This was my pick for the #UnreadShelfProject2022 prompt “a book that scares you”. Not because it was spooky, but its format: a narrative poem in five parts, concurrently tracing the lives of the author, his fictional characters on Saint Lucia, the history of colonialism and slavery in the Americas and Carribean, and, very loosely, the Iliad. 

It sounded like a lot and I was worried about it going over my head, but its on the “30 Books to Celebrate 30 Years of Writers and Company”, so I knew I’d have to get to it one day. I got pretty panicked a few chapters in at how confused I was, but eventually found a chapter-by-chapter synopsis on Shmoop, and that helped carry me along when I got lost, and also pick up on things I otherwise probably would have missed.

This is all to say, while this book isn’t for those looking for something light and easy to read, it is ABSOLUTELY worth the effort. It's a grand mental adventure, like climbing a mountain, complete with easy and hard parts, and the beautiful and boring scenes (and only getting lost a little ;) ). I dog-eared the book to pieces, highlighting the lines and stanzas I wanted to go back, review, and record. The lyrical language used to describe Saint Lucia, mirrored against a stanza about slavery, or the impacts of cruises on the island meant I was never truly comfortable, and always paying attention.

Derek Walcott was a Nobel Prize winner, and they say this is his masterpiece. I can see why: love, heartbreak, rage, intergenerational pain and trauma, climate change, slavery, broken treaties, and the beauty and death of a simple island life at the hands of American tourists are all revealed, and none seem out of place, or forced. 

I won’t say everybody should read this, because most probably won’t. But if you like books that challenge you and make you work, put this on your TBR. Give it your time, effort, and attention, and you won’t regret it. I’ve never read anything like it, and I don’t expect to for a long while.