April 21, 2014
Evaristo's (Blonde Roots) enjoyable new novel follows Barrington Walker, a 74 year-old Antiguan man living in Hackney, London. A husband, father, and grandfather, Barry is a respectable elder with deep pockets and antiquated views of masculinity, but he's also a flamboyant character with deep affections for retro suits, highbrow literature, and his childhood friend and gay lover, Morris. In the twilight of life, Barry is out of patience with his bitter wife, Carmel, and their disintegrated marriage, and he longs to accept Morris's offer to move in together. Barry tells his story in a winning mix of patois and eloquent "speaky-spoky," that is insightful and often hilarious as he confronts his "scaredy-cat" fears and the probable ramifications of finally following his heart. Interspersed chapters from Carmel's point of view highlight her experiences in 10 year intervals, with poetic sentence fragments mixed with longing, self-talk, and prayer; these monologues lend balance to the narrative and trouble the reader's alliance. Barry's story parades a wide range of characters of varying depth and complication, and pivotal conflicts that don't always beget significant consequences. Despite an ending too neatly tied, Evaristo crafts a colorful look at a unique character confronting social normativity with a well-tuned voice and a resonant humanity.
Starred review from April 15, 2014
As a writer at the "Guardian" once proclaimed, if you don't know Evaristo's work, you should. The Royal Society of Literature Fellow, whose works have been named Book of the Year nine times by various British papers, writes of Barrington Walker, a 74-year-old Antiguan living in London with his wife of 50 years. Despite their long-standing union and their two daughters and grandson, Barrington is unhappy. He wants to leave his wife, who has long suspected his infidelity, for childhood friend Morris, with whom he has maintained an affair for nearly 60 years. As Evaristo details the love between Morris and Barrington while also introducing us to younger characters grappling with their identities, the novel proves to be revolutionary in its honest portrayal of gay men. Evaristo further reveals the barely known phenomenon of intrahomosexual discrimination and differences in how gays and lesbians have been portrayed in various nations and periods in history. The Walker family relationships are particularly intriguing, with no character appearing insensate, and Evaristo's writing is both intelligible and compelling. VERDICT Like James Baldwin's "Another Country", this work will appeal to readers of gay and literary fiction.--Ashanti White, Yelm, WA
Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
March 15, 2014
Barrington Walker is a 74-year-old transplanted Antiguan living in Hackney, London, and wrestling with a late-life crisis. For more than 20 years, he has pondered leaving his profoundly unhappy wife, Carmel, for his lover and childhood friend, Morris de la Roux. Barry is a dapper dresser, lover of Shakespeare, wise investor, and shrewd observer of the human condition. But he is unable to reconcile his own inner conflicts and come to account for what his actions and inactions have cost his wife and his lover. Can he do it this time, with his daughters more than grown up? Carmel herself is obviously dissatisfied with the marriage, giving Barry an ultimatum as she journeys back to Antigua to see her dying father. She is fed up with his weekends of drinking and carousing with, she thinks, women. He is fed up with her clutch of churchy, judgmental friends so critical of him. In this vibrant novel, Evaristo draws wonderful character portraits of complex individuals as well as the West Indian immigrant culture in Britain.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)