Land of Love and Drowning: A Novel
A critically acclaimed debut from an award-winning writer—an epic family saga set against the magic and the rhythms of the Virgin Islands.
In the early 1900s, the Virgin Islands are transferred from Danish to American rule, and an important ship sinks into the Caribbean Sea. Orphaned by the shipwreck are two sisters and their half brother, now faced with an uncertain identity and future. Each of them is unusually beautiful, and each is in possession of a particular magic that will either sink or save them.
Chronicling three generations of an island family from 1916 to the 1970s, Land of Love and Drowning is a novel of love and magic, set against the emergence of Saint Thomas into the modern world. Uniquely imagined, with echoes of Toni Morrison, Gabriel García Márquez, and the author’s own Caribbean family history, the story is told in a language and rhythm that evoke an entire world and way of life and love. Following the Bradshaw family through sixty years of fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, love affairs, curses, magical gifts, loyalties, births, deaths, and triumphs, Land of Love and Drowning is a gorgeous, vibrant debut by an exciting, prizewinning young writer.
In the early 1900s, the Virgin Islands are transferred from Danish to American rule, and an important ship sinks into the Caribbean Sea. Orphaned by the shipwreck are two sisters and their half brother, now faced with an uncertain identity and future. Each of them is unusually beautiful, and each is in possession of a particular magic that will either sink or save them.
Chronicling three generations of an island family from 1916 to the 1970s, Land of Love and Drowning is a novel of love and magic, set against the emergence of Saint Thomas into the modern world. Uniquely imagined, with echoes of Toni Morrison, Gabriel García Márquez, and the author’s own Caribbean family history, the story is told in a language and rhythm that evoke an entire world and way of life and love. Following the Bradshaw family through sixty years of fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, love affairs, curses, magical gifts, loyalties, births, deaths, and triumphs, Land of Love and Drowning is a gorgeous, vibrant debut by an exciting, prizewinning young writer.
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Community Reviews
thenextgoodbook.com
Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique
350 pages
What’s it about?
I thought this novel was going to drown me. I say that not knowing if that was a good or bad feeling.... It depended on the part of the book I was on as to whether I was content to be drowning in the book, or fighting to get out of the depths of the Bradshaw family! The book takes place in the Virgin Islands. It is a big family saga with lots of magical illusions that could only happen "in the islands".
What did it make me think about?
This made me think about indigenous people everywhere. What happens to a culture and a people when others decide they want the land they have always lived on?
Should I read it?
If you are a fan of magical realism and love a big long saga then this is the book for you. I found it dragged at times for me. It has several narrators and some I liked more than others. The writer has a promising future but parts of the novel were stronger for me than others.
Quote-
“Family can be like an anchor. An anchor may tether you. An anchor may also pull and sink your ship.”
Question-
Incest is a theme throughout this novel. Was Ms. Yanique trying to draw a parallel between Eeona/ Captain Bradshaw and the Virgin Islands /U.S.?
If you liked this try-
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
6 stars
Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique
350 pages
What’s it about?
I thought this novel was going to drown me. I say that not knowing if that was a good or bad feeling.... It depended on the part of the book I was on as to whether I was content to be drowning in the book, or fighting to get out of the depths of the Bradshaw family! The book takes place in the Virgin Islands. It is a big family saga with lots of magical illusions that could only happen "in the islands".
What did it make me think about?
This made me think about indigenous people everywhere. What happens to a culture and a people when others decide they want the land they have always lived on?
Should I read it?
If you are a fan of magical realism and love a big long saga then this is the book for you. I found it dragged at times for me. It has several narrators and some I liked more than others. The writer has a promising future but parts of the novel were stronger for me than others.
Quote-
“Family can be like an anchor. An anchor may tether you. An anchor may also pull and sink your ship.”
Question-
Incest is a theme throughout this novel. Was Ms. Yanique trying to draw a parallel between Eeona/ Captain Bradshaw and the Virgin Islands /U.S.?
If you liked this try-
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
6 stars
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