Title: By Love Possessed
Author: Lorna Goodison
Publication Date: May 29th, 2012
Pages: 272 pages, in Paperback
About Lorna Goodison
Lorna Goodison is known as one of the Caribbean’s finest poets, and writers of her generation. Goodison has won numerous awards from her work in literature. From receiving gold medals from Jamaica to recently receiving a prestigious Yale University Literature Prize award, Goodison’s exceptional creativity is shown throughout her work.
Rating: 
I was initially captured by the very first story in this book. The book introduces a lot of significant themes to its readers. Themes like betrayal, abandonment, love, and even empowerment. For example, the first story presented in this book stands out from your occasional romance. The descriptions place you right there with the characters, and with some of the dialect included in the text, you really do feel like you’re in Jamaica. Writing short stories requires a lot of work. As with short stories, a lot of details have to be squeezed in to create a story that is not only short, but interesting. Other than being short and interesting, the story has to be able to answer any questions a reader may have. Goodison has a great way of creating her stories that once you finish reading them, they does not leave you with so many unanswered questions. My favorite short stories in this book are “The Helpweight”, “Henry”, “Dream Lover” and “Miss Henny, Suliman Santer, and Me”.
Questions?
- Was it an easy read? I think so, even with the use of dialect in the text, it was still easy to read. It was different and new for me to read an entire book that often did not follow the rules of English grammar, but that’s what made it good. It was raw, and this made the book much more interesting. It honestly was not difficult to read through it at all.
- Do you recommend this book? Definitely, like I said earlier, this book brings up a handful of themes that I think are important to read about. A lot of people tend to understand more when they read, especially things that they never experienced themselves. Reading these short stories will expose the reader to different situations in different characters.
Want to check it out for yourself? I’ll make it easy for you with links to where you can buy it.
Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Thrift Books
Check out my Spring Reading List for book suggestions, and what I’ll be reading this spring.
