PATSY by NICOLE DENNIS-BENN

In Jamaica, Patsy dreams of more. She lives with her God-worshipping mother and her five year old daughter. Her best friend - maybe even girlfriend - left for America a few years ago and all Patsy dreams of is being with her there.

That is how this beautifully devastating novel opens.

There are many themes explored in this book including mother and daughter relationships, immigration, poverty, the American dream, gender and sexual identity and more I’ve probably missed, but what stood out to me was the repetition of past mistakes. It’s like the writer was saying if we ignore our feelings or smother them with some obsession then they won’t go away or be forgotten, they’ll be passed down from one generation to the next. From mother to daughter to daughter to daughter to daughter... So it has to stop somewhere. Someone has to acknowledge these mistakes or feelings and talk about it; get it out in the open. I think it’s quite a subtle thing and something that we may not realise is happening - at least I don’t - but it is very real and it needs to be discussed.

There is so much more to say about this novel, but I don’t have the space to fit it all in one caption. The best thing I can tell you to do is to read the book for yourself.

Although this is an extremely sad book, I still absolutely adored reading it and I would recommend that you seek out own voices reviews of this book as well.

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