Short stories are a genre I never paid much attention to. Sure, I have some Bradbury on my shelf, alongside Salinger and Roald Dahl, but the label “short story” was not a good endorsement to get me to read a particular book – until recently. Interestingly, it’s been the young, female writers that have awakened a never-before-suspected passion for story collections (and poetry, but that is another thing altogether). Alexia Arthurs is one of these writers that should not be missed.

The most significant summary of Ms Arthurs’s biography is the fact that she was “born and raised in Jamaica and moved with her family to Brooklyn when she was twelve.” This real-life experience informs the characters and narratives in “How to Love a Jamaican.” The primary focus lies on female characters (although brothers, lovers, fathers, and other males are definitely present, and one story is even told from the perspective of a male narrator): Mothers and daughters, grandmothers, best friends, and even mermaids make appearances. Ms Arthurs ponders questions of identity and heritage, often leaving her characters in a state of tension as they struggle with finding a place for themselves in their given circumstances. From the get-go, her writing style is lively and immediately engaging. I found myself looking forward to meeting each new character as one story after another unfolded among the pages. Often, the reader is left with a sense of profound loss or melancholy, a clear sign of how masterfully Ms Arthurs manages to engage her audience.

Oddly, the one story that did not resonate with me at all was the rather long title story, and the reason for this disconnect was the irritating use of grammar. Within the narrative, Arthurs continually switches between past and present tense, without a clear indication of the purpose of this narrative device. While the main character, a successful singer more than casually reminiscent of Rihanna, clearly struggles with her own loneliness and the death of an acquaintance, this pain stays well locked on the page, making her seem distant and therefore not quite relatable. Then again, never having been a famous anything myself, perhaps I’m missing a crucial piece of experience in order to fully “feel” the story.

“How to Love a Jamaican” is published by Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine. I was provided a copy by Netgalley in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

Exceptionally strong collection with a definite focus and some beautiful writing. Most of these stories star young Jamaicans finding new lives in the U.S., usually as students in such places as Iowa and Wisconsin where they have been granted full boat scholarships, many pursue extended degrees. But their ties to their heritage are strong, and the generation preceding this one is presented with affection, their speech lovingly recreated incorporating the melodic patois of their island home. A sprinkling of magic realism surfaces now and then, but not enough to upset the earthiness of the overall book.

It's rare that I read a short story collection and wish that the story was a novel, but that happened over and over as I read these stories. Who are these brothers and sisters? These mothers? These old lovers? Absent fathers? There was more than a Jamaican connection to the stories, but some of the stories were so damn good, I wanted to turn the pages and keep reading more of about those characters. Perhaps her next book will a novel.

Arthurs’ debut short collection has a lot to offer: with a keen eye for how Jamaicans and Jamaican Americans navigate their often conflicting worlds, she shows off her literary talent through a diversity of points of view, subject matter, and writing style. The collection opens with an epigraph by Kei Miller from his prose poem “The Law Concerning Mermaids,” in which he reflects on the lasting impact that colonialism has had on its victims. The image of the mermaid becomes a thread in Arthurs’ collection and at least a few of her stories in some way interpret mermaids and what they might represent in culture and literature. There are no actual mermaids in these pages, but the majesty of them frames and inspires what I interpreted to be Arthurs’ most salient claim: that her characters need not step out of their own truths to impress or please others. Her characters confront shadism, homophobia, cultural prejudice, racism, sexism, classism, distorted body image, the death of loved ones, and unrelenting familial expectations. Her characters and narrators range from a woman struggling with an eating disorder, a man who is the lesser loved brother in his family, a gay woman who has to hide her sexuality from her family and her home culture, a shameful and regretful man who has led a double life cheating on his wife, two lower class young girls who drowned going after mermaid dolls they coveted in a pool, a woman who is haunted by the ghost of a dead woman she never knew, and a young girl who is sent away to back to Jamaica for her bad behavior. Many of her characters desire lives they aren’t allowed or don’t know how to lead.

Arthurs’ prose is rich with Jamaican dialect and atmospheric imagery. Her characters are vibrant and their hopes and fears take front and center stage. Each character has a discernible relationship with Jamaica and Jamaican culture, so this collection is very much about Jamaica. But it’s also about what it’s like to feel alone, alienated, and broken. The dialogue in most of these stories is particular to this time period: conversations about popular culture (celebrities and musicians) and current discussions about race and gender are frequent in many of these stories, which makes me wonder about the lasting potential of these stories. They are very much of their time. Even so, Arthurs offers a dynamic collection of stories that suggests that there’s both a commonality and plurality within Jamaican experiences, and she does so with remarkable literary skill.

"They were of the same generation, the ones who had left the Caribbean as adults for better lives, and they would spend the rest of their years making comparisons, making complaints, but when they thought about it, when they really considered it, every road led to America. They would build retirement homes in Jamaica."

"America, the land of diversity, where people talk to who they think it's safest to talk to." There were so many gems in this book.

There were so many great short stories here. I enjoyed learning about this beautiful people group. I truly felt I received an insight into Jamaica and varying generations/demographics. Each story was stepping through someone's wardrobe into their world. It was fascinating and I'm glad it was written as short stories.

There was more sexual content than I am comfortable with in books/media, which is why I only gave Arthurs' book 3 stars. I also felt the use of profanity in many areas was not needed and didn't work to move the story forward in my opinion.

"Maybe beginnings aren't beginnings, maybe they are harder to pin down, like waves pulling off of the shore at different moments, waves of all sizes and strengths, but eventually and ultimately they are all the same wide expanse of sea."

I received this book as an advanced review copy from NetGalley. The thoughts and opinions listed above are my own.

I thank NetGallery and Random House for providing me this advanced reader’s copy for an honest review.

This short collection is the author’s debut book and its general description is amply available on GR. As usual, this review will focus on my impression of the book. The strongest and most affecting story was “We Eat Our Daughters.” I liked “Mash-Up Love,” “Bad Behavior,” and “Mermaid River.” (And it was so clear to me that Shirley, from “Shirley from a Small Place,” is based on Rihanna.)

I thought the writing style had a plainspoken quality—maintained throughout all the stories. Most of the stories had a fatalistic and almost pessimistic tone. And as many elements were repeated several times, I began to feel like I was re-reading the same story. More than one story contained men with dirt under their fingernails, men who abandoned women, characters that eat porridge and chicken foot soup, Jamaican men with green eyes, people who went to Iowa for graduate studies, Jamaicans who moved to NYC, etc.

The ultimate test for me is whether I'd read an author's future books. If I looked only at "We Eat Our Daughters," I'd readily say yes. Looking at this book in its entirety, I'd be agnostic but open.

This collection of short stories is rich with details of my own experience as someone of Jamaican parentage, who spent the better part of my life growing up, living, and working in the U.S. but still feeling deep emotional connectedness to Jamaica. The details of place, culture, dialect, and food were all spot-on, with never a moment that was false or contrived. As was the detail about the inner lives of Jamaicans living here, or living in Jamaica but aspiring to come here. The author had an uncanny ability to apply a light touch to noticing and remarking on the subtle differences between Jamaicans and Black Americans, and our different perceptions of class, propriety, sexuality, education, religion ... so much so, that I felt like I was reading about family and friends. I wish any single one of these shorts had been developed into a novel, and if they had, I sense that they would be amazing. As it was, my only criticism is that the shorts were more like vignettes in some way, without a clear sense of either resolution, realization of even transition of the characters from the place where they began to the place where we leave them when the story ends. Aside from that, I was beyond delighted with this collection and look forward to reading more from this writer. Recommended particularly for those who like reading about situations and characters that are part of the Afr0-Caribbean diaspora.

How to Love a Jamaican" is the debut collection of short stories authored by Alexia Arthurs. The book's interwoven theme touches upon the experience of first generation, Jamaican-born men and women and their lives in America. The perspectives of each story's narrators are reminiscent of works by Junot Díaz or Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

The books consists of eleven chapters, although the book's penultimate chapter seems to be composed of three different short stories in one. In my opinion, the best written, strongest stories in this collection are also the bookends (i.e., the first and last chapters). In the first story, "Light-Skinned Girls and Kelly Rowlands", a Jamaican-born college student attending school in NYC befriends a fellow Jamaican that seems to have forgotten her roots. This story served as a great introduction to the book/author, and made me intrigued enough to want to keep reading. In the last chapter, "Shirley From a Small Place", an international superstar singer fighting depression returns to Jamaica to regain some semblance of normalcy. This chapter was also one of the longer short stories in the collection, giving Alexia Arthurs the chance to flesh out the characters a bit more for this particular story.

It was refreshing to read a book that speaks from the perspective(s) of a group of people with narrow representations in modern literature. The book tackled issues of assimilation, whitewashing culture, sexuality, and familial issues, while simultaneously exploring the unique experiences of immigrants living in America. There are a few recurring themes that came up several times in different stories, even those in which it served no purpose, such as with mermaids or sexuality. As such, I wonder if these stories tended to be a bit autobiographical. Overall, I think this was a strong debut collection by a new author, and I look forward to reading other works released by Alexia Arthurs.

I loved How To Love A Jamaican. Though the foreword said, For Jamaicans and I’m not Jamaican, I saw me and others in the story. I feel it’s relatable to all indigenous humans. The stories were singular yet nuanced with the flavors of a culture of people. There was joy, sorrow and a certain pathos that read real.

I would highly recommend this book to those who love savoring literature and short stories linked together by country and humanity. It’s also great reading for discussion.

This was an amazing collection of stories. I had a little difficulty with the dialect (I wish a glossary had been included!), but managed alright. I have always enjoyed good immigrant stories and tales from other lands, so Jamaica, Jamaicans, and their experiences both here and in Jamaica, made for interesting reading. My favorite stories in the collection were Shirley From A Small Place about a pop star from Jamaica living in LA and the relationship she had with her mother and Light-Skinned Girls and Kelly Rowland- Jamaican girls and college. All the stories were interesting though and shouldn't be missed. Very entertaining read.

I’m so happy to have received an ARC from NetGalley because this was such a phenomenal collection of stories. I love when a debut author has a fully-realized voice: there is an immediacy to Alexia Arthurs’s writing which allows all of the complex emotions her characters experience to be incredibly touching and relatable. Every story has a person of Jamaican descent as a main character, with most of the stories focused on self-discovery, remembrance, and moments of transcendence. There is a story about a pop star who returns home in order to find the strength to decide to be happy, there is a young athlete who leaves the Island to attend college who begins to be haunted by the ghost of a recently murdered student who is also from a place outside of the states, there are the collection of women who muse about the ways in which their mothers control their lives, and the woman who is 40 and successful and decides that a marriage can be one of convenience and still make her happy, and on and on. I immensely enjoyed!!!