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Product Description
Ah, to be an embryo again. Vanier's story begins where we all begin: conception. This delightful piece of life writing, set on the Caribbean island of St Kitts, recalls the mischief of Vanier s childhood: sneaking out to the cinema after school hours, throwing stones at a passing car, disastrous experiments involving various acids and a rocket. Is this boy lost in the plain sailing of childhood or can he turn his curiosity into Caribbean Chemistry? This is a story of self-discovery, told candidly in language rich enough to eat: Breadfruit, breadnut, bamboo, lignum vitae, marouba, weedee, and calabash. Funny and engaging, a story about breaking the barriers of identity and finding them again. A rare view of the emigrants tale.
About the Author
Christopher Vanier retired from engineering to write. He has read at the British Institute of Paris and The American Library of Paris. In 2006 he was awarded first prize at the annual WICE Paris Writers Workshop. In the same year he won a fellowship to the Summer Literary Seminar in Kenya. Vanier lives in Paris.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"'Caribbean Chemistry' portrays the lost history of British West Indian life in the 1940s and 1950s, a world emerging from the shadows of the even darker, slave-holding past. The tensions of who could play with whom; of who visited whom; or of how people saw themselves and one another in terms of colour, dress, social rank and education march through the narrative of Vanier's early life. For someone who lived through those times of fading colonialism, Vanier's book makes compelling reading. His St Kitts is no different from my Jamaica: going to a high school was a matter of narrow privilege. Going to a university required an act of God: a scholarship (one for each territory) granted by the island government. More poignant still are Vanier's accounts of how a single book on child-rearing could - in the hands of his determined mother - alter opinions and behaviour in that culture. One sees so many ripples as the story takes us from infancy to lively boyhood to the moral struggles of adolescence. This book should be read by every young West Indian, and, for the middle-aged and elderly, it will revive rich visions of our past.
Jean D'Costa
University of the West Indies, 1962-77
Hamilton College, N.Y. 1980-98
Jean D'Costa
University of the West Indies, 1962-77
Hamilton College, N.Y. 1980-98
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In this book, Christopher Vanier takes the first nineteen years of his life and opens them up to the reader. In the process of being entertained by the tales of his naive childhood, awkward early years at school and self-assured late teens, we learn about the geography, history and politics of the region. Vanier's boarding school experiences give an insight into the pack-like behaviour of boys and through his relationship with his family, particularly his three siblings, we see the familiar growth from an egocentric child to a mature adult - a process of which the teenage Vanier is mostly unaware.
With so many 'celebrity' autobiographies doing the rounds, it is interesting to read a well-written and genuine autobiography written without cynicism and with a genuine intention of documenting the colourful experiences the author has had which proves the point that someone does not need to have worked in the entertainment industry for their story to be worthy of attention.
With so many 'celebrity' autobiographies doing the rounds, it is interesting to read a well-written and genuine autobiography written without cynicism and with a genuine intention of documenting the colourful experiences the author has had which proves the point that someone does not need to have worked in the entertainment industry for their story to be worthy of attention.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this book randomly at a Barnes and Nobles when I went back home to Austin and picked it up because I liked the cover. Then reading the opening lines, I have to agree with the little book description, beginning a story about your life from the moment of conception is a pretty ingenius idea. I really liked this book. It plugged me right into the life on St. Kitts with all it's little amusing and harrowing episodes. I like this guy a lot more than this Junoet Diaz guy everybody was making a big deal over not too long ago. He's a lot more light hearted but still meaningful. He doesn't ride that bad boy turned saint thing ad naseum like he does.
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