A Small Place

By: Jamaica Kincaid

Narrated by: Robin Miles

Length: 1 hr and 48 mins

Publisher's Summary

From the award-winning author of Annie John comes a brilliant look at colonialism and its effects in Antigua.

"If you go to Antigua as a tourist, this is what you will see. If you come by aeroplane, you will land at the V. C. Bird International Airport. Vere Cornwall (V. C.) Bird is the prime minister of Antigua. You may be the sort of tourist who would wonder why a prime minister would want an airport named after him - why not a school, why not a hospital, why not some great public monument. You are a tourist and you have not yet seen..." So begins Jamaica Kincaid's expansive essay, which shows us what we have not yet seen of the 10-by-12-mile island in the British West Indies where she grew up.

Lyrical, sardonic, and forthright by turns, in a Swiftian mode, A Small Place cannot help but amplify our vision of one small place and all that it signifies.

©2016 Jamaica Kincaid (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

powerful and poetic

Kincaid's description of Antigua are beautiful and Stark. She doesn't hold any punches, as she eviscerates Colonial Masters and their impact on the island. to read this book is to feel like a visitor Antigua to be a visitor is to feel like an outsider and a bit judged, but you also feel that judgment is warranted and more of a call to action in a condemnation

not bad

This book was good details about what jamaican life is from a different perspective, and let you understand that perspective well.

Perfect Narration

Anyone whose heard of this story already knows how wonderfully written it is. What I want you to know is that it's beautifully narrated by a woman with an accent well suited for this narrative. She breathes life into Kincaid's words. It's like magic.

Where Do We Go From Here?

I so wanted to LOVE this book . . . but I can't. The author's assumption that the hatred that she feels toward all white people is justified is really sad. The fact that she wants to continually feed that hatred is even sadder. I am a white person, from the south, who has never owned a slave, who loves all races, has friends from all races, and sits in church with all races. I DO get the resentment for what happened in the past. It's flat out wrong, and no amount of dithering or hashing over history can make it right. However, what happened with the British occupation of Antigua is not the total of the history of Antigua or the entirety of the memories that the peoples of Antigua hold dear. Like the rest of us, people have horrible memories, as well as good ones. But this author doesn't include ANY of those. The good Lord uses every bit of what happens in our lives to shape and form us into who we are today. I have read dozens of books about those who have come through the horrors of slavery . . . and the monsters who put them through it . . . those people for the most part have had an unstoppable spirit, a strength beyond anything I can even imagine . . . not an attitude of hatred, except perhaps toward the actual person(s) harming them . . . which is understandable . . . Jamaica Kincaid pronounces a hatred of all tourists, all whites, all who are not of her own race basically . . . so my question is this: Where do we go from here?

I enjoyed listening to the narrator reading this book.

Some books are meant to be heard through a cultural voice. While the writer’s ability to paint with words takes me to the small island of Antigua the sound of the narrator’s voice enhanced the senses of the beautiful island. I needed this book at this time in my life. Safe travels to the next fortunate reader.

Not what I expected but revelatory.

I thought that this would be a book of poetry describing her life growing up in Antigua and, since Kincaid was spoken of as a possible Nobel winner, I wanted to get a sense of her work. Instead it is a combination of memoir and a screed of a justifiably Angry Black Woman, damaged by the British Colonization of her Homeland. She is angry at the British and White Slave owners and traders, but also at her countrymen and women, who have accepted their degraded, disenfranchised and disempowered status as well as the White Tourists they serve. Listening to Robin Miles’ lilting narration of these angry words takes the edge off Kincaid’s prose, but her resentment comes through. Like when reading James Baldwin or Ta-Nahisi Coates, it is difficult for a White Man to hear these words, but it’s essential to understand the burden of injustice people of color all over the World have endured under the yoke of White Supremacy. It burns through clearly in A Small Place.

Great Read

I learned a lot, the way it was put into perspective. I will definitely share with my friends.

Wonderful story and a wonderful storyteller.

Jamaica Kincaid is a brilliant storyteller. Her fiction and essays are glaringly honest, humorous, and heartbreaking. It was a pleasure to be able to continue "reading" the novel when I was away from my Kindle. Finally, the narrator's performance was terrific and really made the story come to life.

Captivating

I chose to listen to this book in Lou of reading it. What a delight! The narrator did a wonderful job emphasizing the descriptions, sarcasm, VA, and the story. I highly recommend you read this one. Will change the way you think about Island vacations.

A Caribbean Classic

The reputation of A Small Place preceded it, and it did not disappointed. Absolutely brilliant.

an authentic Antiguan accent

whilst the narrative was very interesting and shed light on the lot of colonial Antigua in its heyday, I found the accent of the narrator to be very off-putting. Being a descendant of an Antigua and having an Antiguan grandmother, mum and family I am very familiar with the accent. She read more like a south Asian accent. I think if you are going to use somebody with an accent for this book it has to be authentic and relate to the place. I found it very off-putting...