The Book of Jamaica by Russell Banks

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The Book of Jamaica by Russell Banks

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The Book of Jamaica by Russell Banks

"A truly excellent novel. . . . The morbidly fascinating little twists of human existence are all here: love, sex, life and death, beauty and horror--the works." -- Chicago Sun-Times

In The Book of Jamaica, Russell Banks explores the complexities of political life in the Caribbean and its ever-present racial conflicts.

His narrator, a thirty-five-year-old college professor from New Hampshire, goes to Jamaica to write a novel and soon becomes embroiled in the struggles between whites and Blacks. He is especially interested in an ancient tribe called the Maroons, descendants of the Ashanti, who had been enslaved by the Spanish and then fought the British in a hundred-year war. Despite this history of oppression, the Maroons have managed to maintain a relatively autonomous existence in Jamaica. Partly out of guilt and an intellectual sense of social responsibility, Banks's narrator gets involved in reuniting two clans who have been feuding for generations. Unfortunately, his attempt ends in disaster, and the narrator must deal with his feelings of alienation, isolation, and failure.

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RUSSELL BANKS is the author of sixteen works of fiction, many of which depict seismic events in US history, such as the fictionalized journey of John Brown in Cloudsplitter. His work has been translated into twenty languages and has received numerous international prizes, and two of his novels--The Sweet Hereafter and Affliction--have been made into award-winning films. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, founding president of Cities of Refuge North America, and former New York State Author, Banks lives in upstate New York.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780060977078
ISBN 10 0060977078
Title The Book of Jamaica
Author Russell Banks
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Year published 1996-03-27
Number of pages 352
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.