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From Amazon
Shani Mootoo's Cereus Blooms at Night put her on the literary map with its sensuous Caribbean imagery, heart-wrenching narrative, and cast of thoroughly imagined, idiosyncratic islanders. Nine years later, this absorbing second novel adds to the Trinidadian-Canadian author's reputation, offering a teasingly brief, blink-and-you'll-miss-it answer to the unsolved mystery at the core of the first one while introducing a new multiracial cross-section of colonial and post-colonial Trinidadian society--this time fictionalized as "Guanagaspar." Mootoo follows a middle-aged Indo-Caribbean man, Harry St. George, through the early stages of a budding relationship with an appealing Canadian woman in B.C., which is nipped by a summons back home to help with an emergency involving his life-long friend, Rose Bihar. With the seductive but threatening roar of the sea always in the background, Mootoo probes Harry and Rose's childhood involvement and the peasant boy's unrequited love for his higher-class friend. Rose eventually marries Guanagaspar's attorney general while Harry moves oceans away to Canada and becomes a successful designer of gardens.
Transgressive and transcendent passions involving children, an undercurrent of potentially explosive violence, a circuitous narrative structure that painstakingly teases out the tangled roots of enduring love: these elements from Cereus Blooms are also present in full measure in He Drown She in the Sea. And while the new novel's characters are more conventional, its events less extraordinary and surprising (and far less horrific) than the earlier one's, Mootoo demonstrates again her skill at evoking atmosphere, sustaining mystery, and building sympathy between the reader and her vulnerable characters. As before, Mootoo's desire for a satisfying, even utopian conclusion may be criticized as contrived, but it also seems earned--by the characters and by the reader who has intimately shared their longings and burdens. --John C. Ball --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
The fictional island of Guanagaspar is again Mootoo's primary setting in his second novel, and, like Cereus Blooms at Night, the story is rich in the patois and daily rhythms of the Caribbean. Half-caste Harry St. George and his childhood love, Rose, the daughter of his mother's employer, are driven apart by the island's systemic patriarchy and racism, while also shaped by its simple beauty and languorous charms. Decades after their forced separation, Harry has made a good life for himself in British Columbia, but he can't forget his homeland or Rose. One of Mootoo's real accomplishments is his portrayal of the expatriate Harry. A quiet and unassuming man who takes pride in his seaside house and landscaping work, Harry socializes infrequently and dates with shy ineptitude. He is constrained by longing and memories of Rose, but remains stoic, accepting his condition even as it continues to torment him. Meanwhile, Rose still lives in Guanagaspar, married to the powerful attorney general of the island. She lives like a minor celebrity, but her life is not fulfilling. She begins to feel that Harry was the only one to ever look past her beauty and see her real self. Rose's daughter, now residing in Vancouver, provides a ready excuse for her to travel to Canada and reconnect with Harry. The trip itself, like much of the novel, is recounted in snippets and flashbacks, from many points of view, which gives the tale a fine-grained, beautifully textured finish. Agent, Maria Massie. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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First Sentence
It was not yet the end of the rainy season, and the air in the house bristled with all manner of trouble. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
It was not yet the end of the rainy season, and the air in the house bristled with all manner of trouble. Read the first page
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5.0 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Voted Best New Author 2005, Mar 8 2006
By Mahogany Book Club "Mahogany Media Review" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: He Drown She In The Sea (Hardcover)
I can't believe there are no reviews for this novel. This was a moving story and was very well crafted. The story keeps you and holds you. I'm looking forward to reading more from this outstanding author. Check it out. You will like this novel.Reviewed by
Dawnny
Mahogany Media Review
Albany, N.Y.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
How pleased I am to have found this wonderful novel, Mar 18 2010
By shanarufus - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: He Drown She in the Sea: A Novel (Paperback)
A reviewer at The Millions blog had a terrific piece on the idea of disappearance and vanishing and she included some book suggestions. He Drown She was one of the Canadian recommendations and my library had only one copy--at my branch. Meant to be! Really loved this book. Unlike any other which is certainly high praise. The action moves back and forth between Harry the adult man living in Vancouver, BC, and Harry (always called "the boy" in the island section) living his Caribbean life on a fictional island called Guanagaspar.It is an epic in that the novel takes place over the course of generations. But to its credit and my delight, it didn't feel like an epic. I don't like epics. I don't like the arc of epics and He Drown She never lost its smallness in the fascinating and essential minutiae of daily life and the characters' desires--for autonomy, for freedom, for respect. We have characters whose ancestors were from India, characters whose ancestors were African slaves. Strong central characters, especially Dolly, Harry's mother. White people are unknown until they come to fortify the island at the beginning of WW2. Of course the island changes over time, but how the people change, the ones we come to know with great fondness--that is the core of the book.
The language is in dialect but it is not difficult. It's not a creole language, just their way of English. I heard the lilt as the words were spoken on the page.
I have a bunch of people in my life who like my taste in books and are eager for my recommendations. I have sent an email around telling them of this wonderfully original novel.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well worth reading, April 8 2009
By N. A. Norman - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: He Drown She in the Sea: A Novel (Paperback)
Read for Books In The Woods -- a northern Minnesota excursion. The first chapter's language is worth working through. As you become more comfortable, it adds a wonderful layer to a story that is both compelling and delightful. High recommendations from me and the group in northern MN.
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