Official Review: Vanessa's Niece by H Horace Broomes
Posted: 19 Jun 2018, 09:09
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Vanessa's Niece" by H Horace Broomes.]
3 out of 4 stars
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Jakey at fourteen might have been not philosophical or poetic yet to call his life idyllic, as he has everything going well for him, except the Sabbath. He has a loving family providing for his basic needs, instructing him on human values, bringing him up on the tenets of the Seventh Day Adventist faith, with friendly elders and teachers to boot. His day starts off by helping to feed and milk a few cows, after which is breakfast and school. However, these are for weekdays and Sundays only because Saturdays are different. Although in fairness to boys his age, they can’t be called anti-Sabbath, the day-long worship gets to him. And Sunday follows closely, another day at the church—to him that’s a double whammy. So, though quite ironic, he considers himself fortunate when he gets sick, only on weekends, that is. Then, his fortune went up a notch higher when Vanessa was assigned to look after him one Saturday. And not to worry that he missed Saturday’s church session for “Nessa” taught him some skills to make up for it. And the other girls, Rookmin and Shirley, coming one at a time, also became privy to the activity. Of course, there had been other women who interacted in Jakey’s life, in also notable passion –err, fashion, namely, Jacinta and Mrs. M. Here comes the question, which one of them is Vanessa’s niece?
The novel Vanessa’s Niece by H. Horace Broomes has stricken me with more than fascination. It is set in the little island of Tobago in the Caribbean, which my searches revealed to be populated by around 60,000 people at the latest 2011 census, mostly of African descent. That many people distributed to so many towns would relegate just a handful for each town. I just imagine that could result in a really close-knit society, where everybody knows everybody. By the way, that is small-town ambiance, the feeling you get in the novel.
Events in this novel could have transpired some few decades before and after 1958, and as the novel puts it, in the lifetime of Jake Brougham, or “Jakey” as friends and relatives in Tobago call him. The year 1958 was the year The Federation of the West Indies bogged down, and Jakey went down with it, being its employee. By 1962, the countries constituting the federation were free from Britain. So, I am just happy to have speculated some chronology to the novel, dates here being a dearth.
The novel has a unique style of writing, and it takes some time to get familiar with it. For instance, some paragraphs are composed of only one run-on sentence, but that is not to say they failed to convey the intended thought. And so, if run-on sentences seemed to be the norm, I wonder if I might as well look for the normal-length sentences to point as the errant strains, what do you say?
It amazes me how Mr. Broomes could keep two sets of rules for punctuation. One set is the standard rules for punctuation based on formal English writing, while another set of rules is used solely for the dialogue of native Tobagonians. For instance, the comma, period, and the question mark are placed outside of the last quote mark. When the words are not spelled in a conventional way, as in Tobagonian dialogue, punctuation is also unconventional. It figures.
There are some errors in spelling found, but only on the English words. Although these did not diminish my reading pleasure, I have to rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I recommend this book to lovers of romance, and also to students of cultural courses, to give them a glimpse of life in one of the islands of the Caribbean.
******
Vanessa's Niece
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3 out of 4 stars
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Jakey at fourteen might have been not philosophical or poetic yet to call his life idyllic, as he has everything going well for him, except the Sabbath. He has a loving family providing for his basic needs, instructing him on human values, bringing him up on the tenets of the Seventh Day Adventist faith, with friendly elders and teachers to boot. His day starts off by helping to feed and milk a few cows, after which is breakfast and school. However, these are for weekdays and Sundays only because Saturdays are different. Although in fairness to boys his age, they can’t be called anti-Sabbath, the day-long worship gets to him. And Sunday follows closely, another day at the church—to him that’s a double whammy. So, though quite ironic, he considers himself fortunate when he gets sick, only on weekends, that is. Then, his fortune went up a notch higher when Vanessa was assigned to look after him one Saturday. And not to worry that he missed Saturday’s church session for “Nessa” taught him some skills to make up for it. And the other girls, Rookmin and Shirley, coming one at a time, also became privy to the activity. Of course, there had been other women who interacted in Jakey’s life, in also notable passion –err, fashion, namely, Jacinta and Mrs. M. Here comes the question, which one of them is Vanessa’s niece?
The novel Vanessa’s Niece by H. Horace Broomes has stricken me with more than fascination. It is set in the little island of Tobago in the Caribbean, which my searches revealed to be populated by around 60,000 people at the latest 2011 census, mostly of African descent. That many people distributed to so many towns would relegate just a handful for each town. I just imagine that could result in a really close-knit society, where everybody knows everybody. By the way, that is small-town ambiance, the feeling you get in the novel.
Events in this novel could have transpired some few decades before and after 1958, and as the novel puts it, in the lifetime of Jake Brougham, or “Jakey” as friends and relatives in Tobago call him. The year 1958 was the year The Federation of the West Indies bogged down, and Jakey went down with it, being its employee. By 1962, the countries constituting the federation were free from Britain. So, I am just happy to have speculated some chronology to the novel, dates here being a dearth.
The novel has a unique style of writing, and it takes some time to get familiar with it. For instance, some paragraphs are composed of only one run-on sentence, but that is not to say they failed to convey the intended thought. And so, if run-on sentences seemed to be the norm, I wonder if I might as well look for the normal-length sentences to point as the errant strains, what do you say?
It amazes me how Mr. Broomes could keep two sets of rules for punctuation. One set is the standard rules for punctuation based on formal English writing, while another set of rules is used solely for the dialogue of native Tobagonians. For instance, the comma, period, and the question mark are placed outside of the last quote mark. When the words are not spelled in a conventional way, as in Tobagonian dialogue, punctuation is also unconventional. It figures.
There are some errors in spelling found, but only on the English words. Although these did not diminish my reading pleasure, I have to rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I recommend this book to lovers of romance, and also to students of cultural courses, to give them a glimpse of life in one of the islands of the Caribbean.
******
Vanessa's Niece
View: on Bookshelves
Like ReyvrexQuestor Reyes's review? Post a comment saying so!
