The Polished Hoe

Rating:
Summary: Enriched with native tongues
Review: Austin Clarke's Giller Prize winning novel THE POLISHED HOE takes place on the island of Bimshire (also known as Barbados) in the "Wessindes." During one long night of confession and reflection between Bimshire lawman, Sarge, and Miss Mary Gertrude Matilda, a kept woman on the Bellfeels plantation, Clarke's characters ruminate about the lives they have led. Mary calls the police station and tells them she must confess her crime. Sarge comes to the Great House where Miss Mary resides to record her statement, but is caught in a whirlwind of memories about the woman he grew up with, his own experiences and transgressions, and the contempt circulating the island regarding Mister Bellfeels.

Enriched with native tongues and a sort of stream of consciousness writing, this is a novel that brought to mind some of the great writers of all time. The prose was lilting, and I often found myself caught in a reverie as the characters related memories from their lives. It is not a book for the drama lovers who live for fast paced reads; rather it seems to have been written for those who love narration, historical fiction, and carefully crafted characterizations.

Reviewed by CandaceK
The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Rating:
Summary: I wanted to love this book but I didn't
Review: I wanted so much to love this year's Giller Winner. Austin Clarke was the underdog against such big hitters as Wayne Johnston and Carol Shields but I found The Polished Hoe to be a long rambling tale with an unsatisfying climax.

Mary Gertrude Mathilda Bellfeels, a plantation field worker who luckily or unluckily caught the favor of the plantation manager Mr. Bellfeels becomes his mistress and bears him his only son. As a reward she lives and raises her son (he grows up to become the village doctor) in the Great House and no longer has to work other than being little more than a [mistress] to a man you come to truly hate.

The novel covers one long night of Mary giving her statement to a Sargent who has loved her from afar since they were both only 10 years old. In the build up to her crime, what she did and why she did it, we get the story of her almost 60 years on the plantation through anecdotes of the horrors of black life in the village of Bimshire in the West Indies where blacks are still treated like slaves even if they work for a wage.

The problem for me was that this book rambled over the same territory continually and although some of the history was compelling this novel lacked a continuity or a narrative that kept you wanting to read on. The carrot is that you know she's probably killed someone with that hoe she used to use in the north field but you don't find out who and why until the last 10 pages of the book and by then I just wanted to be done.

This is a good book for a sense of place, time and culture but don't look for a great love story or a novel of suspense in The Polished Hoe.

Rating:
Summary: good for historical purposes
Review: This is one of the few books I've started that I seriously
considered quitting. It is not easy to get into, but I am
compulsive about finishing books that my book club has selected.
There are always pay-offs for reading any book, and with this
particular novel, it was in the historical value of slavery
in one part of the world. It was fascinating to me that slaves
in Bimshire (Barbados) did not consider themselves slaves,
as compared to their black counterparts in southern "Amurca".
But, as Mary Mathilda points out, "slaves are slaves". I was both
incensed and saddened at the way in which women
slaves (beginnning at a young age) were obviously considered sexual property of any white
man, owner or non-owner, and a "quickie" even in the kitchen
during a dinner party, was his prerogative.

The book, occuring over a 24-hour period, has ongoing digressions
from the business of the day, which, though enlightening for
the history learned, are distracting and lengthy, and frequently
required re-reading because my mind wandered. In this context
I was reminded of my struggle to finish "Mrs. Dalloway" by
Virginia Woolf. This is not to say that both books are not
well-written.

Lastly, I enjoyed the exposure to much black slang.