Rating: 
Summary: A Small Place with a Worldly Condition . . .
Review: I first read this book when I found it staring at me in a bookstore in Texas. (I had just begun high school in the early 1990s.) A few months earlier, I had read Kincaid's widely-anthologized short story "Girl," and I knew I wanted to hear the author's voice again on the page. Hence, I found A SMALL PLACE.Kincaid's meticulous description and flow of anticolonial thought asks the reader to leap into the unspoken--domination and hierarchies. At the same time, she questions the role of the tourist and the condition of the native. This book awakens the mind and brings necessary questions for self-actualization.
Rating: 
Summary: Til You Have lived it , judge not, what you do not know
Review: I have read the reviews and I must say that I think that are those who either speak with a guilty conscience, are in denial or just plain ignorant to the realities of life in the carribean. Although Kincaids book is based on the struggles of antigua it would be ideal tolook at Haiti and Jamaica and thier strugles. Jamaica is at war right now and struggling under a 12 Billion debt to the IMF. Farmers cannot Farm Their land and sell in their own market ...produce is imported from Miami. Milk Powder, rather than real milk produced in Jamaica is also imported as is everything else...restructuring policies placed by the IMF that make this so. Unemployement isn't an issue its a way of life. Kids not being able to go past basic school....due to lack of money. What dreams can a woman have? The realities is that if she does not higgle by the side of the road, work as a domestic in the hotels or as a seamstress in the sweat shops then WHAT SHALL BECOME OF HER? mabey if she looks good she can walk the beaches of negril and montego bay offering her body to the swarm of American,German, etc... tourists that are there to have a good time....
who could blame them?
I'm sorry if I come off angry but it really irks me that even those who reviewed the book and are from the carribean would try to make it seem as though the carribean isn't suffering under the effects of globalization....why then are you living in America, Engalnd and Canada? why did your parents seek out other countries and then work for years to bring every family member to theses countries of freedom and oppourtunity...Lets get real....want a wake up call? visit the carribean...really visit it do not stop in the tourist area rather go into the heart where the locals live...do you want to see the effects of slavery do you want to realise that it was not so long ago? go to jamaica go to haiti .... see the plantations see the people....
Jamaica Kincaid speaks the truth...is it spoken with hatred? the oppressed will always hate their oppressors.
A Documentry was made based on this book I suggest that if you are really interested in vewing the carribean through the eyes of those who really live there rather then through the eyes of the travel travel network. It is called LIFE & DEBT, A film by STEPHANIE BLACK by NEW YORKER FILMS.You can purchase it or get more info on it through these two websites www.NewYorkerFilms.com and www.lifeanddebt.com
Rating:
Summary: Brave
Review: I was glad that I was glad to read "A Small Place" for my Carribean lit class, I think Jamaica Kincaid was brave to write this type of book, telling about all the illegal things that goes on in Antigua, from the government. I wouldn't haven't been as brave. I can't wait to read some of her fiction books.
Rating:
Summary: An eloquent essay
Review: If you consider it an essay on colonisation, it is a very frank and pointed assessment on the effects of colonisation, not only from an Antiguan's point of view, but from an Antiguan who is now staying in America's point of view. Angry, penetrating and brutally honest. A must read for every worshipper of colonisation and its bountiful gifts. As a novel, it is equally stimulating, the style is succinct, terse and eloquent. At the bottom of it, it is expressing sentiments that have been considered rude to voice... until now I guess.
Rating:
Summary: It is a Small place
Review: In "A Small Place", Kincaid leads the western reader through Antigua, while invoking feelings of guilt. Kincaid draws the reader in by narrating through the reader's perspective. She does this to engulf the reader into the setting and workings of Antigua and its government, including it's abused cultural history. This is the style of narration that Kincaid uses in the first thirty-seven pages of the book, and is very effective in captivating the reader. I felt guilt and ignorance while reading through Kincaid's description of Antigua and the abuse it is subject to by a regressive white moderate. She passionately unveils the crimes and injustices that her people have suffered from. The read is passionate and truthful while forcefully shedding the ignorant presumptions of the reader about what a western reader would consider a "resort area." She skillfully illustrates how foreign landowners rob the economy and further suppress the Antiguan population. She combines the individual reader into a collaboration of his/her personal/cultural histories to make that individual feel responsible for his/her cultures actions. So not only do you read the book as yourself, but you read the essay as western cultures history. She doesn't stop there, but uncovers the evils committed by her own western placed government and calls into question the morality that the whole island revolves on. This is the reason the book has been banned in Antigua. Not only would the book have inflicted damage on commerce and tourism, but also it would have uncovered the committed evils of the persons in power there.
I thought the book was far from enjoyable, but an essential read that helped erase certain ignorance held by the western population. I would suggest the book to scholars and activists or anyone interested in the repercussions of cultural memory. All in all I enjoyed the read but wished that Kincaid had followed through with the "reader narrator" format, which she uses to pull the reader in but abandons after the thirty-seventh page.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: In a scathing essay on the postcolonial politics that affect her native Antigua, Kincaid discusses--is a prose style which is so fluid and so gracious--what tourists DO NOT see when they travel to Antigua. This extended essay will give anyone who's thinking about traveling to the Caribbean for "vacation" second thoughts about their motives behind the trip.
Rating:
Summary: An enlightening essay
Review: Jamaica Kincaid writes an essay examining racial relations in her native island Antigua. She is very bitter about how blacks are treated in the Caribbean and rightfully so. She helps her readers to realize that you cannot blame Antiguans for the poor state of their country. Their economic and political strife is a direct result of the colonial slavery imposed upon them. It is the inhumane actions of the British to be blamed for the internal oppression currently taking place in Antigua. The brutal effects of slavery are not lifted simply by emacipation; its effects on a people are devastating and long-lived. Kincaid paints this picture for us: of a country still coming to grips of what it means to finally be free...
Rating:
Summary: Kincaid tells the Antigua's world with passion and truth
Review: Kincaid's Small Place was an eye-opening journey to a small tropical island known as Antigua. The first part of the journey is told to you using "you" as a tourist to Antigua and "I" explains to you in detail how your trip is mapped out from the time you step off the plane to the time you arrive at your hotel. Kincaid is using herself as the "I" through out the book and refers to "you," the tourist, as coming from Europe or North America. Kincaid uses the "banking concept" to deposit information about how your trip would be mapped out step by step. The "I" speaks of how "you" leave the plane (page 4), how "you" will enter the cab and be miss quoted a price for fair (page 5), and the "I" will even explain how "you" are an out of place tourist that is an "ugly human being." (page 14) She poses questions to you along the way, but is definitive of how "you" will act and respond to your new surroundings.
As the book progresses, Kincaid switches her attention from "you" to the many questions and mysteries that have plagued Antigua since the British colonized the island to the time it was freed from England rule to how it is now. Kincaid does bring up problem posing questions to introduce many of the situations that occur in Antigua, but then usually proceeds to answer them using her experiences and history of Antigua. One example is the library that is pending repairs since 1974 (page 8,9), she poses questions not only to the reader, but also to herself during the journey. We are taken through a journey with her to find out what it will take to get the library up and running again. Kincaid's "I" makes sure you understand the differences of what "you," the tourist sees from your perspective to how the "I" perceives the tourist. The "I" opens up the history behind Antigua's world by explaining the harsh realities that occurred.
The "tour guides" (page 68, 69), or the many of the prime misters that have governed the island of Antigua, know of their island's hardships and corruptions to the point that it has become humiliating and degrading for the people of Antigua. Antigua's lifestyle has become such an allure for tourists that it further weakens the government's desire to change or improve upon it.
In the final pages of the book, Kincaid poses the question (pages 80 - 81) "are the descendents of those noble and exalted people, the slaves?" She describes the people of Antigua as no longer being slaves, but humans. She then states that since they are no longer slaves, they are no longer noble or exalted that they are human beings. The troubling ironic situation that "I" poses on "you" is that while Antigua was under British rule, the island was prosperous and structured, but at a cost that the Antiguans were slaves. Now that the British do not rule Antigua, the Antiguans are no longer slaves, but the island's living conditions and lifestyle are that of a poor one. The British dehumanizing in their ways toward the Antiguans that weren't able to grow on their own as a society.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating use of tense and voice
Review: Like other reviewer, I was little put off by Kincaid's politics. But the first thing that struck me about this book was the tense and voice. Second person (?you do this, you do that.....?) isn?t very common in literature, so when I see it, it has an immediate effect on me. Now, in one sense, I admire the choice of this tense. It allows the narrator to talk directly to the reader, informing him or her. It also gives the narrator some freedom to literally paint a scene in the reader?s mind. Instead of going to all the trouble to create the hundreds of details necessary to allow the reader to place himself or herself in Antigua, Kincaid can accomplish this in one sentence. Granted, she goes on to provide the details (she points out the cars, the roads, the hospital, the beach, the sun, etc.) but as she does this she has some additional room with this tense to comment on these details and actually point out their significance. Using this tense also lets Kincaid convey her opinion of the typical tourist who comes to Antigua. Using the second person present tense makes the book flow more like a conversation, and as such, allows me to imagine one particular narrator, a very specific person who is telling me this story and painting these pictures in my mind, filling in the details and their significance as we go along. And if I am not a middle class or upper middle class white American who travels to other countries, this works very well. If I am not a middle or upper class Briton, this also works. But if I am, as are many of the people who buy and read contemporary literature, this would put me out a bit. In fact, it would pretty well alienate me to this narrator. Kincaid?s narrator pretty clearly says she wishes the tourists would stay home, she despises the English, she disdains the concepts of democracy and capitalism, and doesn?t think much of the people who do. Now on the one hand, using this tense and voice makes the narrator very real, very tangible as a character. We hear the narrator?s opinions on almost everything, so the voice becomes distinctive and individual. On the other hand, what this narrator says can be very challenging to some readers. Kincaid has obviously made some choices about what she has to say and how she sees her readership. Starting in second person, the narrator focuses on building the scene in the reader?s mind, helping the reader see himself or herself in Antigua. The first sense we get of the narrator is from the asides (?Or worse, European?). The first time the narrator identifies herself is on pg. 10 (?of the people like me...?). I think this relates to the gradual change in voice that becomes evident at the beginning of chapter 2. At the beginning of chapter 2 (after the illustration) the voice changes from a heavy second person to a slightly more traditional first person. Kincaid starts the chapter with ?The Antigua I knew....? and goes on to stay more focused on the first person voice. For me, this reinforced the conversational aspect of the book, the give and take as the focus moves from one speaker to the other. Even though it is always Kincaid?s narrator talking, the first chapter?s emphasis on the reader (you, you, you) is followed by the second chapter?s emphasis on the narrator (I, I, I). This more closely approximates the rhythm of a real conversation and keeps the essay relaxed and moving forward for me. Small Place Section Stands Out Because of Voice Change Again On page 52, the narrator changes voice again. In this section, the narrator stops talking primarily about herself and the reader and speaks in a more essayistic voice about Antigua as a whole. ?In a small place, people cultivate small events.? For me, this served to draw attention to this section. Not only because the voice changed, but also because the meaning of the book?s title is revealed in this section. The effect on me as reader is to keep my attention. The general feeling I come away with is an essay that starts with me, moves to the narrator, then moves to Antigua in general. Last Section Entirely Third Person The final change in voice occurs in the last section. The last chapter is totally in third person. The narrator has completely dropped the reader (you, you, you) and herself (I, I, I) and begins to speak in straightforward, third person omniscient point of view about Antigua. She even drops into the essayists questions (?What might it do to people...?) in this section. Ending the book in this voice, to me, lent credibility. If she had stayed in the first or second person voice all the way to the end, I might have more easily dismissed the book as biased or too personal. But slowly moving across the voice spectrum, ending in traditional third person, lends an aura of objectivity to the end. All in all this was a fascinating change ue of tense and voice to tell a compelling story.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating use of tense and voice
Review: Like other reviewer, I was little put off by Kincaid's politics. But the first thing that struck me about this book was the tense and voice. Second person (?you do this, you do that.....?) isn?t very common in literature, so when I see it, it has an immediate effect on me. Now, in one sense, I admire the choice of this tense. It allows the narrator to talk directly to the reader, informing him or her. It also gives the narrator some freedom to literally paint a scene in the reader?s mind. Instead of going to all the trouble to create the hundreds of details necessary to allow the reader to place himself or herself in Antigua, Kincaid can accomplish this in one sentence. Granted, she goes on to provide the details (she points out the cars, the roads, the hospital, the beach, the sun, etc.) but as she does this she has some additional room with this tense to comment on these details and actually point out their significance. Using this tense also lets Kincaid convey her opinion of the typical tourist who comes to Antigua. Using the second person present tense makes the book flow more like a conversation, and as such, allows me to imagine one particular narrator, a very specific person who is telling me this story and painting these pictures in my mind, filling in the details and their significance as we go along. And if I am not a middle class or upper middle class white American who travels to other countries, this works very well. If I am not a middle or upper class Briton, this also works. But if I am, as are many of the people who buy and read contemporary literature, this would put me out a bit. In fact, it would pretty well alienate me to this narrator. Kincaid?s narrator pretty clearly says she wishes the tourists would stay home, she despises the English, she disdains the concepts of democracy and capitalism, and doesn?t think much of the people who do. Now on the one hand, using this tense and voice makes the narrator very real, very tangible as a character. We hear the narrator?s opinions on almost everything, so the voice becomes distinctive and individual. On the other hand, what this narrator says can be very challenging to some readers. Kincaid has obviously made some choices about what she has to say and how she sees her readership. Starting in second person, the narrator focuses on building the scene in the reader?s mind, helping the reader see himself or herself in Antigua. The first sense we get of the narrator is from the asides (?Or worse, European?). The first time the narrator identifies herself is on pg. 10 (?of the people like me...?). I think this relates to the gradual change in voice that becomes evident at the beginning of chapter 2. At the beginning of chapter 2 (after the illustration) the voice changes from a heavy second person to a slightly more traditional first person. Kincaid starts the chapter with ?The Antigua I knew....? and goes on to stay more focused on the first person voice. For me, this reinforced the conversational aspect of the book, the give and take as the focus moves from one speaker to the other. Even though it is always Kincaid?s narrator talking, the first chapter?s emphasis on the reader (you, you, you) is followed by the second chapter?s emphasis on the narrator (I, I, I). This more closely approximates the rhythm of a real conversation and keeps the essay relaxed and moving forward for me. Small Place Section Stands Out Because of Voice Change Again On page 52, the narrator changes voice again. In this section, the narrator stops talking primarily about herself and the reader and speaks in a more essayistic voice about Antigua as a whole. ?In a small place, people cultivate small events.? For me, this served to draw attention to this section. Not only because the voice changed, but also because the meaning of the book?s title is revealed in this section. The effect on me as reader is to keep my attention. The general feeling I come away with is an essay that starts with me, moves to the narrator, then moves to Antigua in general. Last Section Entirely Third Person The final change in voice occurs in the last section. The last chapter is totally in third person. The narrator has completely dropped the reader (you, you, you) and herself (I, I, I) and begins to speak in straightforward, third person omniscient point of view about Antigua. She even drops into the essayists questions (?What might it do to people...?) in this section. Ending the book in this voice, to me, lent credibility. If she had stayed in the first or second person voice all the way to the end, I might have more easily dismissed the book as biased or too personal. But slowly moving across the voice spectrum, ending in traditional third person, lends an aura of objectivity to the end. All in all this was a fascinating change ue of tense and voice to tell a compelling story.
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