- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd (10 July 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0224080857
- ISBN-13: 978-0224080859
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 13.8 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 921,961 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Strange Music
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More About the Author
Product Description
Sunday Times, Rev'd Elizabeth Buchan
`clearly a gifted writer, and her manipulation of language is her forte - brilliant, sensuous and shocking'
Telegraph, Rev's by Helen Brown
`Fish is a passionate and poetic writer'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
'In blue light Master Sam lies, sickly face sweating yellow. Hips, shins, spine - him body curl up making spiral shell shape.'
The first sentence of the novel introduces Sam Barrett as seen by a West Indian 'apprentice' - a former slave.
This is a fascinating juxtaposition of stories from the points of view of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and of two slaves of her family sugar plantation in the West Indies - Sheba, a field slave and Kaydia, a maid. Kaydia becomes mistress to Elizabeth Barrett's brother Sam to stop her young daughter being assaulted by him. The lack of control that the slaves / 'apprentices' have over their lives is almost obscene in contrast to the depiction of the corrupt plantation owners and even Elizabeth Barrett's invalid concerns in Torquay.
There is a sense of impending doom in the novel - a lack of control of self determination, whether of slave or invalid. The different voices employed - patois and Barrett's poetry - underline the differences in their lives, though it can make the reading difficult at times.
The novel reminded me of Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea, of course. The horrible and hidden decadence in the Barrett family in the West Indies is contrasted with their life in England. Barrett feels the 'pollution' of slavery, in contrast her father wishes none of them to marry as their black blood would continue to pollute the family line.
Strong on atmosphere and place and mostly successful in weaving the disparate stories together. Nearly four stars
The first sentence of the novel introduces Sam Barrett as seen by a West Indian 'apprentice' - a former slave.
This is a fascinating juxtaposition of stories from the points of view of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and of two slaves of her family sugar plantation in the West Indies - Sheba, a field slave and Kaydia, a maid. Kaydia becomes mistress to Elizabeth Barrett's brother Sam to stop her young daughter being assaulted by him. The lack of control that the slaves / 'apprentices' have over their lives is almost obscene in contrast to the depiction of the corrupt plantation owners and even Elizabeth Barrett's invalid concerns in Torquay.
There is a sense of impending doom in the novel - a lack of control of self determination, whether of slave or invalid. The different voices employed - patois and Barrett's poetry - underline the differences in their lives, though it can make the reading difficult at times.
The novel reminded me of Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea, of course. The horrible and hidden decadence in the Barrett family in the West Indies is contrasted with their life in England. Barrett feels the 'pollution' of slavery, in contrast her father wishes none of them to marry as their black blood would continue to pollute the family line.
Strong on atmosphere and place and mostly successful in weaving the disparate stories together. Nearly four stars
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