A Small Place

Jamaica Kincaid

Apr 2000 · Sold by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

About this ebook

A brilliant look at colonialism and its effects in Antigua--by the author of Annie John

"If you go to Antigua as a tourist, this is what you will see. If you come by aeroplane, you will land at the V. C. Bird International Airport. Vere Cornwall (V. C.) Bird is the Prime Minister of Antigua. You may be the sort of tourist who would wonder why a Prime Minister would want an airport named after him--why not a school, why not a hospital, why not some great public monument. You are a tourist and you have not yet seen . . ."

So begins Jamaica Kincaid's expansive essay, which shows us what we have not yet seen of the ten-by-twelve-mile island in the British West Indies where she grew up.

Lyrical, sardonic, and forthright by turns, in a Swiftian mode, A Small Place cannot help but amplify our vision of one small place and all that it signifies.

Ratings and reviews

Honestly, I expected this memoir to be a sluggish journey for my attention span. But it wasn't. I read the book straight through stopping only once to eat a snack, for two reasons: a. I have a paper due tomorrow on it, and b. I actually liked it. She seems a bit bipolar and selfish. But than again, we all are a little selfish about where we come from. And luckily, only a few of us are so bipolar about it.

This story supplied a wide array of many emotions. The view points shifted, making it easier to understand the different feelings of the mind of the Antiguans, but also from the stand point of the tourist. I liked the way Kincaid used sarcasm as the main tone of this work. I enjoyed it mostly, but the reason for the four stars is the vernacular was a tinse difficult to understand at times.

Kincaids Work is Consistently Awesome

About the author

Jamaica Kincaid was born in St. Johns, Antigua. Her books include At the Bottom of the River, Annie John, Lucy, The Autobiography of My Mother, and My Brother (all published by FSG). She lives with her family in Vermont.