Brown Girl in the Ring, by Nalo Hopkinson (#7)

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Brown Girl in the Ring, by Nalo Hopkinson

This was a fantastic read -- very entertaining and above all very fresh.

Ti-Jeanne lives with her newborn son and her grandmother, Mami, in "the Burn" -- the interior city of Toronto, after both business and government abandoned it and fled to the suburbs. Her life of inner-city subsistence, aiding her grandmother's work as a nurse, herbalist and healer, is interrupted when her baby's father turns up. The father, Tony, has failed to complete an organ-harvesting mission for the powerful and dangerous leader of the Burn's pre-eminent gang, the 'posse,' and the leader, Rudy, is now after him. To escape, he must turn to Mami's potent spiritual practices -- but Rudy is not without power of his own....

I said at first that the book was 'fresh,' and what I mean by that is that it's not quite like any other urban fantasy I've ever read. And I've read quite a bit, from the early-90s elves-in-rock-bands to the badass-women-plus-vampires-and-shapeshifters of the 2000s. But the Caribbean mythic and religious themes in Brown Girl in the Ring were something completely new to me, and wonderful (in both senses of the world). It was very powerful and very real and also engaging because it wasn't the same thing again.

I also liked the way the story of the quasi-post-apocalyptic Burn didn't just focus on the gangs and violence. They were definitely there, and a very real threat that Ti-Jeanne was aware of, but much of the book was about the details of daily life in that world: Mami's herb garden and home remedies, the roti shop, the way food was grown, acquired and prepared, the fact that everyone got around on bicycles. Which isn't to say that the story was quiet -- it was a page-turner, with a lot of exciting action -- but I am a big fan of that kind of detail of everyday life.

I also liked that, while Tony and Ti-Jeanne's relationship was important and complex, it wasn't Ti-Jeanne's only important relationship. Indeed, her relationship with Mami was probably the most vital in the book, both in the sense of being the most important and in the sense of being the most vivid and alive. The book wasn't about romance -- it was about family. It was very much about family.

I also loved that the supernatural characters were just as well-characterized as the human ones.

Anyway. Highly recommended, a page-turning read that wasn't just more of the same urban fantasy.

Comments

[supermouse.livejournal.com]

50_books_poc is eating my book budget. This one goes on April's list...

[coraa.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. (The other problem is that I try a book based on a rec here, and then I enjoy it and want to buy all the author's other books, too! Great for the reading list, not so great for the budget....)

[supermouse.livejournal.com]

I don't buy books until towards the end of the month, when I can see how much spare cash I have left. *Normally* this doesn't matter much.

[floriatosca.livejournal.com]

I've just started the book a few days ago, and I love the details of daily life Hopkinson puts in.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

That was one of my favorite things. A lot of post-apoc stuff sort of glosses over that -- it's implied that 'other people' do the kind of work necessary to make sure that there are food, clothes, shelter and transportaiton -- and it was nice to see the lives of those 'other people' explored in more depth.

[troubleinchina.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, what I liked most about this book was that it took place in post-apocalyptic Toronto. My Western Alienation: Let me show you it. ;)

I didn't like this book as much as you did, but I liked it enough that I'm on the look out for her other books. I love her writing style!

Edited because this comment needed a Canadian-based icon. ;)