"River Woman's" Donna Hemans to peep in :-)

[ColeS]

Hello!
So, the author of River Woman , Donna Hemans, will be popping in and out of the board this week. I am not sure exactly what day and time. However, feel free to post any questions or comments regarding the book under this thread. She will be in and out and will be responding to your posts/questions.

I have a couple of my own:
1. What made you choose Kelithe as a heroine?
2. In the end it seems as if Kelithe committed suicide. What was exactly did you want the readers to take away from this?

Thanx! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[mountaingal]

Re: "River Woman's" Donna Hemans to peep in :-)

Welcome to Donna Hemans, on behalf of Jamaicans.com. Hope to see you soon and hear your words on your book and, for those of us wannabe writers [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] , your thoughts on what it takes to be an author.

Bookclubbers, you can see some commentary on "River Woman" in the first page of this thread:

http://www.jamaicans.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=17;t=000574;p=1

[Daoud4]

Re: "River Woman's" Donna Hemans to peep in :-)

That's great Coles. I'd also like to know about question #2.

I'd like to join MG in welcoming Donna Hemans. I really enjoyed this book.

[sistagirl]

Re: "River Woman's" Donna Hemans to peep in :-)

Oh my, welcome Ms Hemans, I loved your book!! let me come back and ask a few questions...oh yes, can you tell us how you came to be an author? did you keep a journal? write short stories? send your writing into magazines? How did YOU start?

[dhemans]

Re: "River Woman's" Donna Hemans to peep in :-)

Hello All,

It's certainly a pleasure to stop by and chat with you. I've heard you loved River Woman.

When I started writing River Woman, I was acquainted with a few women who were living here but whose children were still in the Caribbean. All these women were pursuing the American dream -- college and a job or two. Each were having difficulties deciding on the best time to bring their children here because of the busy schedules. While the difficult choices of the mothers stayed with me, I couldn't help but remember some of the children I'd known in Jamaica whose parents were living elsewhere. So I wanted primarily to explore the mind of a child left behind, the 'barrel children' as they're called in Jamaica. Does that child feel abandoned, or does that child understand his/her parents reasoning.

Each time somebody asks about the end of the book I say that I want readers to determine for themselves what happens. To me, yes, she commits suicide. There wer two things Kelithe wanted for most of her life: 1) her mother in her life 2) her son. And at the end both were absent for her life. What does she have left?

[dhemans]

Re: "River Woman's" Donna Hemans to peep in :-)

On being a writer:

I'm not sure there's any one thing it takes to be a writer. But it helps to be curious about lives other than ones own. And you really have to not mind being alone a lot of the time. It's hard for me to write with people around -- can't do the coffee shop thing as other creative souls like to do.

I'm not sure at what point I decided I wanted to be a writer. When I was young, I'd written a few short stories, entered writing competitions, but not with the idea that it would lead somewhere. I started college with the idea that I'd be a lawyer. But I wasn't planning on lying for a single soul other than myself. So law school was out. I started writing for the school paper and I took some creative writing classes. I loved to read and found I was more curious about fiction than journalism. After college I wrote some short stories, some magazine articles, did business journalism. But I was frustrated because I wasn't doing what I wanted to do.

When I started the first chapter of River Woman, I knew I had more than a short story, knew I needed to time and space to work on it, so I began applying to grad school. I worked on River Woman as my thesis and a few months after graduating I sold the book.

For wannabe writers, I recommend some writing classes. Perhaps not a degree course if you're still in the early stage or don't want that financial commitment, but continuing education courses at universities, classes at the YMCA, or through other writing organizations. In the DC area the Writers Center www.writers.org has classes and also has a link to classes or organizations in other areas.

Mostly what you get from writing workshops is help on seeing your work through different eyes. As we all know every mother thinks her baby is the most beautiful in the world, but the rest of us might be able to see otherwise. The workshops can't teach you to write, won't necessarily tell you how to fix a story or make it work better, but will help you see what you otherwise can't see when you're writing.

[ColeS]

Re: "River Woman's" Donna Hemans to peep in :-)

Originally posted by dhemans:
[qb]
Each time somebody asks about the end of the book I say that I want readers to determine for themselves what happens. To me, yes, she commits suicide. There wer two things Kelithe wanted for most of her life: 1) her mother in her life 2) her son. And at the end both were absent for her life. What does she have left? [/qb]

Welcome! Good to see you!
Thanx for this insight. I could have actually gone either way with this. At first I thought that she committed suicide, but then, I wanted to have so much faith in her that she is not gonna kill herself, but instead rise up and clear her name and reclaim her dignity (and reputation), all while standing up to (and cussing out [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] ) Her mother.

I know that you attended Westwood High (as did Kelithe), and you are from that area of the Country. Did you choose this school and community as the setting because you were able to draw more memories from them, or do you think that you would have accomplished the same results in another school and/or community?

Also, I assume that you are working on a second novel. Care to shed some light on it? What is it about? When can we expect it? I am definitely looking forward to it. You are a great writer!

[Daoud4]

Re: "River Woman's" Donna Hemans to peep in :-)

Originally posted by dhemans:
[qb] Hello All,

It's certainly a pleasure to stop by and chat with you. I've heard you loved River Woman.

When I started writing River Woman, I was acquainted with a few women who were living here but whose children were still in the Caribbean. All these women were pursuing the American dream -- college and a job or two. Each were having difficulties deciding on the best time to bring their children here because of the busy schedules. While the difficult choices of the mothers stayed with me, I couldn't help but remember some of the children I'd known in Jamaica whose parents were living elsewhere. So I wanted primarily to explore the mind of a child left behind, the 'barrel children' as they're called in Jamaica. Does that child feel abandoned, or does that child understand his/her parents reasoning.

Each time somebody asks about the end of the book I say that I want readers to determine for themselves what happens. To me, yes, she commits suicide. There wer two things Kelithe wanted for most of her life: 1) her mother in her life 2) her son. And at the end both were absent for her life. What does she have left? [/qb]

Exactly, except for her aging grandma.

Hello and thanks for joining us.

This is what made the book interesting to me. I couldn't imagine leaving my children, but what would I actually do if I had to make a choice like this. There's a women that I've worked with for 2 years, I just found out she has a child back home in Jamaica, a small child. She doesn't talk about it at all, but I wonder what she is going through. How will the child feel when he is able to understand that his grandma is not his mother, and his mother left him? I also have a friend who is older and was raised by a grandparent while the parents went searching for a better life for them. This friend is bitter (although she enjoys the benefits now of their labor and sacrifice), she has never told the parents, (that I'm aware of), how she feels about being left behind. Like my friend I wondered why Kelithe never said anything, why didn't she tell her mother how she felt?

Also, in the beginning, did Kelithe want her son to drown? I agree with someone who mentioned it in another thread, that perhaps for a slight moment she did, but when she realized she didn't it was too late.

[tuffstuff]

Re: "River Woman's" Donna Hemans to peep in :-)

eehm, oonu coulden tell mi fi talk prappa caw di writer ooman a come. Cho, baxcova an link post up big big.

Lawks, Ms. Hemans, I wants to tank u for your presence and mek a haks u a kestian [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

A joke, I felt that there were some pretty complex characters in the book, and of course there always seems to be mroe that's missing. Like the mom and her family in the States-- she never seemed to have an ounce of love anywhere in her life (from husban, and 2nd daughter was it) She seemed kind of cold. Distant. And thas even from before she went to the States.

Then all the women seemed to be weak and not 'typical' Jcan women. Must be only grandma did have likkle chutspa. Was this deliberate? Cause even the town women who basically ganged up on a young and 'perhaps-not-so-innocent' murderess (oops, I mean girl! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] ), even they seemed weak. Usually when we think of Jcan women, well black women period, in lit they're drawn strong, take-charge etc. Thoughts on this, pls [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Oh and congrats on writing the book an ting, good advices bout di schooling and extra class an all that stuffs. Jah bless [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[ColeS]

Re: "River Woman's" Donna Hemans to peep in :-)

The more I think and read these posts I realize that this sheds light on a much broader (and sad) issue than I originally perceived.
As a product of a Father who migrated and was away for most of my childhood, I am surprisingly not as affected as lot of others were (or still is). Or maybe mi juss nuh snap yet! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] . But still, I kept a close relationship with my Father. I moved here to live with him and he is my best friend, the giver and keeper of my soul. Its as if he never left.
However, I am aware that there are those not as fortunate to be able to say the same things I just did. The harsher part of which is facing the reality that this is just a part of life, or a part of the Jamaican (or Caribbean) life. A shame, but true nonetheless.

[Pepper]

Re: "River Woman's" Donna Hemans to peep in :-)

Welcome Ms Hemans. Thanks so much for joining our bulletin board. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I had mixed feelings about River Woman. I liked the writing style, but was quite dissapointed in the heroine. I was hoping for someone with a little more backbone. Why did you choose such a passive heroine?

How is your second novel coming? Do you have a estimate on when it will be published? Whenever it is finished please remember to drop us a line and let us know. I like to keep up with my Jamaican authors. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[dhemans]

Re: "River Woman's" Donna Hemans to peep in :-)

Being a Westwood student certainly help shape that portion of the novel, but I also drew a large part of the sections set by the river on my travels throughout Jamaica. I had relatives in Clarendon, whom we'd visit once or twice a month. And I've always remembered seeing women by the river washing, and large sections of the road washed away after heavy rains. Part of it is memory, part of it is imagination.

My second novel is set in Jamaica as well and it's about a young woman who's sent to become a domestic helper at 17 years old. It's a bit different from River Woman, I hope.

[dhemans]

Re: "River Woman's" Donna Hemans to peep in :-)

A number of people have said they hoped Kelithe would react more strongly, curse, fight back, something. I think though that Kelithe is passive because she has been waiting for 15 years for her mother and now that her mother has returned she is in a sense the five-year-old child who had been left behind. The child-like Kelithe is waiting for her mother to stand up for her. She's pining for her mother's love and attention because that's what's been missing all those years. Toward the end Kelithe does stand up at the funeral and claim her son's body.

I've known a number of people who've never been able to have meaningful relations with ther parents once they're reunited. There's one perosn I know who in her late teens asked her mother quite simply if it wasn't too late for her to be trying to play the mothering role. Others never really understand, and don't talk about it either.

Neither Kelithe and Sonya could figure out how to adjust to each other. Sonya, because she didn't know her own child, chose to believe a town that itself was acting out of character.

Sonya is selfish, had always been. And really didn't want to be a mother. I've heard of such women, the ones who drop the kids off at grandma and go off to the clubs every night. But a part of the difficulty with Sonya is that she comes back to Standfast that she had never known to demonstrate or fight against anything. SO when she sees a town 'acting out of character' she choses to believe the town rather than her own family.

On the women of the town:
Caribbean women are always shown as strong, the backbone of the family. In the sense that the women of the town gang up on Kelithe use her as a scapegoat for all their problems then yes, they may seem weak. But in fact they are the same take-charge women you're accustomed to in literature. They are the ones who push and fight, go to the police station for justice, raise a ruckus until the MP comes to the funeral with his empty promises of better roads and schools and running water. Although the women claim to be seeking justice for Timothy, they are in fact seeking better conditions for themselves and their families.

And those same strong women are the ones who turn around and gossip when something goes wrong .

[Misty]

Re: "River Woman's" Donna Hemans to peep in :-)

Ms Hemans, welcome and thanks for the insightful comments.

I was also disappointed with the portrayal of the main character. However, after reading your remarks, I understand why Kelithe behaved in that manner. It makes sense that her abandonment issues with her mother, impacted her reaction to the tragedy. In "real life" childhood wounds also plays a role in who we are.

In general, the town women were not weak. I felt that their reaction was somewhat expected (given the environment).

Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to reading more of your works [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[dhemans]

Re: "River Woman's" Donna Hemans to peep in :-)

It was great chatting with you. I'll keep you posted about my next work. You can also check for updates on my website at www.donnahemans.com.