- Paperback: 232 pages
- Publisher: Akashic Books; Reissue edition (Aug 1 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1936070103
- ISBN-13: 978-1936070107
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 295 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,488,288 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Set in James's native Jamaica, this dynamic, vernacular debut sings of the fierce battle between two flawed preachers. In 1957, the village of Gibbeah is a dusty remnant of the plantation era, halfheartedly ministered to by drunken Pastor Hector Bligh, aka the Rum Preacher. On a day beginning with a bad omen—black vultures, locally called John Crows, crash through the church windows—a man calling himself Apostle York "set[s] pon Pastor Bligh like when you beat a mangy dog" and takes over his church. Bligh takes refuge in the home of another village outcast, while York's commanding presence whips Gibbeah into a frenzy of repentance. Lucinda, long reviled as the town slut, sets her sights on salvation and the Apostle, while Clarence, with whom she had a dalliance, becomes one of "The Five," a group of young men eager to enforce York's decrees against sin. It isn't long before group cohesion becomes mob mentality, and punishments grow increasingly brutal and public. Bligh returns to the fray, and the resulting confrontations set the village on a path to destruction. With gruesome and sometimes gratuitous descriptions of sex and gore, this isn't a tale for the faint of heart, but those eager for fire-and-brimstone lyricism will find this an exciting read. (Sept.)
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.
From Booklist
Vultures, or John Crows, descend on Gibbeah, a vine-entangled Jamaican village where a catastrophic spiritual battle takes place between the Preacher and the Apostle. Pastor Hector Bligh's leadership of the Holy Sepulchral Full Gospel Church has eroded into drunken muttering by the time Apostle York arrives with his fire-and-brimstone manner and ironclad rules for holy living. As the Apostle and his five deacons engage in maniacal power-mongering, the black villagers are forced to submit to the harshness of a god in York's diseased image. Will a transformed Bligh be able to save the village? First-novelist James combines evangelical ideas about spiritual warfare with the folk traditions of voodoo and magic, producing a transfixing blend of horror and metaphor that echoes Austin Clark's Barbados tales. The result is a mesmerizing treatise on the nature of good and evil, faith and madness, guilt and forgiveness, eloquently captured in a microcosm of society. Jennifer Baker
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.8 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Couldn't Put It Down, Sep 6 2005
By Peter J. Kaszyk - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: John Crow's Devil (Hardcover)
Mr. James's use of language is musical and it immersed me solidly within the conflicts between good and evil in his novel.The settings he described were vivid, characters well drawn, and he never gave me the opportunity to yawn. It was one of the few books I had to complete in one sitting. I believe this first novel will be a collectable and I am looking forward to the next.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jamaican Country Life, Aug 17 2005
By Sha "With Multitudes of Blessings" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: John Crow's Devil (Hardcover)
If you are Jamaican, you will love this book, if you're not, this is a really good introduction to Jamaica.Though the story is fictional the characters are everywhere in this island. From the Pastor to the Apostle to Backra to the Obeyah woman, the characters were so well developed in the book that as a Jamaican I laughed at all the connections to real people I could make. All the little things that are authentically Jamaican will seem so true to one from the island, like the fact that a pastor is seen as a higher authority than everyone else and that he really can rule the place.
As I read this book, I had those moments where I giggled to myself and moments where I laughed till tears came out of my eyes. Then there were the moments where I was just holding my breath and moments where I got truly vexed. For that, I enjoyed John Crow's Devil. What made me really love it though, is that it uses Proper English spelling with Patois grammer which made it an easy flow in my Jamaican brain but for those who don't speak Patois, you will understand it just as well. That little tiny thing, for me just says, as much as I know that non-Jamaicans will be reading it, I'm not abandoning home.
Much Ratings on this project. I am just waiting to read the next one.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Imagine Jonestown 1978, with a Jamaican twist, Sep 15 2005
By Elizabeth Reynolds - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: John Crow's Devil (Hardcover)
With its sensational elements, this novel could easily become a popular movie, with lots of action. At the same time, the language is pure poetry. The author incorporates the patois of Jamaican folk with the most lyrical of English prose. (It is not unlike Toni Morrison's Sula in that respect). By juxtaposing sex and religion as his themes, he hits at the most sensitive universal points we humans face. I hope we hear more from this talented young writer from Jamaica.
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