My rating: 3 of 5 stars
“We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it.”
----Rick Warren
Kerry Young, a Chinese African author, pens an incredibly heart breaking historical fiction, Show Me A Mountain that is set across the tropical Jamaican backdrop and it revolves around the life story of a half Chinese and half African woman growing up in an affluent household with a loving but non-caring father with ugly businesses and a mother with a terribly impulsive rage and that she deliberately ushered upon her little daughter. A story of losing love and again finding it through an exotic country and learning to forgive the past.
Synopsis:
Fay Wong is a woman caught between worlds. Her father is a Chinese immigrant who conjured a fortune out of nothing; her mother, of African heritage, grew up on a plantation and now reigns over their mansion on Lady Musgrave Road, sipping Earl Grey tea in the Kingston afternoons.
But the Chinatown haunts where her father spends his time are out of bounds to Fay, and the rooms of Lady Musgrave Road are filled with her mother's long-kept secrets and uncontrollable rages-rages against which Fay rebels as she grows from a girl into a headstrong woman.
As she tries to escape the restraints of her privileged upbringing, striving for independence in a homeland that is trying to do the same, Fay's eyes are opened to a Jamaica she was never meant to see. She encounters gangsters and revolutionaries, priests and prostitutes, and witnesses great sacrifices and betrayals. But when her mother decides that she must marry the racketeer Yang Pao, she finds herself on a journey that leads to sacrifices and betrayals of her own. In Show Me A Mountain, Kerry Young creates a vivid portrait of a woman and a country struggling to fashion a future unburdened by the past.
Fay, a barely 9 years old multi-racial girl in Jamaica is caught red handed by her African-origin mother, who then beats her up. Known for her uncontrollable rage against her own daughter and her immense love for the British and their culture, the mother constantly psychically abused Fay all through out her per-teenage days, until Fay finds a way to leave her palatial home on Lady Musgrave Road to live in a moderate and strict Catholic school. After graduation and devoid of her father's or mother's love she falls for a British refugee, who then too leaves her and travels back to England. Heartbroken Fay is soon set up by her cynical mother to marry a Chinese gangster, Fay is caught between the crossroads to become a spy or to become a loyal housewife for such a crooked man. What she chooses to do is for you to find out, so gran a copy of this book now, and lose yourself in the world of Fay and in the exotic beauty of Jamaica.
This is a soul touching story with a feel-good factor that will instantly make the readers feel delightful after reading this book, although the story will leave a gaping hole in the hearts of the readers. The author pens this tale in an interesting manner with lots of vivid details that will make the readers feel like they are experiencing each and every scenes right before their own eyes. This story reflects a fractured mother-daughter relations through ugly secrets and regrets and the reality in the dynamic of this mother-daughter duo is sympathetic and believable enough to make the readers connect with such a shaky relationship.
The author's writing is fantastic and the readers will find it easy to fathom with the story line. The emotions runs deep and syncs well with the flow of the scenes and the characters' demeanor. The narrative style of the book is bit dull yet poignant enough to pull the strings of the readers' hearts. The pacing is slow but near the climax, it catches up speed as the author rushes to tie up the loose ends but that is done quite immaculately. There are quite a lot of layers that unravel gradually through the course of the story, thereby making it intriguing enough for the readers to stay glued to the pages of this book.
The author paints the backdrop of this novel so intensely and with a myriad of colors that brings Jamaica alive in the 30s when the British ruled this tropical land. From the streets to the weather to the landscape to the food to the fashion to the then culture to its people, everything has been crafted so meticulously by the author. The timeline also syncs well with the story and it seems the author has done her research quite well, especially capturing the British dominated Jamaica so perfectly and the operation of the British army and the politics of the Queen's government.
The characters are not that well crafted out from their flaws or backstories to support their manners. In short, the characters left depth and their clichéd behavior will make them look very uninteresting in the minds of the readers. In short, they will fail to leave any lasting impression even though their past and backstories are enough detailed to convince the readers with their current behavior.
In a nutshell, this is a captivating and extremely alluring enough to make the readers lose themselves in the charm of Jamaica and into Fay's sad and painful life story. A book to be devoured slowly over a glass of red wine and exotic fruits.
Verdict: A promising read!
Courtesy: Thanks to the author's publishers for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.
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Author Info:
Kerry Young was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to a Chinese father and mother of mixed Chinese-African heritage. She came to England at the age of ten. Kerry’s background is in youth work where she worked both locally and nationally, and has also written extensively. She has Master’s degrees in organisation development and creative writing, and a PhD in youth work. Kerry Young is a Buddhist in the tradition of Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh. Her interests include Tai Chi, weight lifting and golf. She also loves jazz and plays alto and tenor saxophone.
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