Ratings2
Average rating4.5
How To Love A Jamaican, a compilation of short stories, speaks to various experiences and issues being grappled with by both the Jamaican Diaspora and Jamaicans still on the island. These stories explore sexuality, fidelity, success and what that looks like for different individuals, gentrification, travel, where to build roots, body image, love, self- love, self-discovery, motherhood, fatherhood, the immigrant experience, one foot here and one foot there.
I recommend the audiobook. It was narrated by different voices and that along with the actual story being told kept me engaged.
I received a digital copy via the publisher via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review. At the time of this review, I audiobooked this from my library and is based on that copy.
I received the ARC from Ballantine Books and I'm glad I did. There is beauty and sadness in Arthurs' stories. For me, her stories are eye opening for anyone who isn't a foreigner in America (perhaps some who are). The struggles here, the decision to come and/or stay, the life one leaves for a better one here only to discover what they must give up in order to stay – sometimes their children so they may work, sometimes their soul – marrying to stay here and not for love, are woven beautifully through this collection. I found the irony of leaving Jamaica for a better life, but sending a child back home to rid them of their Americanize self heartbreaking, but admirable. Many of her stories are stuck in my mind. Like many, I look forward to her next body of work, be it another collection or a novel.