Rating: 
Summary: A very tentative rating - Kincaid had me in her hands
Review: Mr. Potter is written in the same style of language circling as her Autobiography of My Mother. When I had read about 20 pages, I had to start over to determine if I had missed a transition in the storyline or if the author had omitted the transition - the latter being the correct answer. In Mr. Potter the circular language almost demands that you read out loud - or at least form the words in your mind - if you are to follow the story. In that sense, I did not enjoy reading this book as I had her earlier works.However, by the end of the book I had to be in awe of the author. She succeeded in presenting both the despair and the wisdom of being inconsequential. She accurately presented individuals as being shaped by small details such as a line drawn through the father section of a birth certificate. She presented the similarity in displacement whether a rich Lebanonese businessman, a Vienese doctor, or an African slave. Through that similarity of displacement, she made a strong social statement about the relationship of the "have's" and the "have not's". The story line is simple - a boy is born without his father claiming him, his mother leaves him as a servant boy while she commits suicide, he learns to drive, he becomes a chauffeur, he has many daughters - one of which is the narrator, he becomes a successful cabbie, he dies. However, through this simple story, through language that is simple and difficult simultaneously, Kincaid crafted a realistic, wise, critical depiction of humanity. I'm impressed.
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