Brown Girl in the Ring

This is a book that really grew on me which after a slow start really wrapped me in which I couldn't leave.

'Brown Girl in the Ring' is the story of Ti-Jeanne, a young mother living with her grandmother in a dystopian Toronto where the city has effectively been abandoned by state authorities following an economic crisis. Ti-Jeanne's stuck with her drug addict loser on-off boyfriend Tony who is running with the city gang. Meanwhile, nationally, the right wing leaning Premier needs a new heart and the demographics suggesting rejecting animal transplants in favour of human donors is a vote winner. Rudy the gang boss is tasked to find a donor.

So I am really going to try hard to avoid discussing the plot so much, because when this kicks in I think the less the reader knows up front the better.

What I do feel comfortable talking about is the characterisation. I have read a few reviews criticising Ti-Jeanne and I can certainly see how she can annoy readers. I didn't mind her, but she is deeply flawed. She doesn't appear to be a good mother. She continually makes stupid choices, and in the early part of the book she seems quite immature and selfish. I like this, but if you are looking for a kick-ass heroine you aren't going to get one. Tony comes across as the most pathetic loser irrespective of the plot. Again he is not a hero in the slightest. Mami Gros-Jeanne, Ti-Jeanne's grandmother is brilliant and she reminded me of the title character in Mama Day which I read recently - an elderly black matriarch with a knowledge of healing and magic.

However, I must reserve my praise for the writing of Rudy. I don't think I have ever read a character I have despised in such a long time - he is just a horrible human being. Everyone else in the book has a rationale for their decisions, but Rudy is an out and out evil villain. No shade of grey at all. But when you have such an unredeemable character it helps the rest of the novel to pivot around it. He is definitely not an easy read, but at the same time he is someone I really wanted to get his comeuppance.

The dialect used by most of the characters is in Caribbean English and it's lovely to read - so rich and deep. I quite like reading books written where the language is written in non-standard English. I think it brings the characters to life and I can hear their voices much better. Chapters are interspersed with nursery rhymes, folk songs and poems which brings the culture of the book to life.

Central to the book are old African Gods who can provide aid and warnings, plus Obeah, Caribbean folklore sprits and monsters. I've only dipped into Afro-Caribbean folklore but it was good to see many of these stories crop up here.

I also really liked dystopia Toronto. It felt like a fully realised city without power or running water for many and no law or government structures. It had all the tropes of a city ripe for exploitation by outsiders, but it also had a functioning bartering and trade system, a health system of sorts. I didn't feel like everything was hell despite the poverty. I am struck by the notion that even in times of a breaking down of structures human beings instinctively find ways to collaborate and organise.

I've not seen this book marketed as horror, seeing it typically categorised as science fiction but there are definitely horror elements here, particularly body horror, and I think this book is genuinely creepy and scary at times.

Highly recommended.