A Small Place Paperback – April 28, 2000

An experience written from a viewpoint most tourists have surely never considered. Honest and deep; written concisely and eloquently. The reader gets an eye opener that should permanently change their view.This book was required reading for my child’s Sophmore class in a private girls high school. Thank you to Jamaica Kincaid for giving this perspective to young girls who are future leaders.

I feel like most readers choosing to pick up this book aren't who need to hear what Kincaid has to say but you’ll just have to pass it around to family and friends. Its a short and easy read.

In her book A Small Place the author Jamaica Kincaid reflects on the debilitating impacts of colonialism and slavery on her people, Antiguans. The narrator does not tell her audience, which are tourists, about the beauty of Antigua, the warm and beautiful weather of the country, or the magnificent even about beaches. She straightforwardly confronts her audience as tourists and informs them about their lack of awareness of the corrupt political system in the place they are visiting and the people who suffering consequently from outcomes. She is telling them if they were intelligent enough, they would not travel the long journey from their land to the place of Antigua in order to build up the corrupt political system. In this book, the most important themes that the author deals with are slavery, colonialism, corruption. The country is naturally beautiful and has thriving tourism industry, however, the underlining problems of corrupt system that was inherited from the slavery and colonialism, oppresses its citizens. The deep-rooted negative effects of these two brutal and inhumane systems are still visible in the political and socio economic situations of Antigua. The leaders are corrupt and work based on nepotism and political affiliations (Kincaid, 72). An irrefutable example, which the narrator uses, is the presence of Japanese made cars for taxi drivers. She states the reason why these luxurious and expensive cars are available for the drivers are because the government mandates their purchases and operations (5-6). These cars benefit the members of the government, not the people of Antigua. Her second example for the political corruption is the assignment of the Minister of Culture (46). The irony is that this minister is also the Minister of Education and Sports who controls all these offices for his advantage. She believes these offices exist for the purpose of exploitation and abuse, and not for the benefit of the country. The people of Antigua came out of slavery and colonialism, they still are suffering and are being abused and exploited by their own government.

A Small Place tells the story of the island of Antigua through the eyes of its author, Jamaica Kincaid, an Antiguan now living in the United States. It was originally an essay for The New Yorker, but was rejected, which I guess was good for Kincaid. We start in second person, with Kincaid narrating the arrival of "you," the tourist, on the island of Antigua, and all of the wonderful activities - the beach, the food, the hotel - that you will experience. She then takes a turn towards with the pragmatic, detailing the island's faults that are unseen to the tourist eye, including but not limited to: the island's lack of proper sanitation and health care; the collapse of banking and local food production; hotels enforcing neo-colonialism by training native Antiguans to serve tourists; the corruption of the government, mostly of Syrian descent...If you liked this review, come read more at my blog: http://wp.me/p3Aqzs-hz

I love this book because it is beautifully written- lyrical, poetic, smart. I think she captures her complicated opinions on the culture and history of Antigua wonderfully. It's a brutally honest book, which I think is refreshing. As far as I know, and I may be wrong, she doesn't really represent this as anything other than her opinion. So by "brutally honest," I don't mean everything in it is true, in a textbook kind of way. I just mean that she expresses an eloquent, honest, complicated, contradictory portrait of how she feels. And the writing is beautiful. It's best described as a "poetic essay." If you're looking for a travel guide or a straight non-fiction history book, this isn't it and it shouldn't be marketed that way.I don't feel strongly about the politics of this book, nor did I feel particularly hated (I'm a white American), but I guess I could see how you might feel that way if you are the sort of person who takes everything personally.

This book was not designed to be persuasive or to cater to any audience; it is a brutal, unrelenting account of the world as Jamaica Kincaid experiences it. Through her rage, she demonstrates through the hopelessness of her own argument and anger that the situation of Antigua is a hopeless one. While perhaps not the most uplifting message, it is a incredibly powerful tale that points the finger of blame justifiably at everyone involved in the convoluted system of colonial and post-colonial oppression.This book isn't for the closed minded. You don't have to agree with her, but even to get through her argument, you must be able to relate to her.