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4.0étoiles sur 5
let me clarify, Mai 16 2001
i said it was "misogynistic and a titular letdown andthis is why:It's VERY funny, up there with Naipaul's Miguel Street, but the title would make you think that the novel would go a bit deeper into the issues of immigration, adjusting to a new country etc. Selvon explores the community formed by these outsiders (the main characters are mostly male) but it is a superficial kind of network. The novel starts out well, describing humourously how difficult it is to adjust to the cold weather, and in 1950's London, a Jim Crowish racism with slogans like "keep London white" etc. To give him credit Selvon does comment on the superficial relationships ate the end of the novel, so hey it could be that this was exactly the experience he wanted us to have: see the shallow networks thruout, wonder why the characters don't then have 1 of them in particular Finally come to terms with it) But these men don't seem so lonely to me, most of the novel is one sexual conquest after another (not detailed, the expletives are also replaced with dashes) and women are constantly replaced with "a piece of skin", "a little thing", "a cat" "a craft" and the women who are detailed are either prostitutes, battered wives, gossipers etc. etc. Unlike the cover's mention of "living hand to mouth", these men seem to be all for sowing their royal oats, and whatever they earn is spent straightaway on prostitutes. so [whoevever said] this book shows the caribbean world-view, i beg to differ. Instead of seriously commenting on the racism, Selvon reinforces it and trivialises it. The men's antics don't expose "harsh realities" but seem to reinforce the xenophobic idea that the immigrats are lazy and without ambition. One instance that disappointed me was one character's conversation with his skin which he calls "Black", in which he says: "A little work, a little food a little sleep.. we only want to get by, we don't even want to get on". Although it's as funny as Miguel Street, that novel went deeper and showed really how sad and frustrated those lives were. In "MS" the characters all yearn for more beneath the superficial boasting, but "LL" makes them appear unambitious and content so long as they had the basic necessities.
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