Augustown

by Kei Miller

It is 11 April 1982 and a smell is coming down John Golding Road right alongside the boy-child, something attached to him, like a spirit but not quite. Ma Taffy is growing worried. She knows that something is going to happen. Something terrible is going to pour out into the world. But if she can hold it off for just a little bit longer, she will. So she asks a question that surprises herself even as she asks it, 'Kaia, I ever tell you bout the flying preacherman?'

• ISBN10: 1474603602
• ISBN13: 9781474603607
• Publish Date: 14 July 2016
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 5 March 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
• Imprint: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 256
• Language: English

Reviews

[nannah]

I would love to learn creative writing from one of Kei Miller’s courses … the way he brings everything together in the end of a book, the way he ties oral storytelling styles with writing ones, and the way he can create a satisfying ending even through unhappy or bittersweet events is masterful. Even if the actual bulk of the novel wasn’t the most enjoyable thing to read, it’s undeniable that this man has talent.

Content warnings:
- racism, antiblackness
- suicide
- rape
- police brutality

Representation:
- the protagonists are Jamaican, most of whom are Jamaican Rastafarians

In Augustown, Jamaica, Ma Taffy may be blind, but she still sees more than anyone else. When her great-nephew, Kaia, comes home after school in tears because his teacher shaved off his locs, she tells him the story of the flying preacherman and the beginning of Rastafari.

With the help of this review, I learned a lot more about this book’s setting and background. I’m going to very briefly summarize what Chrissie says, but I strongly recommend that you check out her review. The flying preacherman from the story Ma Taffy tells Kaia is Andrew Bedward (1848-1930), a Jamaican preacher whose followers later became Rastafarians. He was born in the parish in which the real August Town exists today. Again, I highly recommend you read that review for its insights. As she says, this is not only a book about the past, but also one about the present, about the repetition of history and the violent, cruel, and heartbreaking history in particular of August Town/Augustown.

As for my own thoughts, I was very, very drawn to the way Kei Miller writes (obviously), although at times I felt it did bog down the flow by an over-reliance on telling and redundancies--and even talking down to the reader, even if all of this fits with the kind of oral storytelling style he seemed to go for.

Ma Taffy’s “blind but sees all” disability cliche bothered me a little, as well as her seemingly superior abilities (walking quieter than the man nicknamed for being able to walk quietly, etc.), but again, the beauty of the writing and storytelling, especially when everything all came together in the very end, overcame any bad taste in my mouth. I just remember closing the book and feeling like I experienced something amazing.

This is an extremely vague review, I apologize for that; it’s been a little while since I finished this book, and even though I remember what happened, I’m just struck overall with that remaining awe of his writing and that ending. It’s tough to describe. And yet, I didn’t get that feeling till the end, and the middle of the book was difficult. I might have to read again sometime.