A Mauritian Tour de Force!, August 30, 2012
By
This review is from: Sugar Cane (Kindle Edition)
When George Labelle dies, he leaves his 33-year-old daughter Elizabeth a curious legacy: a box full of memories and a letter containing, among other things, a startling confession. Now she must go to Mauritius, not only to carry out her father's final wishes, but also to discover her long-concealed (but long-suspected) roots. Will she succeed against the opposition of those who, for reasons of their own, would much prefer the dead past to remain so?Although a work of fiction, E. E. Fry's SUGAR CANE reads at times almost autobiographically--a product, undoubtedly, of the author's skill and of her love for Mauritius. The book is divided into three parts. In the first two, Elizabeth's journey is alternately interspersed with chapters from her father's history, as told from his point of view. In Part Three, as the tale reaches its climax, the author switches to a present-tense narration--something I'm usually not comfortable with, but that in this case works exceptionally well. The story has everything a good story needs: a protagonist with a goal, conflict with opponents who don't want her to win, and a (contextually) logical and satisfying resolution.
My criticisms are slight by comparison. The book is liberally seasoned with words and phrases from Mauritian Creole, the meaning of which is usually (but not always) obvious from the context of the story. Ms. Fry provides a glossary at the back of the book, but the reader may find himself momentarily baffled from time to time as he reads. The formatting and arrangement are generally excellent, though in the .pdf copy I read, I found the paragraphs indented more deeply than usual. Errata are few and far between, certainly no more than would be found in a traditionally-published book: in the most glaring example, "Mauritians" was on two occasions rendered as "Mauritian's"--also, early in the book, the 23d Psalm was mistakenly identified as the 27th.
I give 4 marks out of 5 for technical merit, and all 5 for artistic impression. That rounds up to a 5, and I wholeheartedly second the author's motion: Dive into SUGAR CANE!
