A a new Caribbean novel by Joanne Haynes- MacMillan, 2007 . A review by Helen Pyne Timothy-formerly Dean of the Faculty of Arts and General Studies, UWI and founding President of the Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars.

When I saw the illustration on the cover of the book , and its title, I thought that what I was looking at was a young woman facing the future with strength and dignity, but wise enough to know that her steps had to be precise. She must not faint or fall. I was reminded of this first impression when young Josephine wobbled on her Mother’s high heels as she tried to impress Roger John as he rode past on his bike; and indeed this wobbling becomes a kind of metaphor through- out the work as Josephine Chin tries to understand herself and her society and to do it without drowning in a veritable plethora of hopes and fears.

But persistently as I read the book the phrase:” the unexamined life is not a life worth living” kept coming into my mind. Here to me was a conundrum: Our heroine, Josephine, is bright, accomplished, lives life robustly, has a large caring family, many friends, a few lovers and potential lovers and continues to achieve what we would certainly call success. At the same time she feels alone, lonely, unloved, misunderstood, afraid of death, even as she faces each day with courage, intelligence and individualism. This strong young woman is so determined, so strong willed, and so capable of taking care of herself, that it is hard to believe that she has sometimes been on the brink of ruining her life. But the author cleverly infers that the process of self-examination which developed from kindergarten almost,-the feeling she calls her angels or her inner self, which keep peeping out-is really a kind of intuition which is essential.. Indeed, as she appears blessed with good sense, good fortune and is living her life fully even as she indulges in the self-examination which sustains her, and as she says “gives her wings to fly”, Josephine reveals that the process of self-examination has made her life worth living in profound ways, and enables her to live fully.

So Josephine’s shortcomings, her missteps and their corrections are the basis of the major story, and reveal an intense focus on the inner workings of her mind, soul, and spirit. Despite this focus the author has also been very clever by drawing in and revealing many things about the Trinidad environment in which Josephine operates. As Josephine connects with herself she records and reveals many aspects of Trinidad and Tobago’s culture and society. Josephine‘s observations write in the negative and positive aspects of the society at large .For example, The teachers and systems in place in schools; racism and colourism in the society at large, snobbery, gossip, mischief and interference from so-called “friends” all are brought out for our particular gaze even as she dares us to examine the society as a whole. The whole society bears the unvarnished scrutiny of this young woman. I hasten to say that the author is not being overbearing or judgmental; that she unearths much about the culture which she honours even as she dismisses other aspects. (I particularly like her very personal but apt and original description of Carnival.}These descriptions of her outings and her connection to others both in and outside of the home enrich the text, give the “seeker after truth” a richer identity, and a view point which together firmly pin the text into the larger environment. They give the text a name, a culture, so that, from home and School in San Fernando it becomes a rigorous examination of. a variety of cultural understandings from calypso competitions to high school examinations; from the untimely death of two students at UWI to the lives of school children and the possibility of “obeah” in Moruga. So a satisfying panorama of Trinidad life enriches the work and gives it an indelible identity.

But it is important to note that this book is profoundly concerned with the life and story of a woman. Its what would be called “a womanist text”. Intimate aspects of women’s lives are revealed and evaluated as the story unfolds, and Josephine comes to speak in the particular mode of a woman’s right to value herself and her body, even as she commits to family life. It’s a perilous journey for author and reader alike but one which must be undertaken and Joanne has had the courage to “speak truth to power’. Most female readers will find something in this text which touches a nerve, and which they can link to some passage in their own lives; and men might be surprised to discover the complexity of the world which their female counterparts inhabit.

This book is very readable and remarkably short for all that it explores. The author seems to have an unerring eye for briefly explicating parts of the text through the choice of the interaction of certain characters, particularly those connected to the family. Concisely she narrates a scene in which they occur and their significance to the textual development becomes clear. These vignettes are usually dramatic and add a great deal of excitement, depth and understanding to the text. It enables the author to explore complicated relations in a single meaningful scene. Joanne’s style shows both clarity and brevity, but is graphic, assured and dramatic. The stylistic qualities build as the narrator, Josephine, becomes more expressive and engages in introspection. These sections introduce even more diverse elements, and several new insights into the work.

Moreover she manages to move smoothly between several levels of language in these presentations-using the speaking voice of Trinidad in the authentic Creole mode, and at the same time mixing various levels of Trinidad language usage with resonance and ease. These usages help tremendously in deepening the scope of her work and reinforcing the feeling of authenticity. This book is a very good read, and the reader might see certain aspects of his or her life and country in a different light. Some men might even see their female friends or companions in a different light, surprised, perhaps at the depth and complexity of their yearnings.

This is the work of an exciting emergent Caribbean writer. I look forward to reading more publications with her insights and from her fluent pen.