This is a difficult book to rate and review. The prose and characters are four to five stars, but the plot and details of the third book within Golden Child diminished my overall enjoyment of the book greatly.
Having read A Place for Us, the first book under SJP's imprint,
…more I was incredibly eager to read Golden Child, the second book published by SJP. I was immediately drawn into Adam's straight-forward but lovely prose, and the dialogue of the already realistic characters places the reader in the setting of Trinidad so effectively. Adam introduces her characters in the first book of the novel largely through Clyde, a husband and father of twins, but the second book takes the reader back in time several years and shifts mainly to Paul's perspective (one of the twins), as well as that of a kindly priest/teacher. I typically don't enjoy this technique of shifting back in time and shifting perspectives at the same time (it can feel gimmicky), but these techniques are incredibly effective to the plot and structure of Golden Child. Adam's pacing and revealing of contrasting perspectives serves to show Paul in two starkly different lights - that of a trouble-maker who is incapable of learning, and that of a gentle boy who feels his fate has been sealed by his retardation (using the term from the novel, not my own). The plot comes to its climax in the third book and this is where the novel began to disappoint me. I don't read for happy endings or plots that are easily tied up in a neat package - I like complex characters and dynamics. However, Adam steps too far into gratuitous violence/abuse in the third book; it is both difficult to stomach and not fitting with the tone of the rest of the novel. Without providing spoilers, Adam could have achieved the same end result through less gruesome means. This is a stunning debut novel but one I would recommend with reservations. (less)
