Colin Channer: Girl with the Golden Shoes
July 27, 2007 – 8:49 amPosted Under: bookshelf
Girl With the Golden Shoes promises to be his best since Waiting in Vain. I’m salivating y’all. I’m totally enthalled by his writing. I devoured his first book and have been waiting for each release ever since.
From Publishers Weekly: 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.
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5 Responses to “Colin Channer: Girl with the Golden Shoes”
Thank you for the heads up. I loved Waiting in Vain.
By Amn.eris on Jul 27, 2007
I’m looking forward to this book too. I haven’t seen too much about it though, so thanks for bringing it to our attention.
By Shelia on Jul 27, 2007
he was here a few months back promoting it I think. i’ve seen him a few times but missed that last one. loved his short story “how to beat a child the good and proper way” from the iron balloons anthology
By jdid on Jul 27, 2007
i loved “waiting in vain” too. i gotta get this one
By aquababie on Jul 27, 2007
I’d love to have a discussion about it. It seems that the best books get buried beneath the trite efforts.
By Miss Princess Dominique on Jul 28, 2007