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The narration of The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter & Other Essential Ghosts, set this literary fiction book apart from any other I have ever read. Soraya Palmer brought the Anansi story to life with her incredible storytelling and with them the story of Beatrice Porter’s daughters Sasha & Zora.
The Sisters
The sisters, Zora & Sasha, had been told stories since birth. The beauty of these stories is that each time they heard the story a thing or two had changed, making it a new story altogether. They were both conjuring Anansi and Mama Dglo and even knew about the Rolling Calf. All stories were told to them by their parents, Nigel and Beatrice. Stemming from their upbringing in the Caribbean, their father was born in Jamaica, and their mother was born in Trinidad.
Both were storytellers in their way. Zora was the writer with her journal filled with observations of her surroundings and the relationship between her parents. Sasha has a way with spoken words. Her stories are better told aloud. Both brought into stories that have existed for centuries.
Nigel & Beatrice
A relationship that existed on the moon before it even came to be. Two individuals leave their island and find themselves in New York. They tell the stories of Anansi, Mama Dglo, and the Rolling Calf. They see each other and even when the relationship crumbles, they still see each other. Nigel moves on with his new wife and Beatrice having fallen ill moves back to Trinidad, but that is not the last of them seeing each other.
The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter & Other Essentials Ghosts
A powerful novel that brings these characters together time and time again. Being family isn’t the only thing that binds them together, the stories do that too. The narrator is telling us many stories within this book. It even gets a little cheeky, making this book different than any I have ever read. The power of storytelling is even used by the sisters, in the attempt to save their mother. The stories once told to them as children make their way into their adulthood. The powers of a story, their story, and the ancient lines of ancestors we carry with us.
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