Sbeth,Originally Posted by sbeth
Apparently many feel like you do. For a bit more of those who feel the same, the credible review for the New York Times Book section goes into more depth for their take on the Dead Yard.
The New York Times review states about the British author Ian Thomson's book, " I wish I could join in this stately applause, but I am puzzled by it. On a purely aesthetic level, this book is a grind — it has no through-narrative, no argument, no grease. The author spreads out his research not in any kind of linear fashion but like a man having a rummage sale, inviting us to pick through it with him."
The review compares his take on Jamaica as having the "jumbled personality of a Wikipedia entry". They go on to describe him as "For all of his negative assessments, he’s not even agreeably cranky. He’s a blank."
They do say that most of the book is taken up by the interviews. And to that end they ask why arent there any interviews with the younger and currently successful Jamaicans. Mr. Thomson has seemed to leave them out. It seems that only the older are interviewed. They go on to explain, "I have nothing against old people and hope to become one myself. But by focusing on them so relentlessly, he gives us a skewed and brittle picture of Jamaica. These are people whose glory days are behind them. It’s no surprise that they think the country’s glory days are in the rearview mirror, too. It’s as if he’d written a book about modern Japan by interviewing the living World War II veterans."
For more here is a link to the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/bo...pagewanted=all
