Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique
My rating: 4/5 cats
in the vivid and memorable opening scene of this novel, owen arthur bradshaw rescues a little girl from a potentially dangerous and decidedly undignified situation.
but don’t start organizing a parade for him just yet, because he is certainly no hero to little girls, especially when it comes to his daughter eeona, and his behavior towards her has looong term consequences.
this is a multigenerational historical/magical epic taking place in the virgin islands spanning from 1916 through to the 1970s. it follows the bradshaw family through their loves and losses, and the consequences of their family curse. it’s all restraint, passion, family, fate, history, secrets, betrayal, and war, as these sprawling books tend to be. it is also a parallel history of the virgin islands, beginning with their transfer from danish to american rule, and the difficulties for those occupying this liminal space: to be a citizen of an owned territory so far removed from the controlling country, this ostensible, nominal belonging while not being truly equal, nor “seen” for what they are; an independent culture with independent values. a trinket on the mantlepiece of america; a place to roll up on for the novelty of its beaches and local color, disrupting the serenity, putting up fences, and reducing the local people to an insulting backdrop (dear god, that film…)
the story is told through the two bradshaw daughters, eeona and anette, and their half-brother jacob.
eeona is a fascinating character. she is the devastating island beauty whose hubris is in believing too much in her own mythology and hype, denying herself romantic relationships, protecting others from her dangerous beauty, and scorning all the men who don’t live up to her deceased daddy, becoming a cold woman. and, man, there is nothing more dramatic than how spectacularly a woman like this who has held herself back from love and indignity will eventually fall.
eeona’s got all kinds of secrets, both of her family’s past and of the more… corporeal sort, and the keeping of these secrets while denying herself a fully-realized life is a lonely strain.
She was seeing herself running alongside the beach that flanked them now on the left. Seeing herself like a beautiful animal with hair flying behind her. She was galloping. She was something to be feared. She loved herself most like that. She also hated herself most like that. But no matter, because she missed herself most like that.
that passage broke my heart a little – a woman yearning for her childhood freedom and innocence, despite having had a childhood that is pretty horrifying to an outsider.
her sister anette is the complete opposite. she is the embodiment of pure, unrestrained freedom, embracing the romantic possibilities, and ending up with three children by three different men.
Eeona never forget that she a lady from a genteel family. Me? I forget all the time. I laugh with my mouth open wide-wide.
oh yeah, and she speaks in dialect instead of the self-consciously “proper” speech of her sister.
anette is a propulsive character – a force made up of impulse and energy, unapologetic, which is such a contrast to the her almost-ascetic sister.
jacob’s contribution to the narrative is primarily his perspective of the american experience – he leaves the islands to join the army and experiences all the racism and resentment of the american south in the 1940s.
he contributes other things, but – spoilers.
overall, it’s a strong debut. while the overall “story” is a little disjoined and meandering, the characters alone are strong enough to hold the reader’s attention, and the magical elements are nicely employed. read it for the descriptions and the characters – it is terrifically lovely.
