Flickering Shadows

by Kwadwo Agymah Kamau

Book Overview

Political corruption, lust, and betrayal poison a Caribbean island paradise.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566890497
• ISBN13: 9781566890496
• Release Date: September 1996
• Publisher: Coffee House Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Buy this book!

I have no familiarity with the Caribbean or its culture. I bought the book by chance from a mark-down table a year or two ago. Having just finished reading it, I wish I could give it more than five stars. I found it entertaining, funny, thought provoking, and poetic. Probably one of the best pieces of fiction I've read in years. I'm hoping Kamau has written more that I can read. What a talent! What an enjoyable reading experience! And yes, profoundly original in its concept. Wow.

Humor and heritage C'bean style

This novel was a serendipitous gem! Who would have thought that an unknown author whose book was hidden on the sale shelf would bring so much enjoyment to those of us who are C'bean and proud of it? The author intertwined the spiritual realm with the realities of a small Caribbean nation. The results were hilarious (most of the time)and thought provoking (all of the time). The men and women that inhabit this novel are family to me. They live the life my grandparents experienced and through all the hardships maintained a dignity and love of life that was a joy to read. If you enjoy Sam Selvon and other classic C'bean writers, dig into this book. After I reluctantly finished this book, I immediately lent it to my Bajan friend, who related to it even more than I did. I hope that I am lucky enough to find somethng else by this wonderful author.

A different kind of ghost story

Ten pages into this book the narrator dies. From then on he's a duppy alternately watching and interfering with the actions of mortals. Plenty of ghosts join in the fun but it is largely the Narrator's perspective. Rather than being an omniscent detached narrator, this is a first person story told from someone who'd love to join in on the lives of others but can't. He's bitter, cantankerous, judgemental and altogether foolish for a dead guy. He even influences a decision and then later regrets it as nepotism. He's hilarious.And he's gotta be funny, because the main plotline is depressing. On a small Carribean island in the worst spot of land, a missionary moves in with an agenda to buy up the land and exploit the resources. The two main characters try to oppose him but they spend most of their time betraying each other as well as getting thrown in jail by the corrupt officials. There's also precognizance that ultimately they'll both be killed as well as their children. Around them are assassinations, brutality and politicians uniformly corrupt and/or stupid.Still, as the ghost telling the story doesn't seem to mind, you are moved along the plotline without letting yourself get too bogged down in the horrors. Akin to Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabelle Allende this is in many ways a much more robust version of the Magical Realism genre.