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There is the exploration of greed and what people will do get their hands on money. Throughout the book there is the ever presence of women and what happens when they own their sexuality. So much to talk about with this book, but overall a must read.
Set in a tiny Caribbean village in the 1970s, this charming yet clear-eyed romance begins with a fisherman, David, lazily awaiting his catch only to snare a centuries-old mermaid, Aycayia, cursed by women jealous of her beauty. She’s drawn to the sound of the guitar he’s strumming; he wonders if he’s been smoking too many spliffs. An extraordinary, beautifully written, captivating, visceral book – full of mythic energy and unforgettable characters, including some tremendously transgressive women. . . . It is utterly original – unlike anything we’ve ever read – and feels like a classic in the making from a writer at the height of her powers. It’s a book that will take you to the furthest reaches of your imagination – we found it completely compelling.” —Suzannah Lipscomb, chair of Costa Book Awards Judges, 2020 And that passage made me think of how history has perpetuated this line of division between them, even though they’re family. Until Aycayia, David may have never been invited to her house, even when his Uncle Life is Reggie’s dad, and David and Arcadia are cousins. So, one can wonder why, for example, could it be historic guilt on Arcadia’s part why she never invited him? We know throughout the book that this is something she is aware of that she carries with her. But there is another of David’s reflections that hits it home: V: Definitely, definitely. Ah, once again, I have to thank you for introducing me to another author and book that I probably never would have come across on my own. As a feminist, activist, and writer I’m just in awe as I learn more about Roffey as a person. And I’m so interested in reading her other books, including Archipelago, which she describes as an eco-novel. I’m going leave our listeners, some of whom may be writers as well, with something Roffey said that really resonated with me:
Monique Roffey
And we see this with all the characters in this book, but I thought it was especially clever to have the mermaid Aycayia speak in verse, which is how cultures and stories used to be passed down. In terms of crafting the story, it’s also an efficient way to give readers a sense of history without getting bogged down in it. Flood, Alison (26 January 2021). " 'Utterly original' Monique Roffey wins Costa book of the year". The Guardian. ISSN 1756-3224. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 20 July 2021. Ultimately, this is the archetypal story of a disruptive outsider whose arrival alters a community by revealing it to itself, not always happily. For Thomas, dismayed by his poetry-reading son, Aycayia’s appearance represents a chance to assert his masculinity; the novel’s uglier moments involve the instincts of men intent on her defilement. But there’s sweetness, too: a shared love of bass-heavy reggae allows Aycayia to form a friendship with a deaf 10-year-old, while David learns to separate sexual desire from his desire for possession. Freedom is another theme. Acyayia’s transformation frees her of the curse. Arcadia is free from her connections with white people when her house, built by slaves, is destroyed. Arcadia’s deaf and dumb son, Reggie cannot really experience the nastier elements of the world so he free from evil. David, by documenting his side of the story is finally letting his emotions escape so partly this book is a form of release. Set on a small island in the Caribbean this is a modern day fairy tale with inevitable magic realist elements. The timeline is split between 1976 and 2016. It revolves around a local fisherman David Baptiste. When out fishing he sometimes sees a creature in the water, which he eventually realises is a mermaid. The mermaid is caught by American tourists and put on display in the harbour. David sees her and at night cuts her down and takes her home where she gradually recovers and becomes more human again. Then things start to become difficult and complicated. This is a fairy tale, but Disney it most definitely is not. No well-groomed Ariel:
V: Yeah, it’s been kind of rainy in New York too, actually. But of course, it’s getting warm again at the end of summer. So we may have some summer days ahead of us … A beautifully, subtly written tale of an ancient woman, Aycayia, cursed to be a mermaid, captured in a fishing competition by white USA men then rescued by David Baptiste, a local fisherman who falls in love with her. Deservedly 2020's most heralded novel - Winner of the Costa Prize for Best Book and for Best Novel, Goldsmiths Prize shortlisted, shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize, shortlisted for the Novel section of the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, longlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize and longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction David upon hearing about the capture of the Mermaid heads to the jetty, cuts her down and takes her home. He doesn’t have a plan, but he knows he cannot let the Mermaid come to ruin, he also knows doing this may lead to his ruin, but he takes the chance.The novel is a unique Caribbean fable that takes the familiar story of a mermaid abruptly thrust onshore and brings it to a new place. It reads like the work of a novelist in command of her material and focused on using a mythic ‘then’ to speak to now.” —Malachi McIntosh, fiction chair, OCM Bocas Prize 2021
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