two things! Remember that Poet Laureate I was telling yall about? Well she read Santimanitay this week and here is her review: The flame almost engulfing a peacock feather on the cover of Nathalie Taghaboni’s follow up to Across From Lapeyrouse foreshadows the passionate sequel to her first novel. Inside the reader is taken back to the beginning of the ‘oh so wrong’ but so right love affair between Dr. Helene Constantine and killer handsome, powerful, protagonist extraordinaire police commissioner, Carlton Savanoy. In a novel that’s as fast paced as a heartbeat, Taghaboni pulls the reader in from the opening line of the novel to the cliff hanger ending, dropping us off at the last line like voyagers at the end of the second part of an amazing journey. Taghaboni is Trinidadian American and the book shares the many layered flavors of her culture from the diversity in race/ethnicity, gender and class to the excitement of Carnival as practiced in Trinidad and Canada, to the beauty of the Kreyole language. What makes this book such a wonderful read is the author’s ability to craft characters we can love, like, hate, cry over and laugh about with the dexterity of a writer who keeps her prose creative and descriptive while weaving a story as complex as life really is. Just when you think you’ve figured everything out, Nathalie Taghaboni throws you a curve often using humor to get across a serious point, shifting to a dramatic moment that takes your breath away. Santimanitay is a must read for people interested in true love, the importance of family and the amazing things that can happen through the power of forgiveness. AND She has arranged a reading for me in Cleveland on November 8th at one of her favourite bookshops. The owner contacted me on Friday to confirm....oooooo I am grinning like a fool here!
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 15:55:42 +0000