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Yvette
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 11, 2003 - 01:11 am: | 
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Has anyone read anything by author Caryl Phillips? A caucasian friend of mine just finished "Crossing the River" and "Cambridge" by him. I'd like to know what you think of him. She was really impressed with Crossing the River, but stated that Cambridge left a lot to be desired. She said it was a very brutal history lesson and did too much telling of the story than showing. Your thoughts? |
Yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 08:11 pm: |
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Hi Yvette:
I'm reading The Final Passage. It is slow, but good...so far! I'm ya chosse wanna of his novels, let me know and i'll read it will u! |
Yvette
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 08:28 pm: |
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Hi Yukio,
I have "Crossing the River" on hold at the library. I'll be picking it up within the next few days. Let me know!!! |
Yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 14, 2003 - 08:34 am: |
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I also have Crossing the River; i took both Crossing and Final Passage out at the same time, so when ya ready to begin, let me know. Also, let me know when you want it read, because if i don't have a date, it can take me forever to complete a book...lol! Crossing the River is about 250 pages....i have the hard cover and the font is not too small.....so i can get it done in a week, if necessary...holla! |
Yvette
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2003 - 01:54 am: |
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Hi Yukio,
Why don't we say we have it read by August 11. That's when I return from vacation. We can discuss it after that. How does that sound? |
Yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2003 - 01:55 pm: |
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Cool...that'll give me enough time.....and it'll takes the pressure off....have a wonderful vacation and bring me something back....if ya feel like it! |
Yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 10:05 am: |
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Yvette:
I hope your vacation was a blast! I should be done with Crossing the River by thurs., so when ya ready let me know how and when we can dialogue....
holla! |
Yvette
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 01:40 pm: |
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Hi Yukio,
My vacation was great! I didn't get to Crossing the River while I was away, but I can have it read by Thursday also. If you'd like we can just dialogue in this same thread. I'll post my thoughts no later than Friday morning. Does that sound OK? We can just go from there. |
Yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 04:54 pm: |
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Cool beans......
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Yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 12:13 pm: |
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I'm finished. But i don't know what to say or how to say it; since i've not read it straight through, perhaps. I'm still trying to create continuity among the different parts....and i'm trying to understand the melancholy that i feel at the end story...i'm not sure what to say, but i await your reply, earnestly! |
Yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 04:23 pm: |
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I'm still not sure about the book. I can say that he definitely showed as much as he told in this piece. I liked all the stories, especially the first and the last. The first was interesting because it showed the intersections among religion, race, class, and culture, as well as the paternalist relationship between slave and master. The last one was also interesting. I wasn't sure if the woman was black or white, until she identified the soldier as a "colored." I did think she was white since she other officers told the Americans didn't no how to respond....anyways, i liked that is seemed like a sincere love story, although i can't say that i'm not much interested in "inter-racial" love....
.....anyways, i'll say more soon....
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Yvette
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 04:50 am: |
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I've just finished Crossing the River. I can see why it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The author does an excellent job of telling four stories that have similar themes, but at the same time are so different from each other. To those that might be interested, the book starts out with the voice of a man from the distant past describing the consequences of a desperate act of foolishness: selling his daughter and two sons into slavery. The story continues with the stories of those children and their descendants. He uses distinct writing styles for each segment of the novel. The characters definitely came to life for me. Yukio, my favorites were the first and the second stories. The first, mainly because of the reasons you stated and the second because I felt so close to Martha because of her obvious hardships as a slave and her struggle to make it to the "promised land." Her story was quite heartwrenching for me. Anyway, this guy can really write. I'm impressed. I look forward to reading some of his other stuff. |
Yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 11:20 am: |
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I liked them all actually. I think they all had a particular function. The second, i think showed that moment between slavery and freedom, love and loss; the third, exchange of property, the humanity within the slavers and the resistance among the africans.
What did u think about the ordering of the stories? And were you persuaded by the language and style in the stories stories? I suspect that you do, but i thought the second was the weakest....though i still liked the plot construction.
I really appreciate how the novel ends, particularly how we are reunited with the African who claims us, african americans, as his lost but loved children. |
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