A well-told #ownvoices story with robust characters and vivid settings that does not shy away from illuminating the experiences of undocumented immigrants and of queer Jamaican women.

I loved Dennis-Benn's debut novel, so I had high hopes for this one. I was more interested in Tru's story than Patsy's, and I wish I had heard a little more from Tru, but I know that wasn't the point of the book. Overall, I would recommend.

Patsy is a robust book that tells a story that needs to be told. We don't see this sort of story in fiction much. That said, I didn't like the title character. I didn't really understand Patsy for the longest time. I understood that when she was fresh off the plane and fresh off Cecily's rejection she couldn't go home because she thought she could still make a life in the United States, but with years passing - how did she not give up if she was barely making ends meet and her jobs were, in her view, lesser than what she'd left in Jamaica? It made more sense as we learned of the abuse in her past. At least in New York, her abusers weren't there. At least in New York, she wasn't living in the house where she was molested.

Tru was my favorite part of this book. I was really intrigued by her. I enjoyed seeing her relationship with her father grow and I feel like the one good decision Patsy made was to get Tru to someone who would appreciate her for who she is rather than wanting her to be a stereotypical girl. I also think we Tru her past 16 because I don't think the events in that last chapter could have happened in the same year as the previous chapter and I'm glad we see Tru's story end with the possibility of getting out of Jamaica for a good education, though I think the "let's change the neighborhood through community soccer and Pope will just give up his team!" thing is a bit pat.

This book should have won awards, and I was very disappointed it didn’t. Perhaps critics are still not willing to reward a book that describes a woman seeking fulfillment outside of motherhood, particularly a woman who leaves her child behind. But Dennis-Benn does not make this decision an easy one for Patsy, nor does she give her an easy life. Instead, each character in the book is drawn with compassion as well as a clear-eyed truth.

>Made it 21%, Chapter 9

>It's good, it hurt to read, but I was kinda bored and couldn't go any farther.


Quotes:
Jesus is the only viable excuse a young woman can use to deny the penis.

Tru's face closes as though she has already figured out that promises are merely sweet lies.

But more than the name itself is the irony--to come to a place with so much freedom, only to take care of another child.

This was a book that was extremely heavy in the way that makes you realize that every person has a story and a past that they battle everyday.

Whew 💆🏽‍♀️

This book had my emotions everywhere. Tru!!!! Tru had my heart hurting for chapters. The prolonged process to maneuver through this book was due to Tru and Minerva. They didn’t give my anxiety any rest. I’m so pleased with my decision to start this book over from the beginning and go slow with it. I don’t regret giving this book and characters my full attention.

I highly recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley and W.W. Norton & Company for the opportunity to review this title.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2020 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2020/01/2020-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

Nicole Dennis-Benn’s Patsy was a masterpiece, plain and simple, despite my taking (a sizeable) issue with the ending a bit. This book, about Patsy, a woman who immigrates undocumented to the US from Jamaica, leaving behind her five year old daughter with her father and his family, tells the story of a woman who could not adequately love her daughter because she had never been allowed to properly love herself. Issues from growing up in a strictly religious home, enduring childhood sexual abuse, seeking affection in the wrong places, many barriers to financial stability and academic access, a persistent depression, and a deep and endemic societal homophobia that left her unable to love safely and freely, set the backdrop for a story that explores what it is to set sail to a new place only to find yourself still adrift on shore, and also highlights what happens to those left behind to inherit the patterns of their forebearer. This book was heavy. It was mournful at times. And perhaps what was most artful about it was that no one character was entirely likeable. I was pissed at Patsy consistently in this book. I didn’t love Cicely. I was mad at Roy. I wanted to shake Marva. And yet. I also had big compassion for everyone and I wanted better for them all. What an anthem for humanity, for struggling, for forgiving, and for loving. Patsy. Keep trying baby. You’re getting there. Thank you @netgalley for the ARC, opinions are my own.

I am in awe of two things in this book: a) its courage and b) its complexity.

a) Courage

This is the first non-indie-published book I've read that addresses lesbian desire on pretty much every page. It does so without much fanfare or identity quest. In fact, if you don't know to find it, at first you will not be certain that that's what you should call it. The lesbian desire here is born as best-friend-from-childhood sweet sweet attachment and develops slowly into lifelong erotic passion. There is no point at which it is labeled or called anything other than love.

Now let me make be clear: calling same-sex desire "lesbian" or "gay" or "queer" is a good thing. I am not anti-labels. But Dennis-Benn's decision to make her book about love and desire rather than identity is charming and lovely and perfectly fine, and it carries the book beautifully.

It is brave, it seems to me, to write a book that is so steeped in a woman's love for another woman, or other women. It is even braver that Dennis-Benn makes both mother and daughter women who love women. I have never seen it done before. It's brave and beautiful.

b) Complexity

Dennis-Benn is an immensely gifted story-teller who skillfully plants narrative seeds all through the book and brings them to fruition in an organic and powerful way. They cover, first, Jamaica and the intricate social and economic reality of that country. Also: the confused feelings that surround incest, poverty and social inequality, colorism, the numbing and abusive potential of faith, ambivalent feelings about motherhood, parental neglect, immigration to the United States, the miserable condition of undocumented immigrants, racism, trauma, and despair. It's a lot of ground to cover but Dennis-Benn does it with apparent effortlessness and much power.

“And while people would pardon convicts, drunks, and men who fuck goats, cows, dogs, and children, they are suspicious, almost terrified, of a woman without a family and no religion. Jesus is the only viable excuse a young woman can use to deny the penis.“
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There is an emotional vastness to the world that encompasses Patsy, a Jamaican woman who runs to America to try and save herself, and Tru, the daughter she leaves behind when she does. Weeks later, I’m struggling to talk about or summarize the book in the same way I’d have trouble concisely answering the question “Why are you the way you are?” Nicole Dennis-Benn offers a multi-focality that is often absent from fiction, particularly immigrant and gay narratives. Her landscapes are richly textured, populated by complicated human beings who you cannot help but empathize with, regardless of the vilification their actions may invite.
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Most compelling to me was the care and beauty with which Dennis-Benn writes about relationships that defy categorization—either because to define them would be dangerous, or because we simply cannot bring ourselves to do so. She also begs us to consider how many spirits we might be destroying by forcing (via lack of education, lack of access to family planning, denial of birth control and abortion) women to be mothers; or indeed, by circumscribing the roles of girls in any particular way.
🌺
Though the walls of this book are papered with hopelessness & struggle, the characters’ victories shine brightly, and it is their quiet incandescence which will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page.

Patsy has dreamed of leaving Jamaica and moving to New York for years. And while it's for many reasons - a better job, sending money back to her family, proving her own intelligence and worth - her secret reason is that she hopes to rekindle her romantic love with her childhood best friend, Cicely. But when she finally makes the choice to leave her home country (and her five year old daughter) behind, she learns that New York is a harder place to find yourself than she thought.

I love Nicole Dennis-Benn. I love the way she builds characters and raises stakes and makes you feel everything deep in your gut. If you enjoyed Here Comes the Sun, you'll definitely love Patsy too. Patsy and her daughter Tru are so beautifully crafted, and their mistakes are deeply human. This narrative of those who leave and those who get left behind will echo through your head far after you finish the book.

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

Wow! I will be thinking about this story for days to come. Dennis-Benn’s writing is so beautifully descriptive that I felt a part of the story. I have to admit I didn’t often agree with Patsy’s decisions, I did however, understand that migrating from Jamaica to America for the promise opportunity and love that she hungered for was something she felt she had to do. Heartbreaking was the fact that pursuing her dreams left her daughter without a mother. The reader has an intimate look into her life as an immigrant in New York and her daughter Tru’s struggles back home in Pennyfield. The story of damage caused by growing up feeling unloved and abandoned is not a new one. However, the emotion and depth with which this story is told sets it apart. The story handles serious topics including sexuality, sexual abuse ,poverty and violence.

Thank you to Netgalley and W.W. Norton for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review of Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn.

In Nicole Dennis-Benn’s sophomore novel, we are once again introduced to a bevy of true-to-life characters. The most prominent among them are the eponymous Patsy, a mother who unwittingly accepted the role because she had no other choice, and Tru, her daughter who struggles with feelings of abandonment when her mother leaves to America.

Upon Patsy’s arrival to America, she realizes that this country is not the land of opportunity, which was promised by her best friend and former lover, Cicely, for whom Patsy has made this journey. Patsy realizes fairly quickly that you will not be given the same access to education, healthcare, and housing if you aren’t an American citizen. And for women, citizenship comes at the cost of loveless marriages to American men. Realizing that Cicely is paying that price and is trapped in a sham of a marriage, Patsy moves forward, paving her own way as a nanny.

Meanwhile in Jamaica, Tru is being raised by her father, Roy, and stepmother, Marva. Their household is one fraught with hostility due to Roy’s cheating and Marva’s series of miscarriages. Marva, desperate to have a daughter, thought that Tru would be the answer to her prayers. But as Tru gets older, we see her adopting a more masculine appearance, cutting her hair short and bandaging her breasts to look like the boys she grows up playing soccer with.

What I found most interesting about this novel is the pathology of abandonment passed down through each generation of this family. Patsy has always felt abandoned emotionally by her mother because of a traumatic incident that occurred at a young age as well as her mother’s devotion to the Church. And this leads to Patsy’s physical and emotional abandonment of her daughter, Tru. Nicole Dennis-Benn also takes traditional gender roles and turns them on their head by exploring the notion that a Jamaican mother is leaving her family to make a better life in America. This is considered a shirking of responsibilities by the entire town of Pennyfield, where Patsy is from. Whereas Jamaican men can go and come as they please without any backlash or conjecture.

Finally, I appreciated that the author wrote a story about a topic that isn’t widely discussed in any culture: the inability for a mother to bond with their child. It is only recently that this topic is being openly explored and discussed in American culture. And I think that this is the perfect way to introduce the topic and make way for this conversation in more conservative cultures like the Caribbean.

Though I’ve only focused on these few topics, Nicole Dennis-Benn masterfully navigates many more in her novel: colorism, being Jamaican and lgbtqia+, father-daughter relationships, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, homophobia, and the Caribbean drug trade. I can’t recommend this novel enough. It was entertaining and captivating from beginning to end. Brava!

As much as I love Dennis-Benn's first novel, I think she's written an even more stirring and complex story with Patsy. Both the title character and her child Tru are beautifully-written, flawed people trying to be themselves surrounded by a culture that negates their existence.

I am not quite sure how to articulate what I feel after reading <b>Patsy</b>. In Dennis-Benn's second novel we are once again asked to explore diverse subject matter: immigration, LGBTQ+, religion, colorism, politics . . . motherhood. Although I left motherhood for last this is the part of the book that I struggled with the most. When Patsy decided that she is going to chase after the American dream and leave her daughter behind I was judgemental. As a mother I was pissed and unsympathetic. I could not fathom going to another country without my child for the sake of my own freedom. But Patsy does just that. She leaves Jamaica for the freedom to be with the woman she loves. She wants to be able to love without fear, judgement or reprisals. Patsy leaves to be free of her mother's religiosity with her house full of idols to a White Jesus and the smell of rosemary oil anointing the walls. Although she loves Tru, Patsy has always known she did not want to be a mother. In some respects she sees her departure as a gift. When Patsy leaves she knows she is never coming back.

<b>Patsy</b> made me uncomfortable because it forced me to look at motherhood from a different perspective. Although I may never agree with the character Patsy's decisions, by the end of the book I felt I had come to understand her. Dennis-Benn's ability to draw complex characters and push her readers to rethink their original position is why her stories are so compelling.

<i>Special thanks to NetGalley, Liveright Publishing and Nichole Dennis-Benn for access to this book.</i>

Living in Florida, I am fortunate to frequently hear the musical speech of Caribbean peoples in shops, restaurants, schools, and offices. Rarely, though, do I hear the story of how they came to America, and what their life was like in their native country.
Patsy tells that story in absorbing detail that makes one sympathize with the often overwhelming struggle faced by immigrants, and the disappointment that can come when their dream of opportunity America is dashed. Patsy comes from the poorest of neighborhoods in Jamaica, far from the upscale resorts that draw mostly white tourists to her country. An unexpected pregnancy makes her the single parent of a daughter she has little interest in raising, with little help from her mother who has turned her life over to God and the Church. She does have a good office job in a government agency, though she makes little money.
Patsy resolves to follow her childhood friend and first love Cicely to America, where she is certain she will make enough money to send home to her daughter – the dream of so many immigrants. After many setbacks, she succeeds, leaving her daughter Tru behind with Tru’s father and family. She overstays her visa, however, and becomes illegal, negating any chance of getting a solid job and achieving that American dream. Along the way, her reason for leaving her home in Jamaica – her love for Cicely – is shattered.
The novel interweaves the story of Patsy with that of her daughter Tru, following their heartbreaking efforts to find themselves in a fractured world. With rich character development and dialogue written in Jamaican patois, this is an authentic story of determination, disappointment, and hope in often hopeless situations.
Thank you,W.W. Norton and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy.

There’s nothing left to say other than Nicole Dennis-Benn has done it again with her new novel Patsy. Beautiful and disturbing brilliance is how I’d describe the new novel that came out on June 4th, from Liveright.

I must say thank you to Liveright and Nicole Dennis-Benn for providing me with an ARC of this book for my honest opinion, and here it is...

Set on the backdrop of Jamaica and New York City, Patsy is an unforgivable tale of trials, tribulations and the American dream versus the immigrant reality.

When Jamaican, single mother Patsy finally gets her visa to America she leaves her daughter Tru and mother behind, in search of a better life and an opportunity to reunite with her one-time friend/lover, Cicely.

She boards a plane with high hopes and expectations, unfazed that she is leaving her small daughter in the care of a father, who has never been a part of her life and is married with a family and other children of his own.

Furthermore he never truly wants Tru. When Patsy initially asks Tru’s father to take her he says “Ah will talk to Marva (his wife) to see if she’ll be all right wid taking on yuh responsibility.” Wow, he doesn’t say our responsibility, but yours. That one line is so telling about the thinking and rationale of Jamaican society. Children are still seen as the responsibility of the woman, that dates back to the time of slavery where men were not expected to care for children.

And while my heart aches for Tru, I also sympathize with Patsy, who never really wanted the child to begin with and was forced by her mother to keep the baby when she became pregnant.

“SHE WAS FORBIDDEN TO HAVE AN ABORTION, THREATENED BY HER mother to be thrown in jail since it is illegal in Jamaica and deemed an abomination by the Church. It was unheard-of for a woman to willingly end a pregnancy.” (page 45)

In Jamaica, like in several states in the US, abortion is illegal and a woman and the doctor can be put in jail for it.

As Patsy arrives in the US she learns that things are not quite what they seem and she is faced with some difficult situations and some truly ugly truths. Jobs and careers are practically impossible to get without a visa, and compromise is the only true way to survive.

As a person of Jamaican descent, Patsy’s story is the story of many immigrants and people I know. Often a visa is seen as a ‘golden ticket’ to a land flowing with milk and honey. Immigrants believe life will be easier, and jobs are plentiful but more often than not, the reality of the situation is quite hard to bear, such is the case with Patsy.

What I love most about this book is that it makes you stop and think about ‘what would I do?’ While I cannot ever imagine leaving my children for more than a few nights, I also don’t know what it feels like to live in a place like Pennyfield, to live in a place like Jamaica where having the wrong area code or the wrong shade of skin can be the deciding factor of success. “Her place in society was already established by her skin color and wrong address,” says Patsy.

Patsy is an all-encompassing story about immigration, heartache, motherhood, and expectations versus reality. The characters are plagued with compromise and tormented by their own pain, desires and the expectations of society.

While Patsy attempts to make a life for herself in New York her daughter Tru is left to in the care of her father and his wife and questions her own identity and self-worth.

There was so much I loved about this book, but so much that also made me uncomfortable. Nicole Dennis-Benn’s writing is flawless and her use of patois brought a familiar warmth to the story for me.

The book makes us question female sexuality, the system of immigration and how it’s designed and most importantly the role and weight of motherhood and identity.


What this book did most for me was truly take a look at my own privilege, being a daughter of Jamaican immigrants. My father, in particular, has told me before how difficult coming to Canada was, and I look at my parents with a new renewed sense of pride.

I could truly go on forever about this book because I feel this just merely scratched the surface but I don’t want to give away too much, but I will say that Patsy is an eye-opening book about so many issues that plague Jamaicans around the world.

I timely, touching and a profoundly true book about immigration, race, motherhood, and hope.

Patsy is the beautiful and realistic story of a woman escaping to her destiny no matter what is in her way. The characters are beautifully illustrated and the plot deepens as secrets are revealed that pull you in and make you want to read more after each page. I enjoyed the descriptive imagery of events, characters, and the situations presented in this novel and I do recommend it if you are love language that is picturesque and a steady plot that will grasp you from the beginning.