Passing Through

by Colin Channer

Book Overview

From the national bestselling author of Waiting in Vain and Satisfy My Soul comes a sexy, witty collection of connected stories set on San Carlos, a tiny island with an old volcano in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning the early 1900s up to modern times, the stories trace the intersecting lives of travelers, expatriates, and local folks in ways that shock, illuminate, and reveal. From the American photographer who finds her world disturbed by new forms of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345453344
• ISBN13: 9780345453341
• Release Date: June 2004
• Publisher: One World
• Length: 351 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Fictional Island Comes to Life with Superb Writing & Theme

In Passing Through, Colin Channer's collection of interconnected stories set on the fictional Caribbean island of San Carlos, a divergent cast of characters are portrayed in matters of the heart, race, class, culture, and the frailties of the human spirit. At the apex of the storyline is St. William Rawle, whose witty epistles at the beginning of each story, is a window into the soul of the book. The stories extend over a century beginning in early 1900s. In the High Priest of Love, Eddie Blackwell is an American priest with an interracial background of black and white parentage. He has gained the respect and trust of the locals while all along he is fighting the demons of his lust when he chucks it all and takes sail on a ship. There he encounters his underage lover, Eugenia, who is of mixed blood and able to pass for white and Rosalyn, a woman who is classified as a lady of pleasure and dark-skinned, who both vie for his affections and his soul. What happens on that ship is the catalyst for the ensuing storyline. The Girl with the Golden Shoes is symbolic on so many levels. Estrella Thompson's dreams of books and learning literally drive her from her small, backward village onto a sojourning quest of self-awareness. Her travels take her to a village of East Indians, through a tribe of Caribe Indians, among Island blacks, Creole Spanish and Whites where she learns the hierarchy of racial superiority. Her quest for the shoes that will give her the respect and status she desperately seeks will also give her the backbone and tenacity to become the kind of woman that will chart her own course despite her African heritage. Relationships and love was a reoccurring theme and it was not always acceptable love by society's standard. Incest and lesbianism were handled with sensitivity and a poignant carefulness that explored the frustrations of women and men who are bound by tradition. In the title story, Passing Through, we meet Rebecca who is Arab and Cornelia, an American Black, among a myriad cast of other characters of various ethnicities and cultures who come together at a dinner party that becomes prophetic. The witty Poetic Justice in present day San Marcos will have readers guessing just how much poetic license the author took with his characters, as they are strikingly familiar. Blacks of the Diaspora are featured as they are in Revolution (anthologized in After Hours edited by Robert Fleming) and throughout the book. As a matter of fact, the global nature and sense of place in this well-written book is as much a part of the author as was related at his book signing at Marcus Book Store in Oakland. Channer waxed philosophically about his writing process and how this book came to be. He was very adamant about his feelings regarding Black writers expanding their scope in writing about characters who are other than Black, as it is known that White writers feel very comfortable writing about us. Superb and lyrical, this reviewer reread p

Life Under the Volcano

Colin Channer's Passing Through is a brilliant episodic novel that traces the lives of several characters who live on the island of San Carlos and under the threat of a volcanic eruption. His characters grapple with faith and sexuality, commitment, and the pettiness that sometimes makes island life claustrophobic. The threat of mortality adds a poignancy and intensity to their lives and Channer sustains this central metaphor throughout the novel as a backdrop that adds meaning to the most mundane acts. And then there are the beautifully wrought sentences, "But instead of discipline, she got instead of the lips, a smile whose backward peeling, like the fruit that holds the life sustaining pulp and nectar of a fruit, aroused an appetite, which in time to come would have a name." Nearly every chapter in the book has sentences like this that makes one aware of Channer's craftsmanship and his keen ear for the cadences of language. This is a book to be savored.

What a Journey!

Colin Channer takes me into his world, on to his island and into the lives of all his marvellous characters. I just finished reading the entire collection and have started it again much to the dismay of my girlfriends who all want to borrow it. But not this time, girls, you all have to buy your own copy. This one is staying right beside my bed with all the "good" parts highlighted and pages marked so I can find them easily!!!

Delight and Challenge, Resonance and Insight

This is a book that delighted and challenged me in turn. I find myself reading Channer's books for many reasons. In Passing Through, I read for the characters such as Eddie Blackwell, whose calling as a priest I finally believed when he considered living without his faith. I read for the images such as the steam boat with a proper Edwardian promenade on deck and a Caribbean fiesta below, rendered with detail and texture that this bald statement does not do justice. I read for the perfectly turned and sculpted sentences, such as 'In those days, marriage was, for women, a profession, a serious occupation that required teams of coaches, grooms and scouts'. Most of all, like the characters, I must come to terms with the events and interactions that occur. The situations are simple enough, the responses are what hold the interest. There is a strong, morally complex celebration of life which redeems the characters, and the work as a whole.As with all Channer's work, with Passing through I find myself thinking about the connections and patterns and meanings after I put it down. A phrase about kindness pops back into my mind connected with A Street Car Named Desire. The significances of the volcano are suddenly so clear I almost think I saw them all along. And I see new ways to interpret events in my own life that I thought I already understood.I recommend that you read one of Colin Channer's other novels or the novella before you read Passing Through. "Waiting in Vain", "I'm Still Waiting", or "Satisfy My Soul" will allow you to become familiar with the way Channer uses erotic situations and family history to focus on the characters' issues and relate their issues to larger human concerns. This will help you to see the subtle connections within the episodic novel structure of Passing Through. Passing Through is not a book to pick up at random, to while away a dull hour and promptly forget. Indeed, for those who enjoy the resonances and seek out the insights, this is another great book from a great author.