enjoying a normal, chill day

i was up late last night, reading a really interesting novel –

 

abeng by michelle cliff.

 

the story is set in jamaica, circa 1953.

 

i call it a novel, but the writing style is very interesting.  in some parts, the narrator comes off as sounding like an ethnographer, detaching itself from the story altogether to tell a compelling, general history of the black population living there, some of them native to the island, others imported as slaves from africa. 

 

the narrator jumps perspective a lot, not just from between the usual third-person voice and the historical and ethnographic voices – but there's yet another kind of voice, too.

 

i don't know what you would call that third voice, per se.  it is quite reminiscent of the quaint, victorian voice that is deployed by the likes of jane austen.  a self-conscious, dainty voice that is cognizant of a sense of proper decorum.  but the way that cliff uses it is kind of deprecating and ironic as well.

 

i'm only half-way through reading the novel.  i plan on picking it right up again as soon as i can tonight to finish it off.

 

yes, the book is that good!  if you like novels like charlotte brontë's villette or jane austen's sense and sensibility or susan warner's wide, wide world, as i do, then this would be a great book to add in that group as a story of a girl coming of age.  but with a post-colonial, racialized edge.

 

as far as work: things have been stabilizing this past week.  but based on bits and pieces i've picked up here and there, i understand things are going to pick up the pace again really soon.  for me, anyway; i don't really know what the other peeps at my level in my unit are up to, but i think i'm still being singled out to do the extra work.

 

it's all good.  we'll see how it goes.  i just need to remember to breathe and take lots of breaks, and i'm sure i'll be fine and able to handle the work-load better than i did just a couple of weeks ago, when the shit-storm happened.

 

but until then, until that work-load actually gets assigned to me, i'm going to just sit back and enjoy the (relatively) moderate pace i've got right now.  today's been a good day – and people have been so nice and complimentary, for some reason!  like, does rainy weather make people more cheerful or something?  it has the opposite effect on me!

 

:-T