Girl with the golden shoes, The
Colin Channer

Author: Channer, Colin

New York: Akashic Books, 2007, 170 p.
Booklist Review: /*Starred Review*/ Jamaican American writer Channers previous works, including Waiting in Vain (1998), are infused with the cultural complexity and imperialist tragedies of the Caribbean. So, too, is his latest, but here he writes with rare transparency, as though this story of a 14-year-old outcast welled up from the depths of the collective unconscious. In classic fairy-tale fashion, Estrella acquires mysterious powers that render her suspect: she has taught herself to read and discovered a far greater world than her tiny, just-getting-by fishing village on the fictional island of San Carlos. It's 1942, war is raging in distant places, and Estrella dreams of a more refined life. If only she had a pair of shoes. Cruelly ostracized, she embarks on an archetypal odyssey, outwitting human variations on demons and ogres, each a manifestation of some aspect of Caribbean heritage. Empathic and courageous, Estrella weighs the moral implications of each dangerous and erotic struggle for survival, achieving a profoundly intelligent coming-of-age as she puts grown men to shame. With an afterword by Russell Banks, this is a jewel of a book. Channer's language is dancing and juicy, his humor incisive, his vision penetrating, and his hero, nicknamed Pepper for her stinging retorts, is magnificent. -- Donna Seaman (Reviewed 05-01-2007) (Booklist, vol 103, number 17, p72)

Publishers Weekly Review: A picaresque set on the fictional Caribbean island of San Carlos in 1942, Channer's rewarding and tense novella follows the journey of fishing village outcast Estrella Thompson, a precocious 14-year-old with a woman's body who seeks shoes, employment and acceptance in the capital city of Seville after being excommunicated from her village. Along the way, she meets sundry men, some of whom offer to help her and almost none of whom ought to be trusted. Estrella comes of age practically by the hour, learning what to expect of others, what to value in herself and how to make her own demands. Channer writes with an intriguing, lyrical blend of English and Caribbean patois and uses simple language and crisp imagery (a woman's face is "as plain and inexpressive as an egg"; beach sand is "so white that on the coolest days you had to squint to see it"). While Channer's earlier work engaged the psyche of Caribbean diaspora in less subtle narratives (Waiting in Vain; Satisfy My Soul), this novella???a moral fable, Russell Banks notes in his afterword???signals the arrival of a talent matured. (May) --Staff (Reviewed March 19, 2007) (Publishers Weekly, vol 254, issue 12, p38)

Library Journal Review: Far from wearing golden shoes, 14-year-old Estrella Thompson has no shoes at all. She lives with her grandparents, who eke out a marginal existence fishing on the Caribbean island of San Carlos in 1942. Spirited and ambitious, Estrella is marked as a troublemaker by the locals, who exile her from their small community. The novella follows her on her incident-filled journey to the island's one big town, Seville, in search of a job. Her first goal is to buy a good pair of shoes because she knows no one will hire a barefoot girl. Along the way, she encounters more hostile villagers and meets a horseman who calls himself Simon Bolivar. More troubles await in town, but Estrella lands on her feet and finds a way of getting those new shoes. Founder of the Calabash International Literary Festival and editor of Iron Balloons, a collection of Jamaican fiction, the Jamaican-born Channer has created an unforgettable character in Estrella. Recommended for most libraries.???Leslie Patterson, Brown Univ. Lib., Providence --Leslie Patterson (Reviewed June 1, 2007) (Library Journal, vol 132, issue 10, p107)

Kirkus Reviews A 14-year-old girl's journey from beach home to city, from family to strangers, from idealism to realism, and from girlhood to womanhood.

Estrella Thompson is a girl on the move. Accused of being a "curse" on the fishing beach where she lives, she huffily takes leave of her grandfather and soon-to-be-dead grandmother to seek out urban life inland. Driven by a love of reading and a desire to push beyond the limitations of her childhood experience on a Jamaica-like island called San Carlos, she leaves her home in disgust because "Nobody ain't care to know 'bout nothing." She constructs an idealized image of what awaits her, including the long-desired "yellow satin pumps" of the title, but must constantly make finely calibrated adjustments to her vision. Along the way she runs into thieves, sweet-talkers, soldiers and frauds. (One man she meets lived for a time in Paris, an incandescent city of magic to Estrella—and then later, he explains, "moved to France." Another would-be seducer introduces himself as Simžn Bol"var.) She confronts both the subtleties and crudities of racism. She yields up her body but never her feistiness. And always she's looking, looking—for a better life, for occasions to "try new things. Test limits." Her native dialect is Sancoche, a poetic patois of clipped speech and emphatic double (and triple) negatives. While the story takes place in 1942, the war setting is intrinsic neither to plot nor to character, for there's something timeless about Estrella's yearning for a better life. Her journey to Seville, the capital of San Carlos, is larded with more danger than even she imagined possible. Eventually she does make it to the city and meets St. William Rawle, a savior of sorts; ultimately her life reaches precarious equilibrium rather than happiness.

From Channer, (Waiting in Vain, 1998, etc.), a fairy-tale novella of betrayal and hope.
(Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2007)



ISBNs Associated with this Title:
1933354267


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20070420
• TID: 166134

New York: One World, 2002, 243 p.

Publishers Weekly Review: From the author of the Blackboard bestseller Waiting in Vain comes this long-awaited second novel, detailing a star-crossed, obsessively erotic odyssey of self-discovery embarked on by the grandson of a Guyanese physician. The guest on a TV travel show being taped in Jamaica, Carey McCullough, a 38-year-old Cambridge-educated New York playwright, meets Frances Carey, owner of a small construction company in Kingston. He recognizes her as the singer he glimpsed on TV five years ago, on the same day he tried to commit suicide at the home of his longtime friend and mentor Kwabena, a charismatic Pentecostal academic. Frances tells McCullough that he is the reincarnation of Karamoko, a mythical hero sold into slavery 500 years ago for eloping with a girl named Feranje—and Frances, of course, is the reincarnation of Feranje. McCullough phones Kwabena, who tells him he knows Frances and warns him that she will ruin his life. Overwhelmed by his sexual attraction to her, McCullough misses his plane and arrives two weeks too late to conduct an interview he had scheduled with Kwabena for the New York Times. This delivers a blow to Kwabena's struggling career and their relationship is severely damaged. As he tries to sort out his feelings for Frances, the playwright finds himself the unwitting pawn in Kwabena's deteriorating marriage. Though at times highly lyrical, this uneven, disjointed tale too often retreats into gratuitous and repetitive exposition, and is further marred by tedious erotic passages. However, by evoking a mystique similar to that of Channer's successful debut, this could be another Blackboard hit. 6-city author tour. (Feb.)
— Staff (Reviewed January 21, 2002) (Publishers Weekly, vol 249, issue 3, p64)

Library Journal Review: This latest novel by Channer, whose Waiting in Vain was a Blackboard best seller, is a tug-of-war between lust and friendship, love and faith, and ancient African religion and Christianity. New York playwright Carey is a lost soul who is nearing middle age and does not know what he believes in. Thus, he fritters away his youth and talent on a series of self-indulgent affairs and one-night stands. In Jamaica, he meets Frances, a sexually charged free spirit who believes that the two of them are reincarnations of separated African lovers, finally reunited. But Carey's obsession with Frances causes him to betray his best friend, Kwabena, with tragic and violent consequences. Channer's attempt at spiritual romance misses the mark, as one man's soul-searching journey is lost amid empty sexual fantasy. The women characters and their dialog are especially unbelievable, and the novel's ending is confusing and disappointing. For large public libraries only.—Ellen Flexman, Indianapolis–Marion Cty. P.L., IN (Reviewed April 1, 2002) (Library Journal, vol 127, issue 6, p137)



Other related features:

1. Explore Fiction - Adult -> Explore Fiction -> Romance -> Sensual Romances -> Contemporary


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0345437896
078625906X : Hardcover - Large Print
034543790X : Paperback


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Added to NoveList: 20020320
• TID: 067851

Waiting in vain

Author: Channer, Colin

Charming, intelligent, stylish, and born in Jamaica, a man named Fire falls in love with a beautiful magazine editor and finds himself on a wild odyssey that takes him from Manhattan to Kingston and into his own soul

New York: One World, copyright 1998, 346 p.

Publishers Weekly Review: Representing a figure all too rare in contemporary romance, African American A.J. "Fire" Heath, a sensitive, sophisticated man with a good career, is a major asset to this appealing first novel by short-story writer Channer. Fire's combination of good looks, kindness and brains, and his desire to find the right woman "in the fullness of time," will make him nearly irresistible to readers of commercial fiction. A painter and novelist who has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Fire shuttles between his native Jamaica, London and New York. In a chance encounter on a Brooklyn street, Fire meets Sylvia, another transplanted Jamaican, who is disappointed with her magazine-editing job and her art-dealer lover. Fire and Sylvia pursue and retreat from each other in convincingly soul-searching scenarios while Channer vividly describes urban New York, industrial Brixton and rural Jamaica. Channer has a fine ear for Jamaican patois (and for when it bubbles up in otherwise American-accented conversations). Also to his credit, Channer largely resists the trendy name-dropping and product placements so common in this genre. Subplots of intrigue in the African American art world add substance without detracting from the pace. As readers in the know will recognize, this tale of continent-hopping romance takes its title from a Bob Marley song. Author tour. (July)

Library Journal Review: Jamaican author and poet Adrian Heath, a.k.a. Fire, has a "love at first sight" experience when he sees a woman with daisy buttons having trouble with her packages in New York. They flirt, thinking they will never meet again, but later end up at the house of a mutual friend, an artist named Ian. Sylvia is involved with another man, which breaks Fire's heart and sends him back to London. But neither of them can let their attraction end, and later they have a dangerous affair. Ian's love-hate relationships with Fire, his mother, and women in general become the catalyst for the rest of the story. First novelist Channer reveals his characters' idiosyncrasies in poetic description. The dialog, full of Jamaican slang, takes a little getting used to, but the culture and backdrop are so finely scripted that readers will feel they are in Jamaica. Sensuous and sometimes outrageous love scenes interspersed with the stirring emotions of the characters keep the pages turning to the very end. Fans of romance and psychological drama will enjoy this passionate and honest story; highly recommended.--Shirley Gibson Coleman, Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI



Other titles associated with this book:
Vainly waiting


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0345411781
0345425529 : Paperback


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 001365