#monique roffey

[godzilla-reads]

Some quality reading time today alongside the dragon 🔥

🌊 The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

[semper-legens]

105. Passiontide, by Monique Roffey

Owned?: No, library Page count: 358 My summary: Sora Tanaka was a young woman, a pan player, a visitor to the island of St. Colibri. But now she lies dead under a cannonball tree, dressed in her Carnival outfit and brutally strangled. Women on St. Colibri know the truth - she is the latest in a long string of murders, and she likely won't be the last, either. But this time, the women of St. Colibri are taking action. Sora will not be forgotten. But will she be avenged? My rating: 5/5 My commentary:

Monique Roffey has been on my radar for a while. I really liked the earlier book of hers that I have read, the Mermaid of Black Conch, and since then I've had her name in the back of my mind just in case anything else from her cropped up on the shelves. And lo and behold, here this was! Unlike the Mermaid of Black Conch, this was set in a more modern time-frame, with twitter and instagram and youtube existing within the setting and the modern issues relating to women's rights are at the forefront. It's based on a real event, a pan player named Asami Nagakiya who was murdered in Trinidad and Tobago where she was visiting for the Carnival, an event that she regularly attended. The mayor of Port of Spain, where she was found, resigned a week after her death following victim-blaming comments that he made after the death, after an outcry from women. This fictionalised version of her death brings awareness of the problem of murder, and in particular femicide, to the forefront, and tackles the issue of misogyny in the Caribbean.

Femicide is the killing of women and girls, usually by men, because of their gender. It's a hate crime, often committed by a partner or spouse. And it's disturbingly prevalent across the world. Women are derided, forced into the narrow category of virgin/mother/wh0re by the men they encounter, and treated as though they are disposable. What I liked about this book was the spread of different women we see across its pages. LGBT+ women, black women, white women, Indigenous, women in power, sex workers, church-going women, women who practice Orisha, women who worship the Taíno gods, women who are outspoken, women who are introverted, and many more. There are a lot of unique female perspectives, and they are all given their own weight and level of complexity, which is absolutely crucial in a book like this.

Another thing I found to be really cool and interesting in this book was its use of dialect. Many of the characters speak in a Caribbean dialect of English, but that actually spreads out into the narration - the narration is from a limited perspective focusing on the POV of different characters at different times. Notably, it does not use dialect when Forrester, a white English mortician, is the POV character, because he's not from St. Colibri and doesn't use dialect in his speech. Other characters use more or less dialect roughly in line with their spoken dialogue. It's a neat use of language - narrative not in standard English is always interesting, and it really helps characterise both the characters and the flavour of the island and the setting in general. It's immersive, and it doesn't really provide a barrier; it's not hard to read, just different. And I like that!

Next, a re-read - how Indigenous Americans discovered Europe.

[don-simon]

I was impatient, troubled by this woman who was so hard to understand. I wanted to keep her safe, or so I told myself, but maybe I fool myself too; maybe 'keep' was the problem. I learn things hard and slow. Man, you need to give deep feelings of affection and care, not keep them.

The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey (2020, Peepal Tree)

[pmg227]

Favorite Reads of 2023 (so far)

If anyone out there is paying attention, I did a post on my favorite books of 2022 for the first half of that year, but I never did a follow-up. I’m sure I read some good books the second half of the year, but somehow, I just couldn’t come up with them. Since I rated 4 books 5 stars in May, I thought I should write down my thoughts about them now. As come December, I surely won’t remember. In…

[bookjotter6865]

Winding Up the Week #382

An end of week recap “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” – George Orwell (born 25th June 1903) This is a post in which I summarise books read, reviewed and currently on my TBR shelf. In addition to a variety of literary titbits, I look ahead to forthcoming features, see what’s on the nightstand and keep readers abreast of…

[bookola-de]

Eine mal ganz andere Sicht auf die allseits bekannte Geschichte der Meerjungfrau. Verpackt mit etlichen Denkanstößen wird hier die Geschichte einer Meerjungfrau erzählt, die versucht, ihre Bestimmung zu finden.

[read-alert]

Happy MerMay! Full titles under the cut!

The Little Homo Sapiens Scientist by SL Huang

Weird Fishes by Rae Mariz

The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

Mermaids Never Drown: Tales to Dive For edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C Parker

Chlorine by Jade Song

The Perfect Waters: Odedsa Book One by LeeSha McCoy

Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Rise of the Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste

A Comb of Wishes by Lisa Stringfellow

The Secret of Haven Point by Lisette Auton

A Song of Silver and Gold by Melissa Karibian

The Siren, the Song, and the Spy by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

Out of the Blue by Jason June

Seven Tears at High Tide by CB Lee

The Seafarer's Kiss by Julia Ember

Ice Massacre by Tiana Warner

The Girl From the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag

Sirena: A Mermaid Legend from Guam by Tanya Chargualaf Taimanglo illustrated by Sonny K Chargualaf

Thirsty Mermaids by Kat Leyh

Sukey and the Mermaid by Robert D San Souci illustrated by Brian Pinkney

Mermaid and Pirate by Tracey Baptiste illustrated by Leisl Adams

[waterarks]

book list by black authors 🀣

[ ] the first woman by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

[ ] the death of vivek oji by Akwaeke Emezi

[ ] i do not come to you by chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani

[ ] butter honey pig bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi

[ ] in the castle of my skin by George Lamming

[ ] the spider kings daughter by Chibundu Oruzo

[ ] how the one-arm sister sweeps her house by Cherie Jones

[ ] the mermaid of black conch by Monique Roffey

[ ] here comes the sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn

[ ] in the castle of my skin by George Lamming

[ ] the secret lives of baba segi’s wives by Lola Shoneyin

[ ] she would be king by Wayetu Moore

[ ] everything inside by Edwidge Danticat

[ ] what storm, what thunder by Myriam J.A. Chancy

[ ] under the udala trees by Chinelo Okparanta

[dwreader]

You have great taste, can you recommend some books?

Hi anon i have no clue what genres you're into so i'm gonna just start listing off random titles.

the post office girl (stefen zweig), transit (anna seghers), the dry heart (natalia ginzburg), passing (nella larsen), heaven (mieko kawakami), lady macbeth of mtsensk (nikolai leskov), the mermaid of black conch (monique roffey), the golden notebook and the fifth child (doris lessing), the passion (jeanette winterson), on beauty (zadie smith), hons and rebels (jessica mitford), reform or revolution (rosa luxemburg), cassandra a novel and four essays (christa wolf), the fall of language in the age of english (minae mizumura), caste (isabel wilkerson), spain in our hearts (adam hochschild), from reverance to rape (molly haskill), trick mirror (jia tolentino)

[lesbiankirisully]

THE RUSHING WAVE OF DESPAIR COMES UNEXPECTEDLY

Grief: day 4 of @womenofpandoraweek

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) | The Seashells of Bridlington North Beach, Jack Mapanje | The Mermaid of Black Conch, Monique Roffey | “the ribs and terrors in the whale”, Herman Melville | Our Wives Under the Sea, Julia Armfield | A Magic Steeped in Poison, Judy I. Lin | The Fatal Sisters: An Ode, Thomas Gray

[amtrak12]

Starting book 2 for my 5 books in 5 days challenge! The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey: a two month late Mer-May read but that's because I tacked it on right there in the end when I was moving through my 2023 Mer-May reads quicker than I anticipated (and then subsequently stopped reading all together because I was too focused on writing my fic :P).

[godzilla-reads]

📬 BOOK MAIL 📬

My lovely friend J sent me a few books that I can’t wait to dig into. Can you guess which one I’ll read first?

🧜‍♀️ The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

🔪 The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo (trans. Yumiko Yamazaki)

🐼 Big Panda and Tiny Dragon by James Norbury

[bibliobethblog]

Happy New Year everyone! Here they are - my top 10 books of 2022, in no particular order. I’ve had a fantastic reading year, 260 books read which I can’t quite believe and the majority of them were absolutely brilliant. We have: Brickmakers- Selva Almada Love After Love - Ingrid Persaud The Mermaid Of Black Conch - Monique Roffey The Count Of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas Devotion - Hannah Kent How To Kill Your Family - Bella Mackie Mayflies - Andrew O’Hagan The Paper Palace - Miranda Cowley Heller Young Mungo - Douglas Stuart The Book Of Form & Emptiness - Ruth Ozeki I’d love to know your thoughts on my selection. It was tough! I’ve read a lot of great books this year and next Saturday I’ll be bringing you my 12 honourable mentions which were all five star reads but didn’t quite make my top ten. See you all in 2023! 🤗😘 #bookstagramuk #booksilovedreading #booksof2022📖 #brickmakers #selvaalmada💕 #loveafterlove #ingridpersaud #themermaidofblackconch #moniqueroffey #thecountofmontecristo #alexandredumas #devotion #hannahkent #howtokillyourfamily #bellamackie #mayflies #andrewohagan #thepaperpalace #mirandacowleyheller #youngmungo #douglasstuart #thebookofformandemptiness #ruthozeki📚#myfavouritebooks2022 https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm2HCklLiO2/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[don-simon]

Is easy for a man to get mix-up when it comes to a woman. Lawd, we don't understand the half of them, and yet is she who teach me what woman is and man should be.

The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey (2020, Peepal Tree)

[pmg227]

Favorite Reads of December '23

“Those of us who have been true readers all our life seldom fully realise the enormous extension of our being which we owe to authors. We realise it best when we talk with an unliterary friend. He may be full of goodness and good sense but he inhabits a tiny world. In it, we should be suffocated. The man who is contented to be only himself, and therefore less a self, is in prison. My own eyes are…

[kinkshamingjamesjoycewithgusto]

Hey gals, give me your fiction recommendations. I like everything. Here are some of mine:

Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier

The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes