Search Results: Returned 3 Results, Displaying Titles 1 - 3
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04:56:49 Edition: Unabridged. Click to access digital title. Summary Note: Set in the neighbourhood of "Little Jamaica," Frying Plantain follows a girl from elementary school to high school graduation as she navigates the tensions between mothers and daughters, second-generation immigrants experiencing first-generation cultural expectations, and Black identity in a predominantly white society. Kara Davis is a girl caught in the middle-of her North American identity and her desire to be a "true" Jamaican, of her mother and grandmother's rages and life lessons, of having to avoid being thought of as too "faas" or too "quiet" or too "bold" or too "soft." In these twelve interconnected stories, we see Kara on a visit to Jamaica, startled by the sight of a severed pig's head in her great-aunt's freezer; in junior high, the victim of a devastating prank by her closest friends; and as a teenager in and out of her grandmother's house, trying to cope with ongoing battles of unyielding authority. A rich and unforgettable portrait of growing up between worlds, Frying Plantain shows how, in one charged moment, friendship and love can turn to enmity and hate, well-meaning protection can become control, and teasing play can turn to something much darker.
![Frying plantain [eAudiobook]](/Library/images/~imageCT103431.JPG "Frying plantain [eAudiobook]")
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2022., Catapult Call No: BLK Fic Irv Edition: First Catapult edition. Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: The Islands follows the lives of Jamaican women--immigrants or the descendants of immigrants--who have relocated all over the world to escape the ghosts of colonialism. Set in the United States, Jamaica, and Europe, these international stories examine the lives of an uncertain and unsettled cast of characters. In one story, a woman and her husband impulsively leave San Francisco and move to Florida with wild dreams of American reinvention only to unearth the horrible cracks in their marriage. In another, the only Jamaican mother at a pricey prep school feels pressure to volunteer at the school's International Day. With locales ranging from 1950s London to 1960s Panama to modern-day New Jersey, author Dionne Irving reveals the intricacies of immigration and assimilation, establishing a new and unforgettable voice in Caribbean American literature. Restless, displaced, and disconnected, these characters try to ground themselves--to grow where they find themselves planted--in a world in which the tension between what's said and unsaid can bend the soul.
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2023., Adult, Penguin Canada Call No: BLK Fic Rei Availability:0 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: From the Giller-nominated author of Frying Plantain comes a dazzling magical realist novel that explores the Jamaican-Canadian millennial experience. According to folklore, River Mumma guards gold at the bottom of the Rio Cobre river in Jamaica. Legend states that she has a golden comb--if lost, whoever returns it may be rewarded with treasure, or they will be drowned like her other victims. Alicia Carroll, a twenty-five-year-old living in Toronto, has been out of grad school for six months. She has no career prospects and lives with her mom, who won't stop texting her macabre news stories and reminders to pick up groceries. Then, one evening, River Mumma appears to Alicia, telling her that she has twenty-four hours to scour the city for her missing comb. Mi still need mi comb and mi trust yuh fi get it....Yuh nah know what mi disappearance gwine fi mean. Alicia doesn't understand why River Mumma would choose her. She can't remember all the legends her grandmother told her, unlike her retail co-worker, Heaven, who can recite Jamaican folklore by heart. She doesn't know if her childhood visions have returned, or why she feels a strange connection to her other co-worker, Mars. But when the trio are chased down by malevolent spirits called duppies, they realize their tenuous bonds to each other may be their only lifelines. As time runs out, Alicia's quest through the city broadens into a journey through the past and into the future--to find herself and what the river carries. River Mumma is a powerful portrayal of Black identities. It is a homage to Jamaican diasporic storytelling by one of the most invigorating voices in Canadian literature.
