, but I have never heard of anyone’s first sexual encounter being gory enough to cause this much bloodshed.
One final point that the reader should be aware of is that the dialogue is mostly written in the accent of Tobago and Trinidad natives. Although it can be challenging to translate initially, the key is to read the dialogue phonetically before decoding the grammar. This process was challenging at first, but I gradually became more adept and was able to read and comprehend the dialogue faster.
Overall, this is a great cultural piece. The book was very well-edited, and I found no errors. The only problem that I had with the book was the intensity of the gore during one sexual encounter. Although I was confused by this part, it did not detract from my overall reading pleasure. In conclusion, I am happy to award Vanessa’s Niece by H. Horace Broomes 4 out of 4 stars for fantastic character development and storytelling. If you are interested in the culture and history of Trinidad and Tobago, or if you enjoy coming-of-age stories, this book is for you! If you are sensitive to sexual content, I would caution against reading this book.
******
Vanessa's Niece
View: on Bookshelves
