When Banana Stains Fade
by Frances-Marie Coke
Genre : Historical Fiction
Black Rose Writing
"Slavery finish but we fight and cuss one another same way over who have better hair and color.”
I chose this book for the title. All of us know banana stains cannot be removed but can only fade with time. With this sort of title, I was tempted to wonder what were the banana stains in the story was but the author surprised me.
How does skin color or skin tone of a woman change society's perception of class, beauty or even education? Do many women opt for single parenting or they forced into it? How has priorities changed over the years for Jamaican women? What is a banana stain curse? These are some of the few questions answered by the author in the book, "When Banana Stains Fade"
It is the story of four generations of a family of Jamaican women, that is heart wrenching and hopeful as with each generation, women have become more conscious of what they wish to be rather than becoming role models of what a patriarchal society tells them to be. When a woman is raped or sexually assaulted, how does the family handle it , so as to bring closure and normalcy.
Zapping from rural Jamaica to Kingston city to New York to rural Jamaica, the author moves seamlessly between the past and present. The writing is sensitive and sensible and doesn't shy away from hard facts especially sexism and sexual harassment- something which is glossed over in fiction as it is hard to write but Coke does it anyway with a sensibility that most authors don't..
It is surprising how living in a totally different continent. I could understand the stories of those colonized even after independence remain the similar especially those of women as colonization has not been just physical draining of resources but also of the mind. .
It is a fantastic read in a world that seems to be at war with itself and with its past. Maybe this book will knock some sense into all of us.
Do buy it here on Amazon
