Official True History of Paradise discussion

[mountaingal]

Morning bookies!! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70459-hugs.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70371-jump.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/bannana_purple.gif[/img]

This is how we'll do it: We'll start with a broad discussion of the book overall, what we thought of it as a novel, then we'll delve into specific themes. I'll take the pulse of people's comments to decide which themes to explore first. okay? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70368-hoppingmad.gif[/img]

I'll start with my summary/opinion of the book. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Feel free to jump in.

[mountaingal]

Re: Official True History of Paradise discussion

True History of Paradise is a story of three women: Jean, her mother Monica and her sister Lana, and their life in Jamaica.

The book is also a story of Jamaica – from the brutal political reality in the late 1970s, working backwards in history through the thoughts and words of Jean’s ancestors. We see that the brutality has been a constant in Jamaica, and is reflected both in the wider society and in the relationships between the characters – in particular between lovers, and between parents and children.

[mountaingal]

Re: Official True History of Paradise discussion

Jean is on the run. Jamaica seems to be descending into civil war. The government is flirting with Communism, soldiers and police seem to be given extraordinary leeway to brutalize the population. She herself, her friends, her family, are attacked.

She is frightened, she has no more hope in her country, and she fears the death of hope in her life.

An American (who is the least developed character and yet given one of the most influential roles in the book) offers her an opportunity to leave via a fake passport and a plane ride from an unknown airfield in St. Ann. Jean’s best friend Paul drives her from Kingston to her destination – hours filled with tension as they deal with checkpoints manned by strange and unpredictable cops and soldiers, and witness death – deliberate and casual – among snatches of ordinary life they encounter on the road.

[mountaingal]

Re: Official True History of Paradise discussion

In leaving Jamaica, Jean leaves behind her mother Monica, a successful business woman – beautiful, iron-willed, scornful of weakness and the architect of her other daughter Lana’s tragic fortunes.

Monica appears to have no capacity to love – she has sacrificed compassion and sensitivity in order to survive her poor childhood, and later, to survive a Jamaica that would appear to eat weak people alive.

[mountaingal]

Re: Official True History of Paradise discussion

Lana – impossibly beautiful, talented yet unstable – is the weakness in Monica’s life. She is the product of a doomed love relationship with the son of an Indian businessman, who moves heaven and earth to prevent his son from marrying Monica, who was a teenager when she got pregnant.

Lana’s father, Deepa, showed weakness in not standing up to his father, Monica feels, and Monica’s contempt for Deepa is transferred to their child.

Yet Lana never gives up trying to get her mother’s love, and ultimately, is broken spiritually by her failure to get through to Monica.

[mountaingal]

Re: Official True History of Paradise discussion

This book is also very much a story of Jamaica’s racial history. Using various plot devices (old manuscripts, memory, giving Jean the gift of second sight) the author weaves in testimony from various ancestors in Jean’s family. These include slave and free women and men involved in insurrections, German settlers duped by a colonial company, a Chinese Hakka streetboy who runs off from his indenture and opens a shop, and various English.

In these narratives, our sense of Jamaica’s racial history is both enhanced and affirmed – then, as now, power and sex are interwoven in the relationships between people of different races, and prejudices persist even into the current days.

[mountaingal]

Re: Official True History of Paradise discussion

The main theme for me in this book is that brutality is constant – it is in our society, and has been before our ancestors reached Jamaica. It is in our relationships with each other. We try to find ways to overcome the brutality, and sometimes, it seems easier to deal with it by either becoming brutal ourselves, or becoming indifferent. If we try to match the brutality with love, we will get betrayed, and the brutality will consume us. Lana discovered that.

[mountaingal]

Re: Official True History of Paradise discussion

waiting on the readers to remember the story and rope een

[loops]

Re: Official True History of Paradise discussion

your summary was a great capsulization of the book mtngal...from what i remember. I haven't re-read the book as i gave mine away and haven't had time to reorder. I'll enjoy your discussions from afar...i'm sure it will inspire me to do a re-read. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]

[seemiyah]

Re: Official True History of Paradise discussion

See mi yah! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] Ok great summary MG so I will just give an overall opinion of the book right now. I thought it was very well written. Even though a lot of characters were in the book they were all introduced in such a way that it was not confusing. I liked how each "ancestor" was introduced and found their stories captivating especially since most if not all were 'foreigners' and discussed how they came to be in Jamaica.

Jean I was a little ambivalent towards as it seems like she was caught between two very strong dominant personalities, her mother and sister and she was caught in the middle. So she sort of went with the flow and had no real passion within her.

I would have liked to have more of a back story on Monica since they did one on Deepa (although now that I think of it he was dead and so were all the others) but I would have liked to have heard more from her as to what she really felt towards Lana and why she was as driven as she was.

Poor Lana is all I can say on her for now.

[mountaingal]

Re: Official True History of Paradise discussion

[ QUOTE ]
Jean I was a little ambivalent towards as it seems like she was caught between two very strong dominant personalities, her mother and sister and she was caught in the middle. So she sort of went with the flow and had no real passion within her.

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i agree, and therefore didn't quite buy the sexual arousal that Alan induced in her. In fact, I was quite peed that the most explicit sexual commentary occurred in describing her rumpy-pumpy with this chunky American (actually, I guess he was English but lived in the States). I don't understand her muted sexual desire when it came to Paul, caw it seem to me that he would have been the first one for her - me'da find that more believable.

[ QUOTE ]
I would have liked to have more of a back story on Monica since they did one on Deepa (although now that I think of it he was dead and so were all the others) but I would have liked to have heard more from her as to what she really felt towards Lana and why she was as driven as she was.

[/ QUOTE ]

yes, you kinda had to tease out Monica's motivations from the words of others. what I gathered is that Monica's race pride, being the brown-skinned daughter of German extraction, led her to a sense of entitlement, and that when Deepa's family rebuffed her, she was wounded so had to protect herself by growing a hard shell. That's why she rejected Lana, who symbolized her humiliation.

Also, I think she fits a stereotype of a certain type of Jamaican woman, and so maybe the author feels that we would "get" Monica without too much explanation of her motivations. In fact, I could think of at least one JLP woman I worked briefly with in the 1980s who seems very much like Monica.

[ QUOTE ]
Poor Lana is all I can say on her for now.

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walking wounded - like so many of us...

[mountaingal]

Re: Official True History of Paradise discussion

which one of the ancestral stories did you find most interesting?

[Magician]

Re: Official True History of Paradise discussion

Great start MG! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]

The reason why I particularly like this book is because of all the details in it. The character development is phenomenal.

I don't know about you, but I can picture all the main characters clearly in my minds eye, and most of them remind me of someone I know or used to know. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]

The whole setup of the book, with Jean driving across the island, and re-living the events leading up to the said journey is very clever and keeps up the suspence and pace. The intewoven monologues from the ancestors add to the texture of the story, and explain by what forces the main characters were shaped.

Throughout the book you keep on hoping that Jean will still tell Paul to turn back, and return to Kingston [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70384-praying.gif[/img] but you know she won't. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[ QUOTE ]
I would have liked to have more of a back story on Monica since they did one on Deepa (although now that I think of it he was dead and so were all the others) but I would have liked to have heard more from her as to what she really felt towards Lana and why she was as driven as she was.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think we know all we need to know about Monica. Although it is scattered throught the book, her character is nicely developed. And as many faults as Monica has, I can't help but to like her. Especially the 'bread' episode! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

"Monica took the gun from her desk and went outside. The crowd hushed when they saw her. Then somebody shouted: 'Look ya, John Wayne,' and there was laughter. Monica picked up one of the rocks that had been thrown and the crowd grew quiet again. 'Is this I mus tek mek bread? I mus mek bread from stone?' [...] A man ran to the fron of the crowd and hurled a rock. It flew a few inches past her head, shattering a window. Monica shot the man. [...] She turned again to Faye, 'Gwan invite you Cuban friend dem. Mek America come bomb we. Bun down de place. You know what?' She settles back comfortably in her chair. 'Me go stay right-ya-so same way.'"

Monica she nuh easy at all at all!! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

[seemiyah]

Re: Official True History of Paradise discussion

MG I like "Doctor Wife" can't remember her real name Mary's mother and of course Mr. Ho Sing. Even though it was a different kind of ancestor story I especially liked how she did the African ancestor in that chant/song like prose near the end.

Magic, yes Monica is a well developed character and I liked her tenacity and her steadfastness, however I just wanted to know from 'her' why she was how she was and not just everybody else filling in the blanks as to this is the reason why she so hard, they could be wrong. The bread incident was funny and you could really see her shooting the man and her triumph in the way it worked out.

Oh and I could feel some sexual tension between Paul and Jean and I kept wondering if they were going to have a one time roll around but I am kinda glad they kept it 'pure'. MG I am with you on the Alan thing, although since this was after Jean's slasher incident I felt like she wouldn't let her guard down with a JA man and so Alan was safe to her and she could let loose!

[mountaingal]

Re: Official True History of Paradise discussion

Magic, that gun shot sequence is funny and terrible all at the same time. I cannot help but think that Monica herself was no better than the hooligans, and although I sense we're supposd to cheer for her at that point, I have to admit that I couldn't really. Again, the theme that brutality is best met with brutality.

I suppose that scene is sort of a signature scene for her. Like how the scene where Lana comes to visit Jean and decides to bravado her way in to meet Monica, only to be cruelly rebuffed. That is signature scene for Lana to me - combines her pathos, her foolhardiness in thinking she can outwill her mother, and her utter, crushing devastation when she fails.

You know, after all that Lana goes through, i'm surprised she no dead earlier! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]

What is Jean's signature scene - the scene that communicates her essence as a character? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70402-thinking.gif[/img] I can't seem to think of one? she's something of a cypher really, a backdrop to the other, more vivid characters.