Annie John: Amazon.ca: Jamaica Kincaid, Charline Spektor, Cynthia Krupak: Books

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Jamaica Kincaid beautifully delineates hatred and fear, because she knows they are often a step away from love and obsession. At the start of Annie John, her 10-year-old heroine is engulfed in family happiness and safety. Though Annie loves her father, she is all eyes for her mother. When she is almost 12, however, the idyll ends and she falls into deep disfavor. This inexplicable loss mars both lives, as each grows adept at public falsity and silent betrayal. The pattern is set, and extended: "And now I started a new series of betrayals of people and things I would have sworn only minutes before to die for." In front of Annie's father and the world, "We were politeness and kindness and love and laughter." Alone they are linked in loathing. Annie tries to imagine herself as someone in a book--an orphan or a girl with a wicked stepmother. The trouble is, she finds, those characters' lives always end happily. Luckily for us, though not perhaps for her alter ego, Kincaid is too truthful a writer to provide such a finale. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

Touching and familiar, it could be happening to any of us, anywhere, any time, any place. -- The New York Times

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Customer Reviews

60 Reviews

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

Average Customer Review

3.7 out of 5 stars (60 customer reviews)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars The Dark Side of a Girl's Coming of Age, May 30 2000

By

Plume45 "kitka12345" (Westchester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Annie John (Paperback)

This book is not particularly for kids, although teenage girls may well identify with Annie's painful process of emotional disengagement with her lovely mother. In 8 slightly related vignettes Jamaica Kincaid bares her soul, as she recounts her psychological journey from adoring only-daughter of 10, into a resentful and rebellious teenager. Raised on the island nation of Antigua in the West Indies, Annie is very bright though somewhat small for her age. She impresses her teachers with her quick mind; she is immediately noticed by her new classmates as well, but they gradually realize her penchant for mischief, which increases to a general defiance of authority.

Alas, as she matures Annie develops a dark side--weaving a web of lies, deceit, theft and flagrant disobedience. As a child she is surprised that even children can die; perhaps she is shocked by the death of her own childhood innocence. As a preteen she has secret or sudden friendships of incredible intensity; she is tormented by the desire for her body to ripen (lying top-naked under a full moon might help) and later by the jeers of older boys.

Most of all Annie practices a secret life nurtured in her own devious mind, as her feelings of love and respect for her mother are twisted into veiled hatred--an unverbalized enmity of long-standing, which may be inevitable when women (which she desperately wants to become) are at war. Is this the only way she can proclaim her own identity, by this cruel and silent antagonism before a father who seems not to notice?

Annie also wrestles with: conflicting beliefs about black magic; a terrifying protracted illness of both mind and body; and her confusion about her older father's sexuality. Walking the tightrope between modern ideas and centuries of vodoo practice, she despairs of escaping the confines of her island home. Must she travel to distant England in order to reclaim the right to her own womanhood? This is not a sympathetic protagonist, yet her inner struggle touches a poingant spring in the hearts of all women who have grappeled with the jealousy of maturation. ANNIE JOHN is amusing in parts, deeply provocative, and relevant to the universal woman, but with a distinctly dark side.

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Didn't quite get it., Nov 14 2000

By

James L. Ruble "drjim" (mobile, al) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Annie John (Paperback)

I kept wanting to ask my wife if it rang true. A girl coming of age story that as a guy I just didn't relate to. A girl starts in a happy family and comes to hate her mother and become depressed slowly cutting herself off from her world until finally she leaves home to go to England. Maybe I'm too old and male to understand what this girl was going through, but I seldom understood her motivation.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars The most boring book in the history of boring books., April 3 2001

By

vs (hillsborough, ca United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Annie John (Paperback)

Jamaica Kincaid's piece of garbage Annie John is by far the most boring book that I have ever read in my entire life. Kincaid's writing would make for an interesting read, if she were to actually have the characters do things in this novel instead of whine and moan. Here is a summary of everything that happens in this novel: Annie John whines for 150 pages and then the book ends. Annie, the protagonist, is probably the most whiniest character I have ever had the displeasure of reading about. Books like this make me wonder if being literate is actually a good thing.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A book of wonder
A book of wonder. Brilliantly written. I was not able to put it down. A devine creature must have guided Kincaid's hand.

Published on Jun 12 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent
this book shows jamaica kincaid writing skills. I also like the setting of her book. although she doesn't get straight to the point she does not let you get bored through the... Read more

Published on Jun 10 2004 by alisha noble